When Helping Hurts: Children Think Groups That Receive Help Are Less Smart

Jellie Sierksma; Kristin Shutts

doi:10.1111/cdev.13351

When Helping Hurts: Children Think Groups That Receive Help Are Less Smart

Jellie Sierksma
, Kristin Shutts

Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article › Academic › peer-review

Abstract

Helping has many positive consequences for both helpers and recipients. However, in the present research, we considered a possible downside to receiving help: that it signals a deficiency. We investigated whether young children make inferences about intelligence from observing some groups of people receive help and other groups not. In a novel group paradigm, we show that children (4-6 years) think groups that receive help are less smart (n = 44) but not less nice (n = 45). Children also generalized their inferences about relative intelligence to new group members (n = 55; forced-choice-method). These results have implications for understanding how children develop stereotypes about intelligence as well as for educational practices that group children according to their ability.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	715-723
Number of pages	9
Journal	Child Development
Volume	91
Issue number	3
Early online date	3 Jan 2020
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1111/cdev.13351
Publication status	Published - Jun 2020

Bibliographical note

Funding

Funders	Funder number
National Institute of Child Health and Human Development	U54HD090256
Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development
Nederlandse Organisatie voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek	446-16-011

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

SDG 4 Quality Education

Access to Document

10.1111/cdev.13351

Persistent URL (handle)

Persistent link

Cite this

@article{2ba5adb87c39434f8290855f9a207deb,

title = "When Helping Hurts: Children Think Groups That Receive Help Are Less Smart",

abstract = "Helping has many positive consequences for both helpers and recipients. However, in the present research, we considered a possible downside to receiving help: that it signals a deficiency. We investigated whether young children make inferences about intelligence from observing some groups of people receive help and other groups not. In a novel group paradigm, we show that children (4-6 years) think groups that receive help are less smart (n = 44) but not less nice (n = 45). Children also generalized their inferences about relative intelligence to new group members (n = 55; forced-choice-method). These results have implications for understanding how children develop stereotypes about intelligence as well as for educational practices that group children according to their ability.",

author = "Jellie Sierksma and Kristin Shutts",

note = "{\textcopyright} 2020 The Authors. Child Development published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. on behalf of Society for Research in Child Development.",

year = "2020",

month = jun,

doi = "10.1111/cdev.13351",

language = "English",

volume = "91",

pages = "715--723",

journal = "Child Development",

issn = "0009-3920",

publisher = "Oxford University Press",

number = "3",

}

TY - JOUR

T1 - When Helping Hurts

T2 - Children Think Groups That Receive Help Are Less Smart

AU - Sierksma, Jellie

AU - Shutts, Kristin

PY - 2020/6

Y1 - 2020/6

N2 - Helping has many positive consequences for both helpers and recipients. However, in the present research, we considered a possible downside to receiving help: that it signals a deficiency. We investigated whether young children make inferences about intelligence from observing some groups of people receive help and other groups not. In a novel group paradigm, we show that children (4-6 years) think groups that receive help are less smart (n = 44) but not less nice (n = 45). Children also generalized their inferences about relative intelligence to new group members (n = 55; forced-choice-method). These results have implications for understanding how children develop stereotypes about intelligence as well as for educational practices that group children according to their ability.

AB - Helping has many positive consequences for both helpers and recipients. However, in the present research, we considered a possible downside to receiving help: that it signals a deficiency. We investigated whether young children make inferences about intelligence from observing some groups of people receive help and other groups not. In a novel group paradigm, we show that children (4-6 years) think groups that receive help are less smart (n = 44) but not less nice (n = 45). Children also generalized their inferences about relative intelligence to new group members (n = 55; forced-choice-method). These results have implications for understanding how children develop stereotypes about intelligence as well as for educational practices that group children according to their ability.

UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/85078607918

UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/85078607918#tab=citedBy

U2 - 10.1111/cdev.13351

DO - 10.1111/cdev.13351

M3 - Article

C2 - 31900939

SN - 0009-3920

VL - 91

SP - 715

EP - 723

JO - Child Development

JF - Child Development

IS - 3

ER -

When Helping Hurts: Children Think Groups That Receive Help Are Less Smart

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Funding

UN SDGs

Access to Document

Persistent URL (handle)

Other files and links

Fingerprint

Cite this