Children Stick With a Challenge When Their Performance Improves Over Time

• In Event: To Persist or not: The Powerful Influence of Outcomes on Persistence Across Development

Abstract

Young children’s learning is often self-guided, leading to many situations where they get to decide how to challenge themselves. However, little is known about how young children make these decisions that are so critical to their growth. Here we explored whether 4-6-year-olds use the trajectory of their past performance to decide when to stick with a challenge.

Across two experiments (both preregistered), we randomly assigned children to conditions in which they got better (Increasing condition) or stayed the same (Constant condition) at a task over time (matched final score) and looked at how this impacted their choice to stick with the challenging version of the task or switch to an easier version. We predicted that children assigned to conditions where they got better over time would be more likely to choose to stick with the challenging version of the task.

The two experiments differed in the outcome-reward contingencies: In experiment 1 (n = 66), children were told that they could get two stickers for success on the challenging version and one sticker for success on the easier version, while in experiment 2 (n = 88) children were told that they could get one sticker for success on either version. In both experiments, children in the Increasing condition chose to stick with the challenging version more than children in the Constant condition (Exp 1. 𝜒2 (1, n = 66) =4.95, p = .03; Exp 2. 𝜒2 (1, n = 88) =4.85, p = .03). Reward contingencies shifted preferences: In experiment 1, but not experiment 2, choice for the challenging version in the Increasing condition was above chance (70%, CI = [55%, 85%]). In experiment 2, but not experiment 1, choice for the easier version in the Constant condition was above chance. (75%, CI = [64%, 89%]).

In both experiments, older children were more likely to stick with the challenging version across conditions. Experiment 3 (preregistered, data collection cut short by COVID-19, n = 41) tested the hypothesis that younger children were more optimistic about their performance than older children, and therefore more disappointed by their actual performance, leading them to choose the easier option. All children were assigned to the Increasing condition, but before each trial, were asked to predict their future performance. All children’s predictions became more accurate with each trial (p < .05), but younger children’s predictions were more optimistic across trials than older children’s predictions (p < .05). Again, younger children were more likely to choose the easier version (p < .05). Ongoing work is testing whether lowering young children’s expectations about performance will cause them to stick with the challenging version.

These results suggest that 4-6-year-olds monitor their rate of performance change and are more likely to stick with a challenge if they are getting better over time. Older children are more likely to stick with a challenge than younger children regardless of their past performance, potentially due to their more accurate expectations of future performance.

Authors

• Julia Anne Leonard, Yale University
  Presenting Author

• Hunter Z. Liu, University of Pennsylvania
  Non-Presenting Author

• Skyler Cordey, University of Pennsylvania
  Non-Presenting Author

• Allyson P Mackey, University of Pennsylvania
  Non-Presenting Author