Related Experiment Videos
Differences in shame and pride as a function of children's gender and task difficulty
M Lewis1, S M Alessandri, M W Sullivan
1Department of Pediatrics, University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, New Brunswick 08903-0019.
Child Development
|June 1, 1992
Summary
Young children experience shame more after failing easy tasks than difficult ones. Pride emerges when succeeding on challenging tasks, with girls showing more shame than boys during failure.
Area of Science:
- Developmental Psychology
- Child Emotional Development
Background:
- Understanding the emergence of self-conscious emotions like shame and pride in early childhood is crucial.
- Task difficulty and success/failure are known moderators of emotional responses in children.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate how task difficulty influences shame and pride in 3-year-old children.
- To examine sex differences in the display of shame and pride related to task performance.
Main Methods:
- 3-year-old children were presented with tasks of varying difficulty (easy and difficult).
- Emotional responses, specifically shame and pride, were observed following task success or failure.
- Data on task performance, emotional displays, and child's sex were collected.
Main Results:
- Children displayed shame when failing tasks, with significantly more shame observed after failing easy tasks compared to difficult ones.
- Pride was evident upon task success, with significantly more pride shown after succeeding on difficult tasks than easy ones.
- While no sex differences were found in task failure rates, girls exhibited more shame than boys; no sex differences in pride were observed.
Conclusions:
- Task difficulty significantly modulates shame and pride responses in young children.
- Early childhood emotional development shows nuanced responses to success and failure, influenced by task challenge.
- Gender differences in shame expression emerge early, even when overall performance is comparable.