Is sid the science kid biracial

Learning Objectives

By the end of this chapter, you will be able to:

• Explain the development of attitudes and beliefs as well as the influence that family, peers, mass media, and school have on the development of children.

• Describe a preschool child’s attributions and motives, including achievement motivation, locus of control, learned helplessness, and self-efficacy.

• Understand a preschool child’s development of self-esteem.

• Understand the role of values with regard to beliefs and behaviors of a preschool-aged child.

5

Cognitive and Emotional Outcomes: Early Childhood

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CHAPTER 5Pre-Test

Introduction

Have you ever wondered why preschool children are easily fooled by appearances and try to give life to nonliving objects like toys? Why do children seem to have a hard time seeing things from another person’s point of view during the pre- school years? At the end of this chapter you will be able to discuss some of the advances in preschool children’s thinking as we explore these ideas. In addition to outlining key milestones in children’s cognitive development, we will discuss other advances in pre- school children’s mental processes, including their beliefs and attitudes and factors that influence preschool children’s beliefs, such as parents, peers, and the media.

Why do you think that some preschoolers are persistent in trying again and again while others get frustrated easily? We will also investigate preschool children’s attributes and motives including achievement motivation. Parents and teachers often use rewards to try to motivate preschool children to succeed. We will compare extrinsic and intrinsic motiva- tion and how they influence children’s performance in early childhood. These observa- tions relate to the concepts of locus of control and learned helplessness.

This chapter will discuss children’s development as well as how family, peers, the mass media, and schools influence their attitudes and beliefs. We will look at some of the core values of preschoolers and what factors shape these values. We will discuss how theory of mind relates to advances in children’s values. These are some of the questions we will explore in this chapter.

Pre-Test

1. The period of preoperational thought begins around age 2 and continues to around age 7.

True False

2. Intrinsic motivation is defined as doing an activity to attain some separate out- come to get a reward or to avoid punishment.

True False

3. Erikson’s third stage of psychosocial development, initiative vs. guilt, is charac- terized by children dealing with conflicting feelings of self.

True False

4. According to Bronfenbrenner, a child’s microsystem has an insignificant effect on what that child values.

True False

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CHAPTER 5Section 5.1 Attitudes and Beliefs

Answers 1. True The answer can be found in Section 5.1. 2. False The answer can be found in Section 5.2. 3. True The answer can be found in Section 5.3. 4. False The answer can be found in Section 5.4.

5.1 Attitudes and Beliefs

Children acquire their attitudes and beliefs through a variety of ways. One of these is through their microsystems, the groups of people who most immediately influ-ence children’s development, such as family members, peers, and teachers (Bron- fenbrenner, 2005). In order to understand how these microsystems and other systems in the ecological model can affect children’s socialization and development of attitudes and beliefs, it is important to know how children develop cognitively. In looking at children’s cognitive development, it is most helpful to examine Jean Piaget’s stages of development (see Section 2.3). The ways in which children learn and develop will ulti- mately affect how they process the messages they receive from their microsystems, thus playing a role in shaping their attitudes and beliefs. Table 5.1 outlines Piaget’s stages of cognitive development.

Table 5.1: Piaget’s stages of cognitive development

Birth–age 2 Ages 2–7 Ages 7–11 Onset ages 11–15 through adulthood

Sensorimotor Stage Preoperational Stage Concrete Operational Stage

Formal Operational Stage

Infants use their senses and motor skills to explore their environments.

Over time they will develop awareness of object permanence and the cognitive ability of symbolic representation, which they will continue to use for the rest of their lives.

Children in the preoperational stage continue to investigate their environments through direct experience with objects and interactions with others.

Preoperational children view their experiences through an egocentric lens, which affects the way they develop understanding and build their schemas.

Children in the concrete operational stage are a lot less egocentric than they were in the prior stage.

They gradually acquire the cognitive ability of conservation because they can reason based on logic rather than relying on their perceptions.

