Exploring an Age Difference in Preschool Children's Competitiveness Following a Competition
1Research Institute of Social Development, Southwestern University of Finance and Economics, Chengdu, China.
Frontiers in Psychology
|March 30, 2018
Summary
Preschool children
Area of Science:
- Developmental Psychology
- Social Psychology
Background:
- Resource acquisition is linked to competition in young children.
- The developmental trajectory of competitiveness in preschoolers remains underexplored.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the development of competitiveness in preschool children.
- To examine how prior competition experience (winning, losing, or control) influences subsequent competitive choices against familiar rivals and anonymous competitors.
Main Methods:
- 166 children (aged 2-4 and 5-6 years) participated in a dyadic competition task.
- Participants were then observed making choices to compete again with a rival or a non-rival competitor for a reward.
- A control group engaged in a non-competitive task for comparison.
Main Results:
- An overall age-related decrease in the tendency to compete was observed.
- This age difference was significant in the control group when competing with a familiar partner.
- The effect was also significant in the losing group when competing against an anonymous non-rival competitor.
Conclusions:
- Competitiveness in preschoolers shows developmental changes, influenced by age and prior competitive outcomes.
- Future research should explore the roles of motivation and cognitive control in shaping children's competitive behavior.
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