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Parenting Practices and Children’s Cognitive Effort: A Laboratory Study
Abstract
We examine the association between parenting practices (discipline and support) and children’s cognitive effort. Cognitive effort is hard to measure; hence, little is known about effort dispositions, and how parenting practices affect effort. We analyse data from 1,148 fifth-grade students from Berlin and Madrid (around 11 years of age). Cognitive effort is measured with tests of executive function, carried out under two reward schemes: an unincentivised and incentivised condition. We study two effort-related outcomes: “effort direction” – the child’s decision to voluntarily do a real-effort task – and “effort intensity” – the child’s performance on the task. In line with theoretical expectations, results indicate that both parental discipline and support are associated with effort direction when the moderating role of incentives is taken into account. However, only parental discipline is (weakly) associated with effort intensity. We conclude that parenting practices primarily influence deliberative rather than instinctual types of cognitive effort.
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Measuring individual differences in cognitive effort can be elusive as effort is a function of motivation and ability. We report six studies (N = 663) investigating the relationship of Need for Cognition and working memory capacity with three cognitive effort measures: demand avoidance in the Demand Selection Task, effort discounting measured as the indifference point in the Cognitive Effort Discounting paradigm, and rational reasoning score with items from the heuristic and bias literature. We measured perceived mental effort with the NASA task load index. The three tasks were not correlated with each other (all r’s < .1, all p’s > .1). Need for Cognition was positively associated with effort discounting (r = .168, p < .001) and rational reasoning (r = .176, p < .001), but not demand avoidance (r = .085, p = .186). Working memory capacity was related to effort discounting (r = .185, p = .004). Higher perceived effort was related to poorer rational reasoning. Our data indicate that two of the tasks are related to Need for Cognition but are also influenced by a participant’s working memory capacity. We discuss whether any of the tasks measure cognitive effort.
Significance
Many extraordinary human skills like reading, mastering an instrument, or programming require thousands of hours of practice and continued exertion of mental effort. However, the importance of mental effort often contrasts with currently dominant theories suggesting that effort is aversive and something people avoid whenever possible. Here, we show that rewarding participants for the exertion of effort in a cognitive task increased their preference for more demanding tasks in a transfer phase. This provides evidence that people can learn to positively value effort and demanding tasks in the absence of extrinsic reward. These findings challenge currently dominant theories of mental effort and point to the role of learning environments for the development of effort-related motivation.
The counterfactual approach to causality has become the dominant approach to understand causality in contemporary social science research. Whilst most sociologists are aware that unobserved, confounding variables may bias the estimates of causal effects (omitted variable bias), the threats of overcontrol and endogenous selection biases are less well known. In particular, widely used practices in research on intergenerational mobility are affected by these biases. I review four of these practices from the viewpoint of the counterfactual approach to causality and show why overcontrol and endogenous selection biases arise when these practices are implemented. I use data from the German Socio-Economic Panel Study (SOEP) to demonstrate the practical consequences of these biases for conclusions about intergenerational mobility. I conclude that future research on intergenerational mobility should reflect more upon the possibilities of bias introduced by conditioning on variables.
What individual characteristics predict inequality acceptance? Previous literature has focused on economic and sociological determinants of accepting inequalities. Here, we present experimental evidence of one individual correlate of inequality acceptance: the personality trait known as locus of control. In our study, inequality is induced experimentally through the exogenous assignment to one of two experimental treatments. In one treatment, initial inequalities depend on individual performance in a previous real-effort task, that is, they are earned through effort, while in the other they are randomly determined. We report that people who show an internal locus of control (the belief that life’s outcomes are under one’s control) are significantly more likely to accept both arbitrary and effort-based inequalities, although they accept the latter more often.
Building on recommendations from several of the articles in the special section on conscientiousness in the June 2014 issue of Developmental Psychology, the present study tested predictions from the interactionist model (IM) of socioeconomic influences on individual development. In an approach consistent with the idea of cumulative advantage, the model proposed that adolescent and child conscientiousness would be fostered by higher family socioeconomic status (SES) and the parenting and material investments that SES promotes. The IM also predicted a transactional process in which adolescent conscientiousness would promote future socioeconomic success which, in turn, would foster greater adult conscientiousness. Analyses with a cohort of 347 adolescents followed for over 20 years were largely consistent with these predictions, although the findings suggested some modifications to the IM, including the addition of a stronger direct role for family processes in eventual social and economic outcomes. Moreover, additional analyses with 282 of the children of these cohort members demonstrated that this same process was partially replicated in the next generation of children. The findings suggest reciprocal or transactional influences that promote conscientiousness and accumulating personal, economic, and social advantages over time and generations. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).