Once individuals reach the formal operational stage, they can engage in abstract reasoning and hypothetical thinking.

Piaget identified four distinct stages of cognitive development through which individuals proceed in sequence. Although Piaget identified approximate ages for each stage, rates of development vary to some degree depending upon each individual’s maturation and experience.

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CHAPTER 5Section 5.1 Attitudes and Beliefs

These advances and limitations have a great influence on a child’s cognitive development. It is important to understand all of the advances and limitations that Piaget described, because without understanding the way children think at this age, it is almost impossible to know how they develop attitudes and beliefs.

Piaget’s Second Stage

At this point we should explore Piaget’s second stage, or the preoperational stage, which begins around age 2 and continues until about age 7. One of the main hallmarks of this stage is language development, which helps children of this age express their ideas. In the midst of Piaget’s preoperational thought, children are beginning to develop their own attitudes and beliefs about the world around them. Just as important as children develop- ing their own attitudes and beliefs are the influences of those attitudes and beliefs. Family, peers, mass media, and school all play a role in the development.

The preoperational stage is characterized by expansion of the use of symbolic thought (Piaget, 1952, 1964). For example, Tamara is 4 years old and lives in Chicago. However, her grandmother lives in Philadelphia. Tamara is able to talk to her father about her grand- mother without seeing her. Symbolic thought, or symbolic function, refers to the ability to use mental representations such as words, numbers, or images to attach meaning. In this stage of development, Tamara no longer needs to see a picture of her grandmother or to hear others talk about her grandmother to understand that her grandmother still exists. Tamara is even able to draw pictures of her grandmother based upon her memory from last summer’s visit. This characterization is helpful in terms of Bronfenbrenner’s micro- systems because though children may not physically be with their parents, they are aware that their parents still exist and can imagine what they would do in particular situations, thereby helping to solidify children’s attitudes and beliefs.

Another cognitive advance closely related to this, which is often seen in preschoolers, is the use of symbols. In symbolic play, a child will take an everyday item and pretend it is something else. For example, Tamara plays with the household broom, pretending it is her father’s guitar. Children can imagine that objects or people have properties other than those they actually have.

Think About It

When growing up would you ever pick up a hairbrush, using it as a microphone while singing and dancing around your room? The hairbrush served as a symbol of a microphone. What other items can you think of that children use in symbolic play today?

Children between the ages of 2 and 7 go through huge cognitive advances. However, there are still many aspects of their cognitive development that are immature. In fact, Piaget (1952, 1964) described seven limitations of preoperational thought. These limitations are labeled centration, irreversibility, focus on states rather than on transformations, trans- duction, egocentrism, animism, and the inability to distinguish appearance from real- ity. For definitions and examples of each, see Table 5.2.

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CHAPTER 5Section 5.1 Attitudes and Beliefs

Table 5.2: Limitations of cognitive development

Limitation Definition Example

Centration A child’s tendency to focus on one aspect of a situation while neglecting others

A child is shown two glasses of water. One glass is tall and skinny and the other is short and round. An adult puts the same amount of water into each glass; however, when the child is asked which glass has more water, the child will say that the tall, skinny glass of water has more in it.

Irreversibility A child’s failure to understand that certain operations or actions can be reversed

Kathy has a favorite ball that she plays with every day. One morning she finds that the cap has been opened and the ball has deflated. She begins crying, because she believes that her ball is gone and does not understand that it can be reinflated.

Focus on states rather than transformation

A child’s failure to understand the significance of transformation between states

Beth does not understand that transforming the shape of the liquid (pouring it from one container to another) does not change the amount. She believes that there was more water in the tall glass even though she just watched as all of the water was poured from the tall glass into the round glass.

Transduction A child’s tendency to mentally link particular experiences and events even though there is no logical relationship between them

Maxine complains to her mother that she no longer wants to go to summer camp because she does not like it. Later that day at summer camp, Maxine’s older sister, Eileen, falls, cuts her head, and receives seven stitches. Maxine believes that she caused her sister’s injury because she complained about summer camp earlier to her mother.

