Domain specific and general epistemological beliefs their effects on mathematics

In order to understand how epistemological beliefs (beliefs about knowledge and learning) influence mathematical problem solving, over 700 college students completed a domain general and a domain specific (mathematical problem-solving) beliefs questionnaire. In addition, they completed two mathematical tasks, one that assessed cognitive depth and the other problem solving. Mathematical and general epistemological belief factors emerged from a single exploratory factor analysis. Furthermore, students with high mathematical background showed consistency between domain general and domain specific epistemological beliefs, whereas, students with less mathematical background were significantly different between the two levels of belief specificity. Comparisons among path analyses revealed indirect effects of general epistemological beliefs and direct effects of domain specific epistemological beliefs on mathematical performance.