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When Success Is Surprising: Children's Ability to Use Surprise to Infer Competence.

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Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

People infer competence from others' surprise reactions to performance. Surprise at success suggests lower competence, while surprise at failure suggests higher competence, influencing social judgments.

Keywords:
academic achievementaffective cognitioncognitive developmentsocial cognitiontheory of mind

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Area of Science:

  • Cognitive Psychology
  • Developmental Psychology
  • Social Psychology

Background:

  • Humans infer social and personal qualities from observing others' emotional expressions.
  • Emotional reactions, such as surprise, can signal information about events and individuals.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate whether observers infer competence from another person's surprise reactions to performance outcomes.
  • To examine how surprise influences judgments of competence in children and adults.

Main Methods:

  • Participants (adults and children aged 4-8) evaluated "who is better" between two students with identical performance outcomes.
  • A teacher's surprise reaction was directed at one student's success or failure, or an irrelevant event.
  • Judgments were analyzed based on performance, teacher's surprise, and participant age.

Main Results:

  • Participants inferred competence based on the teacher's surprise. Surprise at success led to lower competence ratings, while surprise at failure led to higher ratings.
  • This effect was present in 6- to 8-year-olds but not 4- to 5-year-olds, showing developmental robustness.
  • The pattern disappeared when surprise was directed at an irrelevant event, confirming its link to performance.

Conclusions:

  • Non-valenced emotional reactions like surprise to performance outcomes can inform social judgments of competence.
  • Emotional expressions observed in daily life contribute to nuanced social inferences.
  • These findings highlight the role of emotional cues in understanding others' abilities, even from a young age.