Egocentrism A child’s belief that everyone else thinks, perceives, believes, and feels as the child does

Three-year-old Lily is in the back seat of the car riding home from school with her dad. She says to him, “Hey look at the sticker that I put on my sandal today at school.” Her father replies, “I can’t see it right now, I will have to look at it when we get home.” Lily then replies to her father, “But Dad, why can’t you see it? It is right here on my sandal?” Lily does not understand that her father cannot see what she is looking at because she believes that what she sees her father sees as well.

Animism A child’s tendency to attribute life to inanimate objects

While playing with her dolls, Maitri notices that her favorite doll has a tear in the seam. Maitri starts to cry and runs to her mother saying that her doll is sick and needs to go to the hospital to get stitches. When Maitri’s mother tells her that she will just sew her up, Maitri is confused and tells her mother that she cannot do that because she is not a doctor and only doctors can do stitches.

Inability to distinguish appearance from reality

A child’s tendency to confuse what is real with outward appearance

Tyler is drinking his milk when he notices a pair of red- tinted glasses lying on the table. Tyler puts the glasses on and exclaims to his mother. “WOW, this milk just turned red!” He then takes off the glasses and sees that the milk is white again. Tyler believes that the glasses are turning his milk the color red and not that the glasses are tinted.

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CHAPTER 5Section 5.1 Attitudes and Beliefs

Development of Attitudes and Beliefs

The development of attitudes in preschool children is influenced by various factors includ- ing family, peers, mass media, the greater community in which the child resides, and the school system in which the child is enrolled. A child’s age, cognitive development, and social experiences also greatly affect the development of his or her attitudes and beliefs (Van Ausdale & Feagin, 2001). For example, attitudes about diverse cultural groups sequentially develop in three phases (Brown & Bigler, 2005). During the first phase (from approximately age two and a half to three years old), children become aware of cultural differences. In phase two (beginning around age 4), children begin to have an orientation toward specific cultural related words and concepts. Finally, in phase three (beginning around age 7), children begin to have attitudes toward various cultural groups.

Preschool children are working through several advances of Piaget’s (1952, 1964) preopera- tional thought. Toward the end of the preoperational stage, children’s ability to categorize grows (Piaget, 1952, 1964). During this time, children begin to categorize similarities and differences that they see in regard to different cultures and ethnicity. The social experiences of preschool children provide them with a macrosystemic perspective (Brown & Bigler, 2005; Brown, 2010). That is, preschoolers come to know certain attitudes about different cultures, religions, ethnicities, gender, and disability by listening to people in their microsystem (parents, siblings, teachers, and coaches) and hearing about the relationships those peo- ple have with each other and the world around them (mesosystems and exosystems) (Bronfenbrenner, 1979, 1989, 1993, 1995, 2005). They become aware of these relationships and begin to notice things such as discrimination, violence, and prejudice.

Influences on Attitude and Belief Development

Family, peers, mass media, the greater community in which the child resides, and the school system in which the child is enrolled can influence a child’s attitudes and beliefs. According to Bronfenbrenner’s (1979, 1989, 1993, 1995, 2005) ecological model, these com- ponents of the microsystem as well as messages from the mass media and the greater community in which the child resides compose the child’s macrosystem. Both the micro- system and the macrosystem play an integral role with regard to the developing child.

Family Influences on Attitudes and Beliefs Young children are easily moldable and are often influenced by the actions they see and messages they hear from people they interact with regularly. Since they often spend the most time with their family members when they are young, these microsystems have strong influences on the initial development of their attitudes and beliefs.

