Children Consider Constraints and Past Performance in Their Intuitive Theories of Academic Achievement

• In Event: The Development of Children’s Understanding of Competence and Achievement

Abstract

We cheer for others’ achievements and also make inferences and judgments about these achievements. When doing so, we not only look at what others have achieved, we also care about how they come to the achievements. It is not hard to notice that while some people are equipped with natural talents and resources that allow them to easily achieve success without much hard work, others are faced with various constraints—for example, lack of talent or resources—and have to work hard to overcome these constraints in order to achieve success.

In Study 1, we investigated whether and how children consider the constraints one overcomes in their intuitive theories of academic achievement. We administered 4-9-year-olds (n = 98) and their parents (n = 92) with two tasks. In the free will task, we asked whether they believed someone could choose to overcome internal constraints (i.e., not being smart) or external constraints (i.e., not having good education) to achieve academic success. In the evaluation task, we presented two story characters who both achieved high exam scores. However, one had to overcome internal or external constraints, while the other did not have these constraints. We asked participants which character they considered to be more hardworking, who should get a prize, whom they preferred, and who would be more successful in the future. We found clear developmental changes (see Figure 2a): with age, children increasingly believed that one could choose to overcome internal or external constraints to achieve academic success, and considered someone who overcame these constraints as more hardworking than someone who did not have such constraints. Children also increasingly rewarded this character, preferred him/her, and predicted that he/she would be more successful in future (ps < .001).

In Study 2, we investigated another factor people may consider in inferring and evaluating others’ achievements–namely, past performance; for example, whether one’s performance has improved or stayed constant over time. We presented 4-10-year-olds (n = 102) and their parents (n = 86) with two characters and revealed their scores on two exams at the beginning and at the end of a semester. One of the characters achieved same scores (i.e., score 4 out of 5) on both exams, while the other character got score 3 out of 5 at the first exam, and score 4 out of 5 half a year later. We then asked participants which character improved more, who was more hardworking, who was smarter, who should get a prize, whom they preferred, and who would be more successful in the future. We found that (see Figure 2b), children of all ages thought that the character whose performance was constant was smarter. However, with age, children increasingly considered the improved character as more hardworking, awarded this character, preferred him/her and predicted him/her to be more successful in the future (ps < .001).

These studies reveal that children increasingly develop favorable evaluations for those who have overcome past constraints to achieve academic success, as well as for those whose performance has improved over time.

Authors

• Xin Alice Zhao, East China Normal University
  Presenting Author

• Xin Yang, Yale University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Yuhang Shu, University of Virginia - Charlottesville
  Non-Presenting Author