Talent versus hard work: Examining the parental influence on children’s preferences for talent over effort

• In Event: Examining the relationship between parenting and young Chinese children’s emotional, sociocognitive, and academic development

Abstract

The way people value talent and effort—two essential determinants of success—can substantially influence their preferences and behaviors. Despite explicitly valuing effort, adults often prefer naturally talented individuals over individuals who strive to attain the same level of achievement. Previous research on this naturalness bias (Tsay, 2016) has been largely conducted with adults in Western cultures. Here, we investigated the naturalness bias in Chinese society. Specifically, we hypothesized that children would also exhibit the naturalness bias, though the degree to which they preferred naturals may vary from Western populations. We also hypothesized that children’s preferences would be impacted by their parents’ attitudes.

Participants were recruited from two mid-sized Chinese cities; 189 preschoolers (M = 75.84 months, SD = 4.20 months; 97 girls) and their parents participated in Experiment 1, while another 117 preschoolers (M = 69.60 months, SD = 4.08 months; 67 girls) and their parents participated in Experiment 2. In Experiment 1, children were randomly assigned to the natural condition, featuring a protagonist who succeeded through talent, or to the striver condition, featuring a protagonist who succeeded through effort. They then rated the protagonist’s success, warmth, and competence, as well as the importance of talent and effort. In Experiment 2, children’s behavioral preferences were examined after hearing stories about natural and striver protagonists; that is, they were asked to indicate with whom to socialize and from whom to learn along with rating the importance of talent and effort. In both experiments, parents of the participating children were surveyed on their attitudes towards talent and effort.

Across both experiments, children preferred naturals over strivers, even though their ratings for the importance of effort were consistently higher than their ratings for talent. In Experiment 1, children’s protagonist ratings for success, warmth, and competence were higher in the natural condition compared to children’s ratings in the striver condition. In Experiment 2, children preferred to socialize with and learn from the natural protagonist over the striver protagonist when presented with both.

Parents’ attitudes towards talent and effort had an impact on their children’s beliefs about talent and on their perceptions and behaviors towards naturals. Children were less likely to report talent as important if their parents valued effort more. In Experiment 1, if parents showed stronger positive attitudes towards effort, their children would evaluate the natural protagonist’s competence more highly; this effect was not observed in the striver condition (Figure 1). In Experiment 2, if parents showed stronger attitudes towards effort or weaker attitudes towards talent, the children were less likely to socialize with the natural protagonist in the experiment (Figure 2).

In summary, the discrepancy between explicit and implicit perceptions regarding natural talent appears at a young age and is shaped by parental attitudes regarding talent and effort; these perceptions consequently impact people’s behaviors. Our findings shed light into how the naturalness bias emerges in Chinese culture at a young age and offer insights into how parents can influence children’s attitudes towards natural talent, both in other people and in themselves.

Authors

• Shaocong Ma, The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology
  Presenting Author

• Eva E. Chen, National Tsing Hua University
  Non-Presenting Author