Self-determination theory (SDT) is a broad framework for understanding factors that facilitate or undermine intrinsic motivation, autonomous extrinsic motivation, and psychological wellness, all issues of direct relevance to educational settings. We review research from SDT showing that both intrinsic motivation and well-internalized (and thus autonomous) forms of extrinsic motivation predict an array of positive outcomes across varied educational levels and cultural contexts and are enhanced by supports for students’ basic psychological needs for autonomy, competence, and relatedness. Findings also show a dynamic link between teacher and student motivation, as teachers are themselves impacted and constrained by controlling mandates, institutional pressures, and leadership styles. Ironically, despite substantial evidence for the importance of psychological need satisfactions in learning contexts, many current educational policies and practices around the globe remain anchored in traditional motivational models that fail to support students’ and teachers’ needs, a knowledge versus policy gap we should aspire to close.
Using real effort to implement costly activities increases the likelihood that the motivations that drive effort provision in real life carry over to the laboratory. However, unobserved differences between subjects in the cost of real effort make quantitative prediction problematic. In this paper we present the slider task, which was designed by us to overcome the drawbacks of real-effort tasks. The slider task allows the researcher to collect precise and repeated observations of effort provision from the same subjects in a short time frame. The resulting high-quality panel data allow sophisticated statistical analysis. We illustrate these advantages in two ways. First, we show how to use panel data from the slider task to improve precision by controlling for persistent unobserved heterogeneity. Second, we show how to estimate effort costs at the subject level by exploiting within-subject variation in incentives across repetitions of the slider task. We also provide z-Tree code and practical guidance to help researchers implement the slider task.
p>Academic achievement as one of learning outcome indicator in adolescents influenced by the self and family environment factors. This study was aimed to analyze the effect of child characteristics, family characteristics, parenting style perceived by adolescents, self-efficacy and self regulated learning on adolescents academic achievement. The study used self report method which involved 91 eighth grade students from two junior high schools in Bogor. Data analysis included descriptive analysis and inference analysis (correlation test and linier regression test). Result showed that majority of samples perceived their parent as authoritative (86.8%) followed by authoritarian (11.0%) and permissive (2.2%). The result also showed that majority of samples had medium level in self-efficacy and self regulated learning. More than a half of samples had under average level in academic achievement. Correlation results showed that there were significant and positive relationship between authoritarian parenting style with birth order, family size as well as gender. Self regulated learning were significantly and positively related with authoritative parenting style (r=0.257, p-value<0.05) and self-efficacy (r=0.330, p-value<0.01). Meanwhile, regression results showed a positive effect of academic achievement on father's education (β=0.315, p-value=0.006) and authoritative parenting styles (β=0.259, p-value=0.014), as well as negatively on gender (β=-0.267, p-value=0.014) and permissive parenting style (β=-0.203, p-value=0.039).</p
Mental effort is an elementary notion in our folk psychology and a familiar fixture in everyday introspective experience. However, as an object of scientific study, mental effort has remained rather elusive. Cognitive psychology has provided some tools for understanding how effort impacts performance, by linking effort with cognitive control function. What has remained less clear are the principles that govern the allocation of mental effort. Under what circumstances do people choose to invest mental effort, and when do they decline to do so? And what regulates the intensity of mental effort when it is applied? In new and promising work, these questions are being approached with the tools of behavioural economics. Though still in its infancy, this economic approach to mental effort research has already uncovered important aspects of effort-based decision-making, and points clearly to future lines of inquiry, including some intriguing opportunities presented by recent artificial intelligence research.
To what extent does maternal and paternal autonomy support enhance well-being across the major transitions of high school? We tested the degree to which perceived autonomy supportive parenting facilitated positive changes in self-esteem and life satisfaction and buffered against negative changes in depressive symptoms and school related burnout in 3 Finnish longitudinal studies, each with a measurement point before and after a major transition (middle school, N1 = 760, 55.7% girls; high school, N2 = 214, 51.9% girls; post high school, N3 = 858, 47.8% girls). Results showed that perceived parental autonomy support was negatively related to depressive symptoms and positively related to self-esteem. The findings for the effects on depressive symptoms were replicated across all 3 transitions, while effects on self-esteem were only found for the high school and post high school transitions. Moreover, evidence of coregulation was found for depressive symptoms. Depressive symptoms before the transition were found to decrease autonomy support after the transition for both the high school and post high school transitions. Maternal and paternal autonomy support was of equal importance. Importantly, the effects on depressive symptoms increased as children developed, suggesting the continual importance of parents throughout high school and into emerging adulthood. (PsycINFO Database Record
Meritocratic ideals, which emphasise individual responsibility and self-motivation, have featured
prominently in discourses about Australia’s international competitiveness in academic achievement.
Young people are often encouraged to attribute academic success and failure to individual factors
such as hard work and talent, and to downplay extrinsic factors such as luck, task difficulty, or
broader structural advantages and disadvantages. Using longitudinal data on a large, single-age
cohort (n=2,145) of young Australians participating in the Social Futures and Life Pathways (‘Our
Lives’) project, we analyse the relationship between attributions for academic success across their
final years of secondary schooling and how they related to educational attainment at the end of
school. The belief that hard work would lead to academic success was widespread within the sample
and positively associated with subsequent educational performance. Most students also emphasised
the importance of having a supportive family, despite this being negatively associated with performance.
