TY - JOUR
T1 - Keep trying!
T2 - Parental language predicts infants’ persistence
AU - Lucca, Kelsey
AU - Horton, Rachel
AU - Sommerville, Jessica A.
N1 - Funding Information:
We thank the families who participated in this research as well as the research assistants of the Early Childhood Cognition lab at the University of Washington for their help in data collection and coding, particularly Morgan Bryson. This work was supported by a grant from NICHD ( 1R01HD076949-01 ) awarded to J.S. and an Early Career Research Grant from the Society for Research in Child Development awarded to K.L.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2019 Elsevier B.V.
PY - 2019/12
Y1 - 2019/12
N2 - Infants’ persistence in the face of challenges predicts their learning across domains. In older children, linguistic input is an important predictor of persistence: when children are praised for their efforts, as opposed to fixed traits, they try harder on future endeavors. Yet, little is known about the impact of linguistic input as individual differences in persistence are first emerging, during infancy. Based on a preliminary investigation of the CHILDES database, which revealed that language surrounding persistence is an early-emerging feature of children's language environment, we conducted an observational study to test how linguistic input in the form of praise and persistence-focused language more broadly impacts infants’ persistence. In Study 1, 18-month-olds and their caregivers participated in two tasks: a free-play task (a gear stacker) and a joint-book reading task. We measured parental language and infants’ persistent gear stacking. Findings revealed that infants whose parents spent more time praising their efforts and hard work (process praise), and used more persistence-focused language in general, were more persistent than infants whose parents used this language less often. Study 2 extended these findings by examining whether the effects of parental language on persistence carry over to contexts in which parents are uninvolved. The findings revealed that parental use of process praise predicted infants’ persistence even in the absence of parental support. Critically, these findings could not be explained by caregivers’ reporting on their own persistence. Together, these findings suggest that as early as 18 months, linguistic input is a key predictor of persistence.
AB - Infants’ persistence in the face of challenges predicts their learning across domains. In older children, linguistic input is an important predictor of persistence: when children are praised for their efforts, as opposed to fixed traits, they try harder on future endeavors. Yet, little is known about the impact of linguistic input as individual differences in persistence are first emerging, during infancy. Based on a preliminary investigation of the CHILDES database, which revealed that language surrounding persistence is an early-emerging feature of children's language environment, we conducted an observational study to test how linguistic input in the form of praise and persistence-focused language more broadly impacts infants’ persistence. In Study 1, 18-month-olds and their caregivers participated in two tasks: a free-play task (a gear stacker) and a joint-book reading task. We measured parental language and infants’ persistent gear stacking. Findings revealed that infants whose parents spent more time praising their efforts and hard work (process praise), and used more persistence-focused language in general, were more persistent than infants whose parents used this language less often. Study 2 extended these findings by examining whether the effects of parental language on persistence carry over to contexts in which parents are uninvolved. The findings revealed that parental use of process praise predicted infants’ persistence even in the absence of parental support. Critically, these findings could not be explained by caregivers’ reporting on their own persistence. Together, these findings suggest that as early as 18 months, linguistic input is a key predictor of persistence.
KW - Cognitive development
KW - Infancy
KW - Language
KW - Learning
KW - Motivation
KW - Parent-child interactions
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85068902395&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85068902395&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.cognition.2019.104025
DO - 10.1016/j.cognition.2019.104025
M3 - Article
C2 - 31325720
AN - SCOPUS:85068902395
SN - 0010-0277
VL - 193
JO - Cognition
JF - Cognition
M1 - 104025
ER -