title: Young children's beliefs about self-disclosure of performance failure and success.
abstract: Self-disclosure of performance information involves the balancing of instrumental, learning benefits (e.g., obtaining help) against social costs (e.g., diminished reputation). Little is known about young children's beliefs about performance self-disclosure. The present research investigates preschool- and early school-age children's expectations of self-disclosure in different contexts. In two experiments, 3- to 7-year-old children (total N = 252) heard vignettes about characters who succeeded or failed at solving a puzzle. Both experiments showed that children across all ages reasoned that people are more likely to self-disclose positive than negative performances, and Experiment 2 showed that children across all ages reasoned that people are more likely to self-disclose both positive and negative performances in a supportive than an unsupportive peer environment. Additionally, both experiments revealed changes with age - Younger children were less likely to expect people to withhold their performance information (of both failures and successes) than older children. These findings point to the preschool ages as a crucial beginning to children's developing recognition of people's reluctance to share performance information.
authors.affiliation: The Design Lab, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, California, USA.
authors.forename: Catherine M
authors.initials: CM
authors.lastname: Hicks
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Gail D
authors.initials: GD
authors.lastname: Heyman
mesh_terms: D000124:Achievement; D002648:Child; D002657:Child Development / Q000502:physiology*; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D012650:Self Disclosure; D012919:Social Behavior
keywords: academic performance; children's understanding of performance; classroom; competency; disclosure; peer relationships; reputation management; social cognition