Consistent with claims about a ‘social inequality of motivation’, the findings suggest that
emphasising meritocracy may compound the disadvantages of young people from less educated or
vocational backgrounds, and those living in rural and regional Australia, whilst impacting unevenly
on males’ and females’ academic performance.
Previous research has found significant associations between family routines (e.g., time shared and family meals), parenting characteristics, and later adolescent health behaviors. In general, greater family interactions, parental monitoring, and more optimal parenting style have been associated with less alcohol use during adolescence. We expanded upon this work by examining effects of family and parenting characteristics on alcohol use and health behaviors during young adulthood. We also followed tenets of the Contextual Model of Parenting by examining the moderating effects of parenting style on the associations between parent/family practices and outcomes. Data came from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1997. A total of 5419 youth were surveyed at 12–14 years of age, and then annually for the next 14 years; 4565 were surveyed at a 10 year follow-up and 4539 were examined at the 14 year follow-up (84% retention). Multivariate models, controlling for sex and race/ethnicity, indicated that, in general, family routines and parental knowledge in early adolescence were associated with healthier behaviors at both the 10-year and 14-follow-ups. Results also showed that the protective effects of parental knowledge and family routines were strongest in families characterized by and authoritative parenting style.
Recent research indicates that parental behaviours may influence the development of executive functions (EFs) during early childhood, which are proposed to serve as domain-general building blocks for later classroom behaviour and academic achievement. However, questions remain about the strength of the association between parenting and child EFs, more specifically which parental behaviours are most strongly associated with child EFs, and whether there is a critical period in early childhood during which parental behaviour is more influential. A meta-analysis was therefore conducted to determine the strength of the relation between various parental behaviours and EFs in children aged 0 to 8 years. We identified 42 studies published between 2000 and 2016, with an average of 12.77 months elapsing between the measurement of parent and child variables. Parental behaviours were categorised as positive (e.g., warmth, responsiveness, sensitivity), negative (e.g., control, intrusiveness, detachment) and cognitive (e.g., autonomy support, scaffolding, cognitive stimulation). Results revealed significant associations (ps < .001) between composite EF and positive (r = .25), negative (r = -.22), and cognitive (r = .20) parental behaviours. Associations between cognitive parental behaviours and EFs were significantly moderated by child age, with younger children showing a stronger effect size, whereas positive and negative parental behaviours showed a stable association with EFs across ages. We conclude that modest, naturally occurring associations exist between parental behaviours and future EFs, and that early childhood may be a critical period during which cognitive parental behaviour is especially influential.
In spite of its familiar phenomenology, the mechanistic basis for mental effort remains poorly understood. Although most researchers agree that mental effort is aversive and stems from limitations in our capacity to exercise cognitive control, it is unclear what gives rise to those limitations and why they result in an experience of control as costly. The presence of these control costs also raises further questions regarding how best to allocate mental effort to minimize those costs and maximize the attendant benefits. This review explores recent advances in computational modeling and empirical research aimed at addressing these questions at the level of psychological process and neural mechanism, examining both the limitations to mental effort exertion and how we manage those limited cognitive resources. We conclude by identifying remaining challenges for theoretical accounts of mental effort as well as possible applications of the available findings to understanding the causes of and potential solutions for apparent failures to exert the mental effort required of us.
The Simon task is used to study interference from irrelevant spatial information. Interference is manifested by longer reaction times when the required response –based on non-spatial features- is spatially incompatible with stimulus position. Interference is greater when incompatible trials are preceded by compatible trials (compatible-incompatible sequence) than when they are preceded by incompatible trials (incompatible-incompatible sequence). However, the relationships between spatial attention, interference and cognitive control have not been investigated. In the present study, we distinguished three experimental conditions according to sequential effects: same mappings (SM, compatible-compatible/incompatible-incompatible sequences: low interference), opposite mappings (OM, compatible-incompatible/incompatible-compatible sequences: high interference) and unrelated mappings (UM, central-compatible/central-incompatible sequences: intermediate interference). The negativity central contralateral (N2cc, a correlate of prevention of spatial response tendencies) was larger in OM than in SM, indicating greater cognitive control for greater interference. Furthermore, N2cc was larger in UM than in SM/OM, indicating lower neural efficiency for suppressing spatial tendencies of the response after central trials. Attentional processes (negativity posterior contralateral) were also delayed in UM relative to SM/OM, suggesting attentional facilitation by similar sets of attentional shifts in successive trials. Overall, the present findings showed that cognitive control is modulated by the magnitude of interference and pre-activation of monitoring mechanisms.
This paper estimates sibling correlations in cognitive and non-cognitive skills to evaluate the importance of family background for skill formation. Based on a large representative German dataset including IQ test scores and measures of non-cognitive skills, a restricted maximum likelihood model indicates a strong relationship between family background and skill formation. Sibling correlations in non-cognitive skills range from 0.22 to 0.46; therefore, at least one-fifth of the variance in these skills results from shared sibling-related factors. Sibling correlations in cognitive skills are higher than 0.50; therefore, more than half of the inequality in cognition can be explained by shared family background. Comparing these findings with those in the intergenerational skill transmission literature suggests that intergenerational correlations capture only part of the influence of family on children’s cognitive and non-cognitive skills, as confirmed by decomposition analyses and in line with previous findings on educational and income mobility.
