Abstract:

Although a growing body of research shows that children can infer others’ ability and effort, prior studies have typically relied on single-outcome scenarios, leaving open the question of whether these inferences are sensitive to changes in outcome information. The present study examined whether 4- to 7-year-old children’s and adults’ judgments of ability and effort are influenced by outcome cues, and whether they prefer smart or hardworking individuals. We employed a two-task paradigm in which participants were shown two characters completing two rounds of exams. In the first exam, both characters achieved identical outcomes, but one completed faster than the other. Participants inferred which character was smarter and more hardworking, and evaluated the two characters. In the second exam, the outcome was manipulated such that the character previously judged as smarter (or more hardworking) performed worse than the other character. Participants were then asked to make the same inferences and evaluations again. Three main findings emerged. First, children as young as 4 years inferred that the character who finished the task faster as smarter, whereas inferences about effort showed developmental changes: 4-year-olds were unable to identify the hard-working character, but beginning around age 5.5 years, children inferred the character who took longer time as more hardworking. Second, children’s inferences of smartness were sensitive to outcome information, whereas their inferences about effort were less likely to change in response to outcome information. Third, older children increasingly favoring the hardworking character in their evaluations. These findings advance our understanding of achievement-related cognition and highlight developmental changes in children’s reasoning about ability and effort.

Key words: ability, effort, achievement-related cognition