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Jeon J, Park D. Your feelings are reasonable: Emotional validation promotes persistence among preschoolers. Dev Sci 2024; 27:e13523. [PMID: 38695535 DOI: 10.1111/desc.13523] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/23/2023] [Revised: 03/02/2024] [Accepted: 04/14/2024] [Indexed: 08/20/2024]
Abstract
Persistence is a critical factor that significantly predicts life outcomes. Although individual differences in persistence emerge early in life, the knowledge of effective strategies for cultivating persistence in young children remains limited. Based on these two studies, we suggest that emotional validation, defined as the acceptance of emotions without judgment, is a beneficial technique for promoting persistence in the wake of frustration. Study 1 examined 150 parents of children aged 4-6 years and found that parents' tendency to validate their children's emotions was positively associated with children's trait persistence. We conducted a randomized experiment (N = 93, aged 4-6 years) in Study 2 to establish a causal relationship between emotional validation and persistence in preschoolers. Children who received emotional validation feedback (n = 31) exhibited higher levels of persistence than those who received emotional invalidation (n = 31) and no feedback (baseline, n = 31) on a frustrating task. The persistence between the emotional invalidation and no-feedback conditions was not statistically different. This finding highlights the vital role of emotional validation in promoting persistence in children at trait and state levels. In summary, this study offers a compelling strategy for empowering young children with resilience and determination when they encounter challenges. RESEARCH HIGHLIGHTS: Parental emotional validation predicts the trait-level persistence of children aged 4-6 years. Children who received emotion-validation feedback persisted longer on a task than those who received emotion-invalidation feedback or no feedback. Children in the emotion invalidation condition did not differ from those in the no-feedback condition in terms of persistence. Future studies are required to investigate the mechanisms underlying emotional validation in promoting task persistence in children.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jeewon Jeon
- Department of Psychology, Sungkyunkwan University, Seoul, South Korea
| | - Daeun Park
- Department of Psychology, Sungkyunkwan University, Seoul, South Korea
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Grose GE, Muenks K, Eason SH, Miele DB, Rowe ML, Ramani GB. The role of parents' ability mindsets in parent-child interactions during math and reading activities. J Exp Child Psychol 2024; 247:106029. [PMID: 39146896 DOI: 10.1016/j.jecp.2024.106029] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/02/2023] [Revised: 06/20/2024] [Accepted: 06/24/2024] [Indexed: 08/17/2024]
Abstract
Parents can be instrumental in promoting young children's early mathematics and literacy skills. However, differences in parents' beliefs can influence their behavior during parent-child interactions. We examined how parental beliefs about the fixedness of children's math and reading abilities shape their interactions with their 4- and 5-year-old children during an educational activity. Parental beliefs about children's abilities were manipulated using "articles" indicating that academic ability is fixed in one domain (e.g., math) but malleable in another (e.g., reading). We then investigated differences in parental unconstructive (performance-oriented and controlling) and constructive (mastery-oriented and autonomy-supportive) involvement across conditions. We also examined whether parent behavior differed depending on the type of educational material parents were told the activity tapped into. The results showed that parents who were induced to have a fixed mindset about reading took full control of the reading activity more often than those who were induced to have a growth mindset about reading, but not math. Parents did not differ in constructive involvement between mindset induction conditions in either domain. We also found that parent autonomy behavior in math differed depending on parents' general theory of intelligence beliefs. Overall, we found some evidence that parents' beliefs about the malleability of their children's ability in a specific domain affected their behaviors in that domain.