Performance-contingent reward has repeatedly been shown to increase proactive control in simple response-priming paradigms like the AX continuous performance task (AX-CPT). Here, we aim to investigate whether this well-documented proactive shift under reward conditions is restricted to mere response preparation. To this end, the standard AX-CPT was modified in that the cue no longer allowed for response preparation only for rule preparation. In the first experiment, we showed that a sustained proactive shift under reward conditions as compared to a neutral control can still be found. Moreover, in a second experiment, the utility of the cueing information was reduced and turned into a priming information. This priming information was only useful but no longer necessary for task execution. The results of this second experiment show that reward expectation nevertheless promotes the usage of context information—here based on rule frequency and additional prime information. Taken together, the findings show that (1) the well-documented effect of increased proactive control under reward conditions is not restricted to mere response priming and that (2) the interaction of motivation and cognition does not depend on the distinction between cue and prime.
A meta-analysis of 36 studies examining the relations between parent autonomy support (PAS) and child outcomes indicated that PAS was related to greater academic achievement and indicators of adaptive psychosocial functioning, including autonomous motivation, psychological health, perceived competence, engagement, and positive attitudes toward school, among other outcomes. The strongest relation emerged between PAS and psychological health. Results indicated that the strength of the PAS relation was stronger when PAS was reflective of both parents, rather than of just mothers or just fathers among five of six outcomes for which moderators could be examined. Moderator analyses also suggested that PAS correlations are stronger when the outcome is better aligned to the predictor and the relation between PAS and psychosocial outcomes may vary by grade level. Implications for theory and future research are discussed.
Self determination theory (SDT) suggests that parenting style as a socialization agency plays a substantial role in supporting the relationship between perceived need support from parents and adolescents’ well being. In this study, the relations between the adolescents’ perception of their parental support to their well-being and to their autonomous development were examined. At the same time, the contributions of the parents’ autonomous support, involvement and warmth in facilitating adolescents’ well-being and autonomous development were explored. A cluster analysis was used to determine the different parental supportive styles on the basis of the three dimensions of parental perception. A total of 470 high school students aged between 14 and 18 participated in the study. The present research clarifies the impact of supportive parenting for adolescents’ subjective well-being and autonomous self development as consistent with SDT. The findings suggest that when the parenting climate provides a setting that enables the adolescents to develop autonomous-self, it contributes to healthy development and well-being of adolescents.
Endogenous selection bias is a central problem for causal inference. Recognizing the problem, however, can be difficult in practice. This article introduces a purely graphical way of characterizing endogenous selection bias and of understanding its consequences (Hernan et al. 2004). We use causal graphs (direct acyclic graphs, or DAGs) to highlight that endogenous selection bias stems from conditioning (e.g., controlling, stratifying, or selecting) on a so-called collider variable, i.e., a variable that is itself caused by two other variables, one that is (or is associated with) the treatment and another that is (or is associated with) the outcome. Endogenous selection bias can result from direct conditioning on the outcome variable, a post-outcome variable, a post-treatment variable, and even a pre-treatment variable. We highlight the difference between endogenous selection bias, common-cause confounding, and overcontrol bias and discuss numerous examples from social stratification, cultural sociology, social network analysis, political sociology, social demography, and the sociology of education.
This study focuses on the examination of Big Five personality factors and perceived parenting styles in predicting positive and negative perfectionism among academically gifted students. Through cross-sectional random sampling procedures, 448 form four students (16 years old) involved particularly those who scored straight A's in Penilaian Menengah Rendah (PMR). The participants responded to three related instruments, comprises of the International Personality Item Pool, Parental Authority Questionnaire, and Multidimensional Perfectionism Scale. The study utilized K-Mean cluster analysis to cluster the perfectionism of the students. Stepwise multiple regressions used to determine the role of Big Five personality factors and perceived parenting styles in predicting positive and negative perfectionism. The findings showed 259 (57.8%), 136 (30.4%), and 53 (11.8%) students were clustered to dysfunctional/neurotic perfectionistic, healthy/normal perfectionistic, and non-perfectionistic, respectively. The results of two separate stepwise multiple regression analyses found that positive perfectionism was significantly predicted by several factors including paternal authoritative style, openness to experiences, maternal authoritative style, and conscientiousness. On the other hand, negative perfectionism was significantly predicted by maternal authoritarian style, neuroticism, and paternal authoritarian style. As predicted, permissive parenting style showed no contribution in predicting positive and negative perfectionism. Implications, limitations, and recommendation of the study are addressed briefly in this research. In fact, this is one of the first empirical studies of perfectionism relating to Big Five personality factors and perceived parenting styles among academically gifted students in Malaysia.