Family members can influence attitude development through modeling of behavior. Think back to Chapter 1 (Section 1.2) to Bandura’s social learning theory. He argued that learning could be vicarious (Bandura, 1977, 1986, 1989). This means that a child can learn to perform a behavior simply by watching someone else perform that same behavior. When applying this theory to the influences on attitudes and beliefs, it is easy to see how

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CHAPTER 5Section 5.1 Attitudes and Beliefs

Children who reside in households with strict and rigid parents demonstrate signifi- cantly more prejudicial attitudes than their counterparts in nonauthoritarian households (Abound, 1988; Abound & Amato, 2001). This means that children who are raised in households with parents who communicate with them using respect, fairness, warmth, and reasoning develop less-prejudicial attitudes. Additionally, families who accept other cultures and teach their children to develop a healthy curiosity about others who are different from them will cultivate more positive attitudes and beliefs.

Families can influence children’s attitudes and beliefs on myriad other topics as well, such as the importance of an education, gender roles, career goals, work ethic, and self-esteem. How chil- dren are socialized when they are young ultimately affects their future attitudes and beliefs. In this way, members of children’s microsystems must be sure to act accordingly, as they play a vital role in shaping these children’s futures.

preschool-aged children will model the behaviors and attitudes they see in their everyday lives. This comes from interactions they have with and conversations they hear among their parents, grandparents, and extended family members.

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A family has much influence on a young child, including the formation of moral attitudes.

Did You Know?

Mothers’ implicit attitudes have been found to be significant predictors of children’s attitudes toward race (Castelli, Zogmaister, & Tomelleri, 2009). Implicit attitudes have to do with positive or negative thoughts, feelings, or actions toward objects or people that come from previous experiences that people are unaware of. Mothers who demonstrate prejudice and racism toward other cultures may teach their children to adopt the same attitudes without realizing they are doing so. Children gener- ally accept the statements of their parents as true because they have had little opportunity to experi- ence other outside influences. Other families may not be as open about their prejudices and will not instruct their children on how to feel or interact with people of other cultures, but the family’s atti- tude, whether positive or negative, will filter down to the children.

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CHAPTER 5Section 5.1 Attitudes and Beliefs

Peer Influences on Attitudes and Beliefs Peers are another big influence on a child’s attitudes and belief system. For some children, preschool is their first school experience (Paplia, Olds, & Feldman, 2009). Those children will begin to be exposed to what other children their age say and believe. They will begin to put more weight on what their friends say and the things they like and dislike. For example, Megan, a 3-year-old, recently entered preschool. She has long, straight brown hair, which her family and friends have told her is pretty, and she is proud of it. She befriends Nicole, a 4-year-old, with long, curly blond hair. Nicole tells Megan that she likes having curly blond hair because it looks like the hairstyles she sees in her mother’s magazines, more so than does Megan’s hair. This immediately influences Megan’s attitudes and beliefs. Megan begins to ask her mother to curl her hair every day and wishes she could change its color. Nicole has changed Megan’s view of what she considers to be “pretty” and her attitude about her self-image.

Voices: Attitudes Toward Disabilities

Maxine, age 4, enrolled in preschool full time: My name is Maxine, and I go to Sunnyside in Worth, Illinois. I love my school. There are lots of kids to play with. And there are a lot of toys to play with. This year, a new girl came to our class. Her name is Ava. Ava doesn’t look like us. She doesn’t talk like us. Sometimes I don’t know what she is saying. She scared me, and I did not want to play with her. I went home and told Mommy and Daddy about her. Mommy and Daddy said that I shouldn’t be scared and that Ava is just like me, she just looks different. Ava has Down’s syndrome, and she has feelings too. She was scared of us and scared of a new school. Mommy and Daddy told me not to be scared, but I still didn’t play with Ava when I went back to school.

Then, Mommy and Daddy took me to a place called Strawberry Fields. I was scared to go in. Mommy held my hand when we walked in. This place had lots of kids that looked and talked like Ava. Mommy and Daddy and me started going there every Saturday to help with art time. I love painting. The kids at Strawberry Fields love painting like me. I got an idea. When I got back to school, I asked Ava if she liked to paint. She smiled very big and said, “YES!” Ava is one of my best friends at school. We paint every day. We play dress-up and tag outside. She is funny.