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Affiliation(s)
- Gillian E Grose
- University of Maryland, College Park, College Park, MD 20742, USA.
| | | | | | | | | | - Geetha B Ramani
- University of Maryland, College Park, College Park, MD 20742, USA
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Ching BHH, Li XF, Chen TT. Longitudinal Links Between Parental Failure Mindsets, Helicopter Parenting, and Fixed Mindset of Intelligence in Adolescents. J Youth Adolesc 2023:10.1007/s10964-023-01815-5. [PMID: 37365305 DOI: 10.1007/s10964-023-01815-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/10/2023] [Accepted: 06/16/2023] [Indexed: 06/28/2023]
Abstract
Evidence for the prospective associations among parental failure mindset, helicopter parenting, and children's intelligence mindset is lacking. This three-wave longitudinal study (12 months apart between waves) addressed this research gap by testing whether perceived maternal helicopter parenting mediated the link between perceived maternal failure mindset and intelligence mindset. Participants included 525 Chinese adolescents (47.2% girls, Mage = 15.41 years, SD = 0.22). Random-intercept cross-lagged analysis suggests that mothers with stronger failure-is-debilitating mindsets are more likely to engage in helicopter parenting, which may in turn contribute to stronger endorsements of a fixed mindset of intelligence in their adolescent children. The relation between maternal helicopter parenting and children's intelligence mindset appeared to be reciprocal, i.e., children's fixed mindset may elicit more helicopter parenting over time.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Xiao Fei Li
- Faculty of Education, University of Macau, Taipa, Macau
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Kumar SC, Haber AS, Ghossainy ME, Barbero S, Corriveau KH. The impact of visualizing the group on children's persistence in and perceptions of STEM. Acta Psychol (Amst) 2023; 233:103845. [PMID: 36706700 DOI: 10.1016/j.actpsy.2023.103845] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/01/2022] [Revised: 12/23/2022] [Accepted: 01/20/2023] [Indexed: 01/26/2023] Open
Abstract
Women are underrepresented in STEM fields across the world. We investigate a perceptual mechanism that may contribute to this gender disparity beginning in early childhood. We explore how visual information about the gender composition of a group of scientists impacts children's persistence on a STEM task and their evaluations of group members. One hundred sixty-six 4- to 6-year-old children viewed one of four groups of scientists: all-male, all-female, a lone female among all-males, or a lone male among all-females. Whereas children's persistence on a STEM task did not change across conditions, their trait judgments did. Children judged the all-male and all-female group scientists as "hardworking," but judged the lone female scientist as "smart." However, they were as likely to judge the lone male scientist as "smart" as to judge him "hardworking." The role of group visualization as a learning mechanism impacting children's perceptions of scientists as early as the preschool years is discussed.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sona C Kumar
- Boston University, 621 Commonwealth Avenue, Boston, MA 02215, United States of America.
| | - Amanda S Haber
- Boston University, 621 Commonwealth Avenue, Boston, MA 02215, United States of America.
| | - Maliki E Ghossainy
- Boston University, 621 Commonwealth Avenue, Boston, MA 02215, United States of America.
| | - Samantha Barbero
- Boston University, 621 Commonwealth Avenue, Boston, MA 02215, United States of America
| | - Kathleen H Corriveau
- Boston University, 621 Commonwealth Avenue, Boston, MA 02215, United States of America.
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Weisberg DS, Dunlap LC, Sobel DM. Dinos and GoPros: Children's exploratory behaviors in a museum and their reflections on their learning. Front Psychol 2023; 14:1110612. [PMID: 36860778 PMCID: PMC9968754 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1110612] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/29/2022] [Accepted: 01/25/2023] [Indexed: 02/15/2023] Open
Abstract
Research in both laboratory and museum settings suggests that children's exploration and caregiver-child interaction relate to children's learning and engagement. Most of this work, however, takes a third-person perspective on children's exploration of a single activity or exhibit, and does not consider children's perspectives on their own exploration. In contrast, the current study recruited 6-to 10-year-olds (N = 52) to wear GoPro cameras, which recorded their first-person perspectives as they explored a dinosaur exhibition in a natural history museum. During a 10-min period, children were allowed to interact with 34 different exhibits, their caregivers and families, and museum staff however they wished. Following their exploration, children were asked to reflect on their exploration while watching the video they created and to report on whether they had learned anything. Children were rated as more engaged when they explored collaboratively with their caregivers. Children were more likely to report that they learned something when they were more engaged, and when they spent more time at exhibits that presented information didactically rather than being interactive. These results suggest that static exhibits have an important role to play in fostering learning experiences in museums, potentially because such exhibits allow for more caregiver-child interaction.