A vast literature documents a host of advantages conferred upon middle class European American children whose parents employ an authoritative style of parenting, including enhanced academic achievement and positive behavioral outcomes. The literature is much less clear about the relationship between parental authority style and child outcomes in other cultural contexts. In this study, we examined the relations among authoritative, authoritarian, and permissive parenting styles and practices and several academic and behavioral outcomes among fifth grade Latino/a students. We found significant positive relations between parental authoritativeness and grades, academic engagement, social competence, self-regulation, and perspective-taking as well as negative relations between authoritativeness and aggression. We found no relations between authoritarian or permissive parenting styles and child outcomes. We consider these findings in light of what other researchers have posited about collectivist parenting styles and practices.
More than 4 decades of research and 9 meta-analyses have focused on the undermining effect: namely, the debate over whether the provision of extrinsic incentives erodes intrinsic motivation. This review and meta-analysis builds on such previous reviews by focusing on the interrelationship among intrinsic motivation, extrinsic incentives, and performance, with reference to 2 moderators: performance type (quality vs. quantity) and incentive contingency (directly performance-salient vs. indirectly performance-salient), which have not been systematically reviewed to date. Based on random-effects meta-analytic methods, findings from school, work, and physical domains (k = 183, N = 212,468) indicate that intrinsic motivation is a medium to strong predictor of performance (ρ = .21-45). The importance of intrinsic motivation to performance remained in place whether incentives were presented. In addition, incentive salience influenced the predictive validity of intrinsic motivation for performance: In a "crowding out" fashion, intrinsic motivation was less important to performance when incentives were directly tied to performance and was more important when incentives were indirectly tied to performance. Considered simultaneously through meta-analytic regression, intrinsic motivation predicted more unique variance in quality of performance, whereas incentives were a better predictor of quantity of performance. With respect to performance, incentives and intrinsic motivation are not necessarily antagonistic and are best considered simultaneously. Future research should consider using nonperformance criteria (e.g., well-being, job satisfaction) as well as applying the percent-of-maximum-possible (POMP) method in meta-analyses. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2014 APA, all rights reserved).
Why does performing certain tasks cause the aversive experience of mental effort and concomitant deterioration in task performance? One explanation posits a physical resource that is depleted over time. We propose an alternative explanation that centers on mental representations of the costs and benefits associated with task performance. Specifically, certain computational mechanisms, especially those associated with executive function, can be deployed for only a limited number of simultaneous tasks at any given moment. Consequently, the deployment of these computational mechanisms carries an opportunity cost - that is, the next-best use to which these systems might be put. We argue that the phenomenology of effort can be understood as the felt output of these cost/benefit computations. In turn, the subjective experience of effort motivates reduced deployment of these computational mechanisms in the service of the present task. These opportunity cost representations, then, together with other cost/benefit calculations, determine effort expended and, everything else equal, result in performance reductions. In making our case for this position, we review alternative explanations for both the phenomenology of effort associated with these tasks and for performance reductions over time. Likewise, we review the broad range of relevant empirical results from across sub-disciplines, especially psychology and neuroscience. We hope that our proposal will help to build links among the diverse fields that have been addressing similar questions from different perspectives, and we emphasize ways in which alternative models might be empirically distinguished.
The present study explores the bidirectional associations between parental behavior and child externalizing behavior in the context of two intervening variables: child’s personality as a moderator of the effect of parental behavior on later child behavior; and parental self-efficacy as a mediator of the effect of child behavior on later parental behavior. Data were collected twice within one year from a sample of 340 preschoolers and their parents. Using latent variable SEM, three models were computed separately for mother—child and father—child dyads. A bidirectional effect was verified for the mothers, but only a child effect was observed for the fathers. Expected mediation by self-efficacy was verified. Finally, a partial moderating role for child’s personality was demonstrated.
Parenting styles have consistently been shown to relate to various outcomes such as youth psychopathology, behavior problems, and academic performance. Building on the research in the parenting style literature, along with examining components of self-determination theory, the present study examined the relations among authoritative parenting style, academic performance, self-efficacy, and achievement motivation using a sample of college students (N = 264) . Results indicated that authoritative parenting continues to influence the academic performance of college students, and both intrinsic motivation and self-efficacy predicted academic performance. Additionally, the study tested the interaction between self-efficacy and authoritative parenting, but the interaction was not significant. Implications for future research and applications are discussed.
Longitudinal relations among ego-resiliency (ER), effortful control (EC), and observed intrusive parenting were examined at 18, 30, and 42 months of age (Ns = 256, 230, and 210) using structural equation modeling. Intrusive parenting at 18 and 30 months negatively predicted EC a year later, over and above earlier levels. EC at 30 months mediated the negative relation between 18-month intrusive parenting and ER at 42 months when controlling for stability of the variables. ER did not predict EC. The findings suggest that intrusive parenting may have a negative effect on children's ego-resiliency through its effects on children's abilities to regulate attention and behavior.