Eileen, age 4, enrolled in preschool full time: My name is Eileen, and I go to school at Sunnyside in Worth, Illinois. I like school. They have lots and lots of toys and a big swing set. I love my teacher, Mr. Justin. He sings to us and he’s really good. A new girl came to our class. Her name is Ava. She doesn’t have any brothers or sisters. I don’t like her. She is weird. I don’t know what she is saying. All she wants to do is paint and play dress-up. When she first came to school, I went home and told my mommy about her. Mommy said, “Yes, she sounds weird. Stay away from her.” Mommy is right. I think that Maxine is weird too. Maxine and Ava play with each other all day, and I get mad. Me and Maxine used to play all the time. Mr. Justin says we can all play together. I believe my mom that she is weird, so I stay away from her.

Reflection Questions

1. How have the parents’ beliefs influenced the beliefs of these two children? 2. Which parents do you agree with? Why?

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CHAPTER 5Section 5.1 Attitudes and Beliefs

Children compare the acceptability of their beliefs to those of their friends and begin to compare and contrast the similarities and the differences of those who are in their circle of friends and those who are not a part of that circle. They will show more prejudice toward the children who are not part of their friend circle (Brown, 2010). Peer vic- timization, or bullying, may be a result of this.

Peer victimization, also known as bullying or peer harassment, is any physical, verbal, or psy- chological maltreatment that takes place in and around social settings like school (Graham, 2006). In other words, peer victimization does not just involve physical aggression like hitting or push- ing; it may involve verbal insults like teasing and name-calling. Bullying often takes place in the context of the mesosystem in Bronfenbrenner’s (1979, 1989, 2005) ecological model as preschool children interact with peers in different settings at school like the classroom and playground. Teachers often are the first ones to identify signs of bullying. Bullying is a serious problem that starts early in development, so parents and teach- ers need to be aware of warning signs so they can intervene as soon as possible for the sake of the bullies and the victims.

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This Muslim preschooler may face prejudice since she does not dress or look like the other children in her American preschool.

Case Study 5.1: Early Predictors of Peer Victimization in Preschool

Barker and colleagues (2008) examined the developmental pathways of peer victimization in a lon- gitudinal study that followed children from age 17 months through elementary school to look for early predictors of victimization. Their study revealed several key predictors of peer victimization in the preschool years. First, the best predictor of both chronic and increasing pathways of preschool peer victimization was high level of early physical aggression. For example, preschoolers who showed aggressive behaviors such as pushing and hitting very early in development, around age 17 months, were more likely to experience peer victimization in preschool compared to nonaggressive children. These findings suggest that early aggression is related to being both a victim and a bully; children who are highly aggressive at a young age are more likely to hang around other children who are aggressive and bully other children even if they are victims of bullying themselves.

Another key finding of the study was that early signs of hyperactivity and internalizing symptoms such as social withdrawal were not associated with peer victimization in preschool. Internalizing symp- toms have found to both predict and to be an outcome of bullying in late childhood and adolescence (Arseneault et al., 2006) but not in early childhood. Similarly, although hyperactivity is associated with troubles in getting along with peers (Kumpulainen, Raesaenen, & Puura, 2001), and it increases in victimized children in second grade, it does not appear to be an explicit predictor of victimization in preschool children. (continued)

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CHAPTER 5Section 5.1 Attitudes and Beliefs

Case Study 5.1: Early Predictors of Peer Victimization in Preschool (continued)