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Affiliation(s)
- Deena Skolnick Weisberg
- Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Villanova University, Villanova, PA, United States,*Correspondence: Deena Skolnick Weisberg,
| | - Lucretia C. Dunlap
- Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Villanova University, Villanova, PA, United States
| | - David M. Sobel
- Department of Cognitive, Linguistic, and Psychological Sciences, Brown University, Providence, RI, United States
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Sobel DM, Stricker LW. Parent–child interaction during a home STEM activity and children’s handwashing behaviors. Front Psychol 2022; 13:992710. [DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2022.992710] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/12/2022] [Accepted: 10/21/2022] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
We examined correlations between a home-based STEM activity illustrating the importance of soap use during handwashing and children’s (4-to 7-year-olds, N = 81, 42 girls, 39 boys) use of soap when washing their hands. Parents and children either participated in or watched the activity. Children reflected on the activity immediately afterward and a week later. Parent–child interaction during participation related to the frequency of unprompted soap use during handwashing, controlling for performance on other, related cognitive measures. Children whose parents were more goal-directed, and set goals for the interaction, were less likely to use soap spontaneously when handwashing in the subsequent week. The amount of causal knowledge children generated when they reflected on the experience immediately afterward also influenced whether children used soap when washing their hands. Reducing the autonomy children believe they have during a STEM-based activity potentially leads them to not engage in a behavior related to the activity on their own. Overall, these data suggest that parent–child interaction during STEM activities can influence the ways children encode and engage with those activities in their everyday lives. Given that the ways children wash their hands might mitigate the spread of disease, interventions that focus on providing children with the belief that STEM activities are for them might be broadly beneficial to society.
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Shachnai R, Kushnir T, Bian L. Walking in Her Shoes: Pretending to Be a Female Role Model Increases Young Girls' Persistence in Science. Psychol Sci 2022; 33:1818-1827. [PMID: 36170452 DOI: 10.1177/09567976221119393] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/17/2022] Open
Abstract
Pretend play is a ubiquitous learning tool in early childhood, enabling children to explore possibilities outside of their current reality. Here, we demonstrate how pretend play can be leveraged to empower girls in scientific domains. American children ages 4 to 7 years (N = 240) played a challenging science activity in one of three conditions. Children in the exposure condition heard about a successful gender-matched scientist, children in the roleplay condition pretended to be that scientist, and children in the baseline condition did not receive information about the scientist. Girls in the roleplay condition, but not in the exposure condition, persisted longer in the science activity than girls in the baseline condition. Pretending to be the scientist equated girls' persistence to that of boys. These findings suggest that pretend play of role models motivates young girls in science and may help reduce gender gaps from their roots.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Tamar Kushnir
- Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, Duke University
| | - Lin Bian
- Department of Psychology, University of Chicago
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Observing parental behavior in challenging tasks: Its role for goal engagement and disengagement in children. J Exp Child Psychol 2022; 221:105463. [PMID: 35623310 DOI: 10.1016/j.jecp.2022.105463] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/01/2021] [Revised: 04/27/2022] [Accepted: 04/27/2022] [Indexed: 11/20/2022]
Abstract
Children are constantly faced with challenges. They need to learn to persist but also to disengage from (still) unsolvable or too resource-consuming tasks. We examined the role of observing parental behavior in a challenging task for children's goal regulation behavior in the same task (modeling effect) and its transfer to another type of task (transfer effect). Goal regulation behavior was expressed as the number of task switches within the same type of task, with more task switches indicating increasingly disengaging behavior. In a correlational study (N = 42, Mage = 9.0 years, SD = 0.8) and an experimental study (N = 66, Mage = 9.2 years, SD = 1.4), children imitated their parents' behavior in the same type of task. Moreover, they generalized this behavior to another type of task when experiencing difficulties in goal pursuit in the correlational study as well as in the engagement condition of the experimental study, but not in the disengagement condition. The results suggest that children imitate and generalize their parents' persistent behavior but only selectively imitate their disengagement behavior.