An important assumption for comparing children's quality of life (QoL) between children's and parents' perceptions is that measurement equivalence/invariance (ME/I) exists. The ME/I across the child- and parent-reported Chinese PedsQL was examined, and the latent means between child self-reports and parent-proxy reports were compared. Third-grade to sixth-grade children (n = 519) and their parents (n = 270) respectively completed the child- and parent-reported PedsQL. Seventy-eight parents completed parent-proxy reports twice. Full ME/I across child and parent reports was found in first- and second-order factor loadings. Partial ME/I was supported in item intercepts and item residual variances. The latent means of child self-reports and of parent-proxy reports were not significantly different, which suggested interchangeability between child- and parent-reported PedsQL. The ME/I results support the use of PedsQL scores to compare children's and parents' perceptions of children's QoL.
Daily life frequently offers a choice between activities that are profitable but mentally demanding (cognitive labor) and activities that are undemanding but also unproductive (cognitive leisure). Although such decisions are often implicit, they help determine academic performance, career trajectories, and even health outcomes. Previous research has shed light both on the executive control functions that ultimately define cognitive labor and on a "default mode" of brain function that accompanies cognitive leisure. However, little is known about how labor/leisure decisions are actually made. Here, we identify a central principle guiding such decisions. Results from 3 economic-choice experiments indicate that the motivation underlying cognitive labor/leisure decision making is to strike an optimal balance between income and leisure, as given by a joint utility function. The results reported establish a new connection between microeconomics and research on executive function. They also suggest a new interpretation of so-called ego-depletion effects and a potential new approach to such phenomena as mind wandering and self-control failure. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved).
The first goal of this study is to examine the capacity of prominent survey-based effort proxies to predict real effort provision in children. Do children who “talk the talk” of hard work also “walk the walk” and make costly effort investments? The second goal is to assess how objective and subjective effort measures are related under two conditions: intrinsic (nonincentivized) motivation and extrinsic (incentivized) motivation. We measure objective “real” effort using three tasks and subjective self-reported effort using four psychological characteristics (conscientiousness, need for cognition, locus of control and delay of gratification) to understand to what extent material incentives affect the cognitive effort of children with different self-reported personalities. Data stem from real-effort experiments carried out with 420 fifth grade students from primary schools in Madrid, Spain. We find that some of the subjective and objective effort measures are positively correlated. Yet the power of personality to predict real effort is only moderate, but greater and more so in the extrinsic than the intrinsic motivation condition. In particular, need for cognition and conscientiousness are the most relevant correlates of objective effort. Overall, we find there is a big difference between saying and doing when it comes to exerting effort, and this difference is even larger when there are no direct material incentives in place to reward effort provision.
Objectives:
This study assesses whether childhood socioeconomic status (SES) is related to cognitive function and cognitive change at mid and later life and explores the buffering effects of parenting style and adulthood SES.
Method:
Data were derived from the 3 waves of the Midlife in the United States (MIDUS) study, a national survey including 7,108 participants aged from 24 to 75 years at baseline. We used multiple regression and multilevel models to investigate the associations between childhood SES, adulthood SES, and cognitive performance and change at midlife and the role of parents' affection and discipline.
Results:
Low childhood SES was associated with lower cognitive function and more cognitive decline at mid and later life. Adulthood SES moderated the effect of childhood SES on cognitive function. Interactions showed that paternal discipline was positively related to cognitive function among participants with low childhood SES, and negatively related to cognitive function among participants with high childhood SES. High paternal affection was associated with less cognitive decline at mid and later life.
Discussion:
The findings advance the understanding of the long-term consequences of SES and psychosocial factors in early life that can lead to optimal cognitive function in middle and old age.
The feeling of effort is familiar to most, if not all, humans. Prior research shows that the feeling of effort shapes judgments (e.g., of agency) and decisions (e.g., to quit the current task) in various ways, but the proximal causes of the feeling of effort are not well understood. In this research, I address these proximal causes. In particular, I conducted two preregistered experiments in which participants performed a difficult vs. easy cognitive task, while I measured effort-related phenomenology (feeling of effort) and physiology (pupil dilation) on a moment-to-moment basis. In both experiments, difficult tasks increased the feeling of effort; however, this effect could not be explained by concurrent increases in physiological effort. To explain these findings, I suggest that the feeling of effort during mental activity stems from the decision to exert physiological effort, rather than from physiological effort itself.
According to prominent models in cognitive psychology, neuroscience, and economics, effort (be it physical or mental) is costly: when given a choice, humans and non-human animals alike tend to avoid effort. Here, we suggest that the opposite is also true and review extensive evidence that effort can also add value. Not only can the same outcomes be more rewarding if we apply more (not less) effort, sometimes we select options precisely because they require effort. Given the increasing recognition of effort's role in motivation, cognitive control, and value-based decision-making, considering this neglected side of effort will not only improve formal computational models, but also provide clues about how to promote sustained mental effort across time.
We study the intergenerational transmission of cognitive and noncognitive abilities using population data and correct for measurement error in abilities using two sets of instruments. The results show that previous estimates are biased downward and that once measurement error is corrected for, the correlation in noncognitive ability is close to that of cognitive ability. By considering both parents, intergenerational ability correlations account for a substantial portion of the sibling correlation. Using adoptees, we find that the social impact of maternal abilities is more important than paternal abilities. Children's educational attainment and labor market outcomes are strongly related to parents' cognitive and noncognitive abilities.