This study also revealed microsystem and macrosystem factors from Bronfenbrenner’s (1979, 1989, 2005) ecological model related to peer victimization in the preschool years. Regarding the child’s microsystem, harsh, reactive parenting was associated with peer victimization above and beyond what was predicted by the child’s aggressive behavior. In some families, parents may be strict and use harsh disciplinary practices, which models aggressive behaviors for children. Thus, the children watch these models and then use these strategies at school in their interactions with their peers, ultimately resulting in rejection and victimization (Barker et al., 2008). Regarding the macrosystem, the study found that insufficient parental income—for example, loss of income due to employment stemming from economic conditions in the country—predicted peer victimization in preschool. Barker and col- leagues (2008) suggested that insufficient income was a more general index of family strain that may be related to environmental stressors such as neighborhood poverty, family disruptions, and other adverse social conditions. These factors reflect the influence of the macrosystem. Parents experienc- ing stress in their environment may be more likely to use harsh discipline strategies.

Reflection Questions

1. Think back to your early childhood and recall the behaviors of bullies and victims. What behaviors did bullies demonstrate? What behaviors did victimized peers demonstrate?

2. How does the behavior of bullies relate to the different systems in Bronfenbrenner’s ecological model?

Mass Media Influences on Attitudes and Beliefs In Bronfenbrenner’s ecological model, mass media falls within the exosystem. However, many children spend a great deal of time with media every day and learn about their macrosystem (the culture in which they live) through the images they see and the mes- sages they hear through the media. Preschool-age children spend about 2 hours a day watching television or using screen media such as computers and handheld video games (Gutnick, Robb, Takeuchi, & Kotler, 2010). Preschool television in the United States has been commended for its high quality, and some of the popular programs for preschoolers feature children of different races (Moran, 2010). Television programs for preschoolers include shows such as Dora the Explorer, which features a Latina child, and Sid the Science Kid, which features a child that comes from a biracial family. This exposure to different cultures may cultivate more cultural curiosity and interest in children. However, children can also learn gender stereotypes or racism by watching other television shows or movies. In these cases, mesosystem influences may need to occur, in which parents or other adults may need to monitor television viewing habits or take the time to explain to children what they are seeing, as it has the potential to influence their attitudes and beliefs.

Television and movies are not the only sources of media influence on a child’s attitudes and beliefs. Many children’s books also depict characters of various races and gender. Some of these books do a wonderful job of showing diversity while others are still lacking. For example, many preschool books still typically depict mothers in domestic roles, rather than in jobs outside of the home. Children who have access to magazines and advertise- ments may also base their attitudes and beliefs on gender and race based on the images they see.

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CHAPTER 5Section 5.2 Attributions and Motives

School Influences on Attitudes and Beliefs As a microsystem in which children spend a majority of their days, schools play a vital role in the formation of preschool children’s attitudes and beliefs. Many studies have shown how gender-role stereotyping is often brought about in schools (Sadker & Sadker, 1994; Sadker & Zittleman, 2009). Many classrooms have gender-specific areas such as a block area for boys and a dramatic play area that is filled with kitchen sets, play food, and aprons for girls. Not only are these gender stereotypes found in classroom settings, but they are also found in school structures. More often, men are principals, while women are preschool and elementary school teachers (National Center for Education Statistics [NCES], 2006). Children become accustomed to this structure—where men are in positions of authority and women are the caring providers of information. They eventually grow up to expect that women will be teachers and men will be principals.

Additionally, gender expectations are reinforced by teachers. It has been found that teachers who project their gender expectations on their students reinforce traditional gender-role behavior (Goode & Brophy, 2007). Children between the ages of 3 and 5 show significantly increased gender stereo- types, less positive rating of other-sex peers, and decreased play with other-sex peers when their teachers make gender differences more noticeable (Hilliard & Liben, 2010). Girls typically receive more comments from their teachers regarding their appearance and their abilities to help oth- ers, and teachers express more emotion in com- munication with girls (Chick, Heilman-Houser, & Hunter, 2003). These actions teach children that there are differences between genders and that girls should care about their appearance and be emotional while boys should not.

