Alexandra Raport , Canan Ipek, Valentina Gomez, Henrike Moll
{"title":"Two- and three-year-olds prefer mastery-oriented over outcome-oriented help","authors":"Alexandra Raport , Canan Ipek, Valentina Gomez, Henrike Moll","doi":"10.1016/j.cogdev.2024.101462","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>It has been shown that school-aged children often turn to others for help with the motive to learn and expand on their knowledge or skills (so-called “mastery-oriented” help-seeking, Nelson-Le Gall, 1985). Although help-seeking in problem-solving contexts is increasingly studied in preschoolers, there is so far no experimental evidence that young children show a preference for mastery- as opposed to outcome-driven help. In two online experiments (N = 144, 72 female), 2- and 3-year-olds from diverse ethno-racial backgrounds living in the United States (68 % White; 16 % Latine) watched an agent failing at a task (e.g., pouring water into a cup) before they selected one of two helpers for the agent: one who demonstrated how to perform the task (mastery-oriented helper) or one who completed the task without demonstration (outcome-oriented helper). Children of both ages selected mastery-oriented helpers to assist the struggling agent (Experiments 1 and 2) but chose helpers randomly in a control condition in which the agent succeeded at the task and therefore needed no mastery-oriented help (Experiment 2). The findings indicate that young children recognize that furthering one’s abilities is a core motive of help-seeking.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":51422,"journal":{"name":"Cognitive Development","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.8000,"publicationDate":"2024-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Cognitive Development","FirstCategoryId":"102","ListUrlMain":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0885201424000479","RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q3","JCRName":"PSYCHOLOGY, DEVELOPMENTAL","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
It has been shown that school-aged children often turn to others for help with the motive to learn and expand on their knowledge or skills (so-called “mastery-oriented” help-seeking, Nelson-Le Gall, 1985). Although help-seeking in problem-solving contexts is increasingly studied in preschoolers, there is so far no experimental evidence that young children show a preference for mastery- as opposed to outcome-driven help. In two online experiments (N = 144, 72 female), 2- and 3-year-olds from diverse ethno-racial backgrounds living in the United States (68 % White; 16 % Latine) watched an agent failing at a task (e.g., pouring water into a cup) before they selected one of two helpers for the agent: one who demonstrated how to perform the task (mastery-oriented helper) or one who completed the task without demonstration (outcome-oriented helper). Children of both ages selected mastery-oriented helpers to assist the struggling agent (Experiments 1 and 2) but chose helpers randomly in a control condition in which the agent succeeded at the task and therefore needed no mastery-oriented help (Experiment 2). The findings indicate that young children recognize that furthering one’s abilities is a core motive of help-seeking.
期刊介绍:
Cognitive Development contains the very best empirical and theoretical work on the development of perception, memory, language, concepts, thinking, problem solving, metacognition, and social cognition. Criteria for acceptance of articles will be: significance of the work to issues of current interest, substance of the argument, and clarity of expression. For purposes of publication in Cognitive Development, moral and social development will be considered part of cognitive development when they are related to the development of knowledge or thought processes.