Children's conceptions of effort and ability in the physical and academic domains

Mary Diane Walling, Purdue University

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine one of the developmental components of Nicholls' (1989) theory of achievement motivation. Specifically, children's understanding of effort and ability in the physical and academic domains was explored and contrasted. Students (N = 144, n = 8 boys and n = 8 girls at each age from 5-13 years) participated in two sessions; in each session they viewed two films and responded to questions posed in a structured interview after each film. The films showed two children (i.e., actors) applying unequal effort and two scenarios were given for the outcome: (1) the children achieved the same score, and (2) the lazier child outscored the hard working child. The physical and academic films portrayed children throwing beanbags at a target and working on math problems, respectively. Upon viewing each film children were asked whether the actors varied in their effort and ability; also, they were asked to explain the result and speculate on a future outcome when both would exert maximum effort. Children's perceptions regarding success achieved through high ability verses high effort were also examined. A developmental-structural analysis of the children's responses was conducted and the same four levels of understanding of effort and ability identified by Nicholls (1978) emerged. In addition, a fifth level was included which represented children who were unable to identify the hard working student in the films and/or whose responses did not address the effort/ability issue. Nonparametric tests of association between ordinal variables showed a significant positive relationship between age and conceptions of ability in the physical and academic domains, respectively. For the majority of children, conceptions of ability across domains were identical. When children reflected diverging levels across domains, there was a tendency for them to have a more mature understanding of effort and ability in the physical domain. No gender differences were evident in children's understanding of effort and ability in either the physical $\{$z =.88, p $<$.38$\}$ or academic $\{$z =.79, p $<$.43$\}$ domains. Children's perceptions about ability versus effort-based success was not systematically related to their conceptions of ability.

Degree

Ph.D.

Advisors

Duda, Purdue University.

Subject Area

Physical education|Developmental psychology|Educational psychology

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