A common approach to evaluating robustness to omitted variable bias is to observe coefficient movements after inclusion of controls. This is informative only if selection on observables is informative about selection on unobservables. Although this link is known in theory (i.e. Altonji, Elder and Taber (2005 —, —, and —, “Selection on Observed and Unobserved Variables: Assessing the Effectiveness of Catholic Schools,” Journal of Political Economy, 2005, 113 (1), 151–184.)), very few empirical papers approach this formally. I develop an extension of the theory which connects bias explicitly to coefficient stability. I show that it is necessary to take into account coefficient and R-squared movements. I develop a formal bounding argument. I show two validation exercises and discuss application to the economics literature.
This article reviews research on the effects of reinforcement/reward on intrinsic motivation. The main meta-analysis included 96 experimental studies that used between-groups designs to compare rewarded subjects to nonrewarded controls on four measures of intrinsic motivation. Results indicate that, overall, reward does not decrease intrinsic motivation. When interaction effects are examined, findings show that verbal praise produces an increase in intrinsic motivation. The only negative effect appears when expected tangible rewards are given to individuals simply for doing a task. Under this condition, there is a minimal negative effect on intrinsic motivation as measured by time spent on task following the removal of reward. A second analysis was conducted on five studies that used within-subject designs to evaluate the effects of reinforcement on intrinsic motivation; results suggest that reinforcement does not harm an individual’s intrinsic motivation.
The close connection between personal well-being and the availability of rich, intimate personal relationships has become increasingly evident to psychological theorists. Clearly, there are relationships that heal, that soothe, that foster growth, that facilitate health, and that provide satisfactions essential to a sense of well-being.
Now in its third edition, this dynamic textbook analyses the traits fundamental to human personality: what they are, why they matter, their biological and social foundations, how they play out in human life and their consequences for cognition, stress and physical and mental health. The text also considers the applications of personality assessment in clinical, educational and occupational settings, providing the reader with a detailed understanding of the whole field of personality traits. This edition, now in 2-colour with improved student features, includes the latest research from behavioural genetics, neuroscience, social psychology and cognitive science, assesses the impact of new research techniques like brain imagery, and provides additional content on positive aspects of traits and practical uses of personality assessment. This is an essential textbook for students taking courses in personality and individual differences and also provides researchers and practitioners with a coherent, up-to-date survey of this significant area © Cambridge University Press 1998 and 2003 and Gerald Matthews, Ian J. Deary and Martha C. Whiteman 2009.
Parents and researchers alike are interested in how to promote children’s academic competence. The present meta-analysis integrates the results of 308 empirical studies on associations of general parenting dimensions and styles with academic achievement of children and adolescents assessed via grade point average or academic achievement tests. Parental responsiveness (warmth), behavioral control, autonomy granting, and an authoritative parenting style were associated with better academic performance both concurrently and in longitudinal studies, although these associations were small in a statistical sense. Parental harsh control, and psychological control, as well as neglectful, authoritarian, and permissive parenting styles were related to lower achievement with small to very small effect sizes. With three exceptions, parenting dimensions and styles also predicted change in academic achievement over time. Moderating effects of child age, ethnicity, reporter on parenting and academic achievement, quality of the parenting and achievement measure, and publication status were identified. It is concluded that associations of academic achievement with general parenting dimensions/styles tend to be smaller than associations of school-specific parental involvement which have been addressed in previous meta-analyses.
Class does make a difference in the lives and futures of American children. Drawing on in-depth observations of black and white middle-class, working-class, and poor families, Unequal Childhoods explores this fact, offering a picture of childhood today. Here are the frenetic families managing their children's hectic schedules of "leisure" activities; and here are families with plenty of time but little economic security. Lareau shows how middle-class parents, whether black or white, engage in a process of "concerted cultivation" designed to draw out children's talents and skills, while working-class and poor families rely on "the accomplishment of natural growth," in which a child's development unfolds spontaneously—as long as basic comfort, food, and shelter are provided. Each of these approaches to childrearing brings its own benefits and its own drawbacks. In identifying and analyzing differences between the two, Lareau demonstrates the power, and limits, of social class in shaping the lives of America's children. The first edition of Unequal Childhoods was an instant classic, portraying in riveting detail the unexpected ways in which social class influences parenting in white and African American families. A decade later, Annette Lareau has revisited the same families and interviewed the original subjects to examine the impact of social class in the transition to adulthood.
The current study examined adolescent persistence as a mediator between authoritative parenting and adolescents' school engagement, prosocial behavior, and delinquency. Participants were taken from Time 2, 3, and 4 of the Flourishing Families Project and included 325 two-parent families with a child between the ages of 11 and 14 at Time 2 (mean age = 12.34, SD = 1.06, 52% female), 96% of whom had complete data for Time 4 (2 years later). Analyses suggested that authoritative fathering at Time 2 (but not mothering) was positively associated with adolescent persistence at Time 3, and adolescent persistence was positively related to school engagement and negatively related to delinquency at Time 4. Discussion focuses on the importance of the socialization of persistence during adolescence.