5.2 Attributions and Motives

Attributions were defined in Chapter 3 (Section 3.3), as well as the differences between mastery motivation and achievement motivation. Mastery motivation is seen in infants and toddlers, whereas achievement motivation is something that is new to preschool-aged children. Because achievement motivation is thought to be learned (White, 1959), preschool children will learn the acceptable standards of behav- ior in their culture as well as how to evaluate if they are behaving accordingly. When examining attribution and motivation, it is important to take a closer look at the different types of motivation (intrinsic and extrinsic), locus of control, learned helplessness, and self-efficacy to understand why preschool children act the way they do. What is attrib- uting to their certain behaviors? What type of motivation or lack thereof is behind their actions and behaviors?

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Some classrooms in preschool may have gender-specific areas, where usually only one gender plays, such as the block area for boys.

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CHAPTER 5Section 5.2 Attributions and Motives

Achievement Motivation

Intrinsic motivation is participating in an activity for inherent satisfaction or enjoyment. For example, someone you know might like to garden because of the inner joy or satisfac- tion he or she feels while gardening. Participation in activities such as these can and often will continue on through adulthood because of the motivation that comes from within. Extrinsic motivation is participating in an activity to attain some separate outcome, such as to receive a reward or to avoid punishment. For example, children may behave at a store only because of the candy they were promised at the end of the trip if they behaved them- selves. Participation in activities with this type of motivation will likely not be repeated

unless there is another reward or avoidance of punishment. Micro- systems, such as home and class- room environments, can either facilitate or hinder intrinsic moti- vation by supporting or squelch- ing a child’s physiological need for competence and autonomy (Ryan & Deci, 2000).

Parents who respond to their child’s psychological needs in a bidirectional manner, mean- ing that they modify their rules and incentives according to their child’s behavior, will enhance their child’s intrinsic motivation (Pomerantz, Grolnick, & Price, 2007). Further, children who are

rewarded with tangible items (such as food, money, or toys) or punished with threats, directives, and competition, tend to diminish intrinsic motivation because they are seen as controllers of behavior. Choice and the opportunity for self-direction appear to enhance intrinsic motivation because it enables a sense of autonomy in the preschool child (Ryan & Deci, 2000).

Classroom instruction that is structured with a more child-centered approach can impact students’ motivation and achievement in positive ways. The child-centered approach resulted in preschool children who rated their own abilities significantly higher and had higher expectations for success on a particular task than preschool children in didactic programs (Stipek, Feiler, Daniels, & Milburn, 1995). Moreover, children in child-centered programs are more likely to choose more difficult tasks, are more likely to be proud of their academic accomplishments and exhibit less academic anxiety than their counter- parts in classrooms where the instruction is focused on the specific acquisition of a basic skill (Stipek, Feiler, Daniels, & Milburn, 1995). In addition to motivating children to partic- ipate in activities using intrinsic or extrinsic factors, the expectation for success or failure in an activity plays a role in whether children will participate. See Figure 5.1 for example comparisons between internal and external motivation.

iStockphoto/Thinkstock

This child is being rewarded extrinsically with a high five.

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CHAPTER 5Section 5.2 Attributions and Motives

Figure 5.1: Types of motivation

The figure above contrasts the outcomes of intrinsic and extrinsic motivations. How do these motivations affect children’s social development?

Locus of Control

Locus of control is one’s attribution of performance or perception of responsibility for success or failure. Locus of control can be either internal or external. A preschool child who attributes his or her performance or behavior to an internal locus of control attri- butes the responsibility for the behavior to him- or herself. For example, Lucy spends much of the time during free play at the painting center. When her teacher comes over and comments that she loves Lucy’s picture, Lucy responds to her teacher, “Thank you. I worked very hard on this, and I made sure to use lots of colors because that is what makes paintings pretty.”

Conversely, a child who attributes his or her behavior to an external locus of control attri- butes responsibility for the behavior to something outside him- or herself—external forces. For example, Ms. Linda overhears Todd and Norm fighting and then hears Norm crying. When she goes over to the boys, Todd yells, “Norm made me hit him; he took my toy!” How- ever, sometimes a preschool child will feel powerless over events and will subsequently no longer feel responsible for his or her behavior at all, losing all motivation to achieve. When this happens, the child is said to have developed a learned helplessness orientation.