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Kruglanski AW, Ellenberg M, Pierro A. It’s All About Significance: A Reframing in Response to Commentaries. PSYCHOLOGICAL INQUIRY 2022. [DOI: 10.1080/1047840x.2022.2038008] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/18/2022]
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Milyavsky M, Chernikova M. Agency and Assistance Are Compensatory When They Are Perceived as Substitutable Means: A Response to Commentaries. PSYCHOLOGICAL INQUIRY 2022. [DOI: 10.1080/1047840x.2022.2038009] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/18/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Maxim Milyavsky
- Faculty of Business Administration, Ono Academic College, Kiryat Ono, Israel
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Leonard JA, Lydon-Staley DM, Sharp SDS, Liu HZ, Park AT, Bassett DS, Duckworth AL, Mackey AP. Daily fluctuations in young children's persistence. Child Dev 2022; 93:e222-e236. [PMID: 34904237 PMCID: PMC8930564 DOI: 10.1111/cdev.13717] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/26/2022]
Abstract
Children's behavior changes from day to day, but the factors that contribute to its variability are understudied. We developed a novel repeated measures paradigm to study children's persistence by capitalizing on a task that children complete every day: toothbrushing (N = 81; 48% female; 36-47 months; 80% white, 14% Multiracial, 10% Hispanic, 2% Asian, 1% Black; 1195 observations collected between January 2019 and March 2020). Children brushed longer on days when their parents used more praise (d = .23) and less instruction (d = -.22). Sensitivity to mood, sleep, and parent stress varied across children, suggesting that identifying the factors that shape an individual child's persistence could lead to personalized interventions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Julia A. Leonard
- Department of Psychology, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 19104 USA
- Department of Psychology, Yale University, New Haven, CT, 06511 USA
| | - David M. Lydon-Staley
- Annenberg School for Communication, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 19104 USA
- Department of Bioengineering, School of Engineering & Applied Science, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 19104 USA
- Leonard Davis Institute of Health Economics, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 19104 USA
| | - Sophie D. S. Sharp
- Department of Psychology, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 19104 USA
| | - Hunter Z. Liu
- Department of Psychology, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 19104 USA
| | - Anne T. Park
- Department of Psychology, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 19104 USA
| | - Danielle S. Bassett
- Department of Bioengineering, School of Engineering & Applied Science, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 19104 USA
- Leonard Davis Institute of Health Economics, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 19104 USA
- Department of Electrical & Systems Engineering, School of Engineering & Applied Science, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 19104 USA
- Department of Neurology, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 19104 USA
- Department of Physics & Astronomy, College of Arts & Sciences, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 19104 USA
- Department of Psychiatry, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 19104 USA
- Santa Fe Institute, Santa Fe, NM 87501 USA
| | - Angela L. Duckworth
- Department of Psychology, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 19104 USA
| | - Allyson P. Mackey
- Department of Psychology, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 19104 USA
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Leonard JA, Duckworth AL, Schulz LE, Mackey AP. Leveraging cognitive science to foster children's persistence. Trends Cogn Sci 2021; 25:642-644. [PMID: 34074578 DOI: 10.1016/j.tics.2021.05.005] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/26/2021] [Revised: 05/09/2021] [Accepted: 05/10/2021] [Indexed: 10/21/2022]
Abstract
Persistence is crucial for overcoming academic and interpersonal challenges. However, there has been little progress in developing effective interventions to improve persistence in childhood. Here we outline how recent insights from cognitive science can be leveraged to promote young children's persistence and highlight future directions to bridge research with practice.
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Affiliation(s)
- Julia A Leonard
- Department of Psychology, School of Arts and Sciences, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA.
| | - Angela L Duckworth
- Department of Psychology, School of Arts and Sciences, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA; The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA
| | - Laura E Schulz
- Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA
| | - Allyson P Mackey
- Department of Psychology, School of Arts and Sciences, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA
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