Cognitive effort has been implicated in numerous theories regarding normal and aberrant behavior and the physiological response to engagement with demanding tasks. Yet, despite broad interest, no unifying, operational definition of cognitive effort itself has been proposed. Here, we argue that the most intuitive and epistemologically valuable treatment is in terms of effort-based decision-making, and advocate a neuroeconomics-focused research strategy. We first outline psychological and neuroscientific theories of cognitive effort. Then we describe the benefits of a neuroeconomic research strategy, highlighting how it affords greater inferential traction than do traditional markers of cognitive effort, including self-reports and physiologic markers of autonomic arousal. Finally, we sketch a future series of studies that can leverage the full potential of the neuroeconomic approach toward understanding the cognitive and neural mechanisms that give rise to phenomenal, subjective cognitive effort.
The goal of this study was to explore bidirectional associations between teens’ self-regulation and maternal and paternal parenting styles (i.e., authoritative, authoritarian, and permissive-indulgent) over one year. As part of an ongoing longitudinal study, 489 teens ages 11-16 (51% female, 70% European American, 69% in two-parent households) and their parents completed questionnaires on two occasions. Analyses revealed high temporal stability of parenting and self-regulation over time. No cross-lagged effects emerged in either authoritative parenting model. Bidirectional effects were observed in the maternal authoritarian parenting model only. Child effects on parenting were revealed in both permissive-indulgent parenting models. The interpretation of these findings and their implications for future research are delineated in the discussion.
The current study examines research questions proposed by an expanded version of Darling and Steinberg’s contextual model of parenting. Using a sample of 184 adolescents, the analyses indicated that adolescents’ perceptions of parental educational goals and values were related positively and significantly to their reports of parental school involvement and parental monitoring. In turn, adolescents’ perceptions of parental involvement in schoolwork were related positively and significantly to their interest in school, internal academic self-regulation, and goal pursuit. Parental styles moderated the relationship between parental practices and student grades, with parental involvement and monitoring most effective under child-centered parenting styles. The implications of the study results on the parental socialization of school achievement and motivation are considered.
This article reviews studies that have examined whether Baumrind's parenting styles are related to child outcomes similarly in cultures where independence is said to be emphasized versus cultures where interdependence is said to be emphasized. I present evidence showing that Baumrind's parenting styles have similar function in both collectivist and individualist cultures. Based on these studies, I argue against the claim of some researchers that authoritarian parenting is not detrimental or authoritative parenting beneficial to the development of young people in cultures that are said to emphasize interdependence. However, more research is needed before conclusions can be reached about the extent to which the culture construct explains child-rearing effects on child development. Future directions for research, which include the importance of identifying diverse forms of parenting within interdependent cultures so as to distinguish the influence of functional and dysfunctional forms of parenting on child outcomes, are suggested.
If today there exists a single transcendent idea about the family-school connection, it is that a positive parent-child relationship improves children's chances of succeeding in school. However, using data from the Texas Higher Education Opportunity Project (N = 5,836), we demonstrate that, although positive parent-child relations are associated with better academic achievement in high school, they also are associated with an increased desire to live at home during college, which in turn decreases students' chances of enrolling in a 4-year college. Furthermore, we replicated some of these associations using the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (N = 10,120), demonstrating that positive family dynamics can influence educational outcomes in potentially divergent and unanticipated directions.
An overview of the Family Socialization and Developmental Competence longitudinal program of research (FSP) is followed by a presentation of the hypotheses and findings pertaining to family patterns as determinants of adolescent competence, and of types of adolescent substance users. Data include clusters derived from comprehensive ratings of parents and their children completed independently within- and across-time periods at ages 4, 9, and 15 years. At Time 3 (T3), the sample included 139 adolescents and their parents from a predominantly affluent, well-educated, Caucasian population. Parenting types were identified that differ on the bases of commitment and balance of demandingness and responsiveness. Authoritative parents who are highly demanding and highly responsive were remarkably successful in protecting their adolescents from problem drug use, and in generating competence. Authoritative upbringing, although sufficient, is not a necessary condition to produce competent children. Casual recreational drug use was not associated with pathological attributes, either precursive or concurrent, although nonusers showed an increment in competence from Time 2 (T2) to Time 3 (T3).
We investigated early adolescents' perceptions of parenting styles in mother–father–adolescent triads along with child self-reported problem behaviors (substance abuse and delinquency). We also examined the various combinations of mothers' and fathers' parenting styles by child gender in relation to problem behavior. Participants included 3,353 children (aged 12 to 14) from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth—97. Results from our structural equation model indicated that mothers and fathers may use different parenting strategies and that permissive parenting may not be as detrimental as previously assumed. In addition, youth perceptions of each parent were equally important in explaining problem behavior among both daughters and sons, but the perception of an authoritarian mother showed stronger adverse effects on sons, even after controlling for poverty and peer influence.