A bias for the natural? Children’s beliefs about traits acquired through effort, bribes, or medicine.

Abstract

Three studies compared beliefs about natural and late blooming positive traits with those acquired through personal effort, extrinsic rewards or medicine. Young children (5-6 years), older children (8-13 years), and adults all showed a strong bias for natural and late blooming traits over acquired traits. All age groups, except 8- to 10-year-olds, treated natural and late-blooming traits as fixed essences that would persist over time and under challenging conditions. Older children and adults viewed traits acquired by intrinsic effort as more similar to natural and late-blooming traits than those acquired through bribes or medicine, suggesting that intrinsic effort itself comes to be seen as a more natural mechanism of change. A bias for the natural may therefore be an early emerging way of evaluating others that is reinforced by the ambient culture and becomes stronger with increasing age.

The emergence and evolution of optimistic expectations in schoolchildren

“…Other studies confirm such findings (Barnett, Sonnentag, Wadian, Jones & Langley, 2015;Lockhart et al 2008Lockhart et al , 2013 highlighting specific domains and their development as age progresses. Thus, Lockhart et al (2013) and Barnett et al (2015) studied predictions associated with effort, or with the use of medicinal substances or with support from the outside: these areas are all viewed differently according to age.…”

“…Similar results regarding optimistic bias can be found in other studies by the same authors (Lockhart, Keil & Aw, 2013;Lockhart, Nakashima, Inagaki & Keil, 2008) and in further investigations of the attribution of intentions to third parties (Boseovski, 2012;Sato & Wakebe, 2014). Boseovski (2010) highlights the relevance of such optimistic slants: they form part of social reasoning and play a relevant role in the adaptation process undergone by children in those ages.…”

“…Thus, for instance, biological traits pertaining to the physical world obey more realistic patterns than psychological or hybrid traits. It seems as if children, from early childhood onward, already tend to make causal inferences resorting to knowledge areas that differentiate between the physical, the biological and the psychological domain (Erickson, Keil & Lockhart, 2010;Lockhart et al, 2013). Such explanations are similar in children of the same age, but the reasoning they provide for their justification incorporates more and more dimensions as they progressively accumulate personal experience and as their capacity for logic improves.…”

“…Thus, Lockhart et al (2013) and Barnett et al (2015) studied predictions associated with effort, or with the use of medicinal substances or with support from the outside: these areas are all viewed differently according to age. Furthermore, Lockhart et al (2008) found that predictions associated with effort differ among cultures, and that such differences emerge with age.…”

Does Hard Work Pay Off? The Influence of Perceived Effort on Romantic Attraction

“…The researchers reviewed research on different types of effort to create the vignettes. The vignettes focused on effort originating from intrinsic motivation, seeing as effort originating from extrinsic sources was not viewed as stable (Lockhart, Keil, & Aw, 2013). The activity chosen was soccer because, not only is it a common activity in which many can participate, but it was believed that if the effort was geared towards relationships then it would be too influential on the participants' desirability ratings.…”