The opportunity to collaborate increases preschoolers' motivation for challenging tasks
The opportunity to collaborate increases preschoolers' motivation for challenging tasks
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DOI：
10.1016/j.jecp.2013.06.007
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发表时间：
2013-12-01
影响因子：
2.6
通讯作者：
Walton, Gregory M.
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Butler, Lucas P.;Walton, Gregory M.
合作应对具有挑战性的工作是人类社会的基础。最近的研究表明，幼儿不仅有动力与他人合作，例如帮助他人实现他们的目标，而且也可能有动力与他人合作以追求共同的目标。然而，协作如此重要的主要原因是，协作机会可以让人们齐心协力，努力克服挑战。两项研究（N = 70）测试了一项活动本身的协作性质是否可以使学龄前儿童更喜欢具有挑战性的任务并在这些任务上坚持更长时间。为了隔离协作的心理感受，我们通过操纵纯粹的协作心理线索来测试这一假设。在所有情况下，儿童都是独自工作。两项研究都发现，相对于两种非协作控制条件，此类线索大大增加了学龄前儿童解决挑战性难题的动机，包括他们对难题的坚持和喜爱。我们认为，早期出现的参与共享协作活动的动力会让孩子们发现协作活动具有内在的激励作用。这可能是孩子们开始正规学校教育的重要动机基础。 (C) 2013 Elsevier Inc. 保留所有权利。
Collaborating on challenging endeavors is a foundation of human society. Recent research suggests that young children are not only motivated to cooperate with others for instance, to help others accomplish their goals but may also be motivated to collaborate with others to pursue shared goals. However, a primary reason why collaboration is so important is because opportunities to collaborate can bring people together to work hard to overcome challenges. Two studies (N = 70) tested whether the collaborative nature of an activity itself can cause preschoolers to enjoy challenging tasks more and to persist longer on them. To isolate the psychological feeling of collaboration, we tested this hypothesis by manipulating purely psychological cues of collaboration; in all cases, children worked while physically alone. Both studies found that such cues substantially increased preschoolers' motivation on a challenging puzzle, including their persistence on and liking for the puzzle, relative to two non-collaborative control conditions. We suggest that an early emerging drive to engage in shared collaborative activities leads children to find collaborative activities to be intrinsically motivating. This may represent an important basis of motivation as children embark on formal schooling. (C) 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.