Learned Helplessness

Learned helplessness is the general belief that one is incapable of accomplishing tasks and has little or no control of the environment (McDevitt & Ormrod, 2004). It is character- ized by decreased motivation and a failure to learn, and is often accompanied by negative emotions such as sadness, anxiety, and frustration (Fincham, 2008).

Intrinsic Motivation

Self-Motivation for Good Grades

Receives Good Grades

Gains Personal Satisfaction

Extrinsic Motivation

Parental Motivation for Good Grades

Receives Good Grades

Gains Parental Approval and Award

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CHAPTER 5Section 5.2 Attributions and Motives

Learned helplessness in preschoolers has been demonstrated mainly by having children attempt a task only to be met with repeated failure (Burhans & Dweck, 1995; Ziegert, Kistner, Castro, & Robertson, 2001). In fact, approximately one half to one third of all preschool, kindergarten, and first-grade children show elements of a learned helplessness pattern (Ruble & Dweck, 1995). One of the main differ- ences between preschool children who show signs of learned helplessness and older children who show signs of learned helplessness is that pre- school children interpret their poor performance as a sign of being bad, whereas older children interpret poor performance to a lack of knowledge.

People in these children’s microsystems can pre- vent and help children overcome learned helpless- ness by teaching their preschoolers to attempt tasks and activities that they are capable of performing by themselves. The more children are encouraged and the more they feel supported, the more will- ing they will be to try tasks on their own. Even if they repeatedly attempt a task and fail, parents can divide a big task into smaller, more manage- able tasks and help children succeed in that way. With patience and help from those in their micro- systems, children can overcome learned helpless- ness and begin to turn their negative thoughts into positive ones.

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Preschool children who suffer from learned helplessness often show signs of sadness, frustration, and anxiety.

Case Study 5.2: Preschool Children with Learned Helplessness

Learned helplessness appears to contribute to much of the school failure experienced by children with learning disabilities. Children with a learning disability often experience school problems throughout the course of their academic year and across many different settings (Reyes, 2011). Vari- ous tasks and different teachers can contribute to a child’s struggles within the Bronfenbrenner’s microsystem that is their school. This holds true for preschool children as well. Reyes (2011) detailed eight key features of learned helplessness that teachers, parents, and administrators should be aware of when working with children:

1. a tendency to exhibit low motivation to learn 2. a belief that they are unable to complete tasks on their own 3. a tendency to believe that they lack control of their behavior, and whatever they do will not lead

to success 4. a lack of confidence in their own skills and abilities 5. a tendency to base their good performance on a task to luck or chance 6. a tendency to underperform in all tasks because that is what they have known to happen in

the past (continued)

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CHAPTER 5Section 5.2 Attributions and Motives

Self-Efficacy

We now move from the idea of learned helplessness, which is the “I can’t” attitude, to the idea of self-efficacy, which is the “I can” attitude (Maddux & Volkmann, 2010). Self- efficacy is the belief in one’s competence—that one is capable of performing tasks in order to reach a goal (see Section 1.1). However, the concept of self-efficacy is difficult to apply to preschool children since at this age, self-esteem is not necessarily based in reality. For example, a preschool child who has overheard her parent tell her that she is the best art- ist will believe that about herself even though this may not in fact be the case. Preschool children base their self-esteem on what adults and children tell them. Four main factors affect self-efficacy (Bandura, 1977):

1. Experience: When children truly succeed on their own, their self-efficacy increases.

2. Modeling: When children see someone else succeed at a task, their self-efficacy increases and they believe they can succeed as well; similarly, when they see someone fail at a task, their self-efficacy decreases.

3. Social Persuasions: Encouragement will help to increase self-efficacy, while dis- couragement decreases it.