Infants make more attempts to achieve a goal when they see adults persist
Persistence, above and beyond IQ, is associated with long-term academic outcomes. To look at the effect of adult models on infants’ persistence, we conducted an experiment in which 15-month-olds were assigned to one of three conditions: an Effort condition in which they saw an adult try repeatedly,...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | en_US |
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American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)
2018
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| Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/113043 https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8099-2721 https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2981-8039 |
| _version_ | 1826191882893393920 |
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| author | Leonard, Julia Lee, Yu-Na Schulz, Laura E |
| author2 | Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences |
| author_facet | Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences Leonard, Julia Lee, Yu-Na Schulz, Laura E |
| author_sort | Leonard, Julia |
| collection | MIT |
| description | Persistence, above and beyond IQ, is associated with long-term academic outcomes. To look at the effect of adult models on infants’ persistence, we conducted an experiment in which 15-month-olds were assigned to one of three conditions: an Effort condition in which they saw an adult try repeatedly, using various methods, to achieve each of two different goals; a No Effort condition in which the adult achieved the goals effortlessly; or a Baseline condition. Infants were then given a difficult, novel task. Across an initial study and two preregistered experiments (N = 262), infants in the Effort condition made more attempts to achieve the goal than did infants in the other conditions. Pedagogical cues modulated the effect. The results suggest that adult models causally affect infants’ persistence and that infants can generalize the value of persistence to novel tasks. |
| first_indexed | 2024-09-23T09:02:46Z |
| format | Article |
| id | mit-1721.1/113043 |
| institution | Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
| language | en_US |
| last_indexed | 2024-09-23T09:02:46Z |
| publishDate | 2018 |
| publisher | American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | mit-1721.1/1130432022-09-26T10:05:29Z Infants make more attempts to achieve a goal when they see adults persist Leonard, Julia Lee, Yu-Na Schulz, Laura E Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences Schulz, Laura, E. Leonard, Julia Lee, Yu-Na Schulz, Laura E Persistence, above and beyond IQ, is associated with long-term academic outcomes. To look at the effect of adult models on infants’ persistence, we conducted an experiment in which 15-month-olds were assigned to one of three conditions: an Effort condition in which they saw an adult try repeatedly, using various methods, to achieve each of two different goals; a No Effort condition in which the adult achieved the goals effortlessly; or a Baseline condition. Infants were then given a difficult, novel task. Across an initial study and two preregistered experiments (N = 262), infants in the Effort condition made more attempts to achieve the goal than did infants in the other conditions. Pedagogical cues modulated the effect. The results suggest that adult models causally affect infants’ persistence and that infants can generalize the value of persistence to novel tasks. National Science Foundation (U.S.). Graduate Research Fellowship Program National Science Foundation (U.S.) (STC Award CCF-1231216) 2018-01-10T16:14:01Z 2018-01-10T16:14:01Z 2017-09 2017-03 Article http://purl.org/eprint/type/JournalArticle 0036-8075 1095-9203 http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/113043 Leonard, Julia A., et al. “Infants Make More Attempts to Achieve a Goal When They See Adults Persist.” Science, vol. 357, no. 6357, Sept. 2017, pp. 1290–94. https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8099-2721 https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2981-8039 en_US http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.aan2317 Science Article is made available in accordance with the publisher's policy and may be subject to US copyright law. Please refer to the publisher's site for terms of use. application/pdf American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) Prof. Schulz |
| spellingShingle | Leonard, Julia Lee, Yu-Na Schulz, Laura E Infants make more attempts to achieve a goal when they see adults persist |
| title | Infants make more attempts to achieve a goal when they see adults persist |
| title_full | Infants make more attempts to achieve a goal when they see adults persist |
| title_fullStr | Infants make more attempts to achieve a goal when they see adults persist |
| title_full_unstemmed | Infants make more attempts to achieve a goal when they see adults persist |
| title_short | Infants make more attempts to achieve a goal when they see adults persist |
| title_sort | infants make more attempts to achieve a goal when they see adults persist |
| url | http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/113043 https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8099-2721 https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2981-8039 |
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