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Children perpetuate competence-based inequality when they help peers
Psychologynpj Science of Learning

Children perpetuate competence-based inequality when they help peers

J. Sierksma

This research by Jellie Sierksma delves into how young children may contribute to competence-based inequality by offering help differently based on perceived competence. Understanding that hints are more beneficial than direct answers, children seem to reserve empowering assistance for competent peers. Discover the implications of these findings!... show more
Abstract
Exchanges of help between children are common and often have positive consequences. But not all help is equally beneficial, for example because some help does not provide an opportunity to practice and develop skills. Here I examine whether young children might perpetuate competence-based inequality by providing incompetent peers with less opportunity to practice and improve their skills compared to competent peers. Study 1 (N=253, 6–9 years) shows that young children understand not all help is equally beneficial: Children think that peers who receive empowerment (hints) vs. non-empowerment (correct answers) help can learn more. Study 2 (N=80) and 3 (N=41) then assessed children’s (7–9 years) actual helping behavior in a lab-based experiment. Through a cover story, participants were introduced to two unknown, same-age children whom they later overheard were either good or not good at solving puzzles (Study 2) or math (Study 3). Subsequently, participants got to help both of them with a puzzle-quiz (Study 2) or a math-quiz (Study 3) by providing either empowerment or non-empowerment when they asked for help. Across both studies, children were more likely to provide empowerment help to competent peers, and non-empowerment help to incompetent peers. This work suggests that when young children perceive differences in competence (e.g., based on stereotypes), they contribute to maintaining the status quo by providing the most vulnerable students, that would profit the most from improving their skills, less opportunity to do so.
Publisher
npj Science of Learning
Published On
Sep 20, 2023
Authors
Jellie Sierksma
Tags
competenceinequalitychildrenhelpempowermentpsychology
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