The Predictive Utility of Past Success: Skill and Chance in Children's Theory of Performance
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| Title: | The Predictive Utility of Past Success: Skill and Chance in Children's Theory of Performance |
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| Language: | English |
| Authors: | Hailey Pawsey, Jordan Bauman (ORCID |
| Source: | Developmental Science. 2026 29(2). |
| Availability: | Wiley. Available from: John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030. Tel: 800-835-6770; e-mail: cs-journals@wiley.com; Web site: https://www.wiley.com/en-us |
| Peer Reviewed: | Y |
| Page Count: | 10 |
| Publication Date: | 2026 |
| Document Type: | Journal Articles Reports - Research |
| Descriptors: | Success, Competence, Skills, Young Children, Prediction, Age Differences, Adults, Performance Factors, Failure, Cognitive Development, Thinking Skills |
| DOI: | 10.1111/desc.70123 |
| ISSN: | 1363-755X 1467-7687 |
| Abstract: | Success at a skill-based activity shows that a person is competent and likely to succeed again in the future. Success at a pure-chance activity, by contrast, does not imply competence or future success. In two experiments, we investigated children's developing understanding of how skill- and chance-based activities differ in relation to competence. In both experiments, children aged 4-7 (total N = 279) saw skill- and chance-based activities and judged whether a person who had previously succeeded with each activity would succeed when next attempting it. From Age 5, children were more likely to see past success as predictive of future success for skill- than chance-based activities. The second experiment also looked at judgments about agents who had previously failed and found that children at all ages predicted future success similarly regardless of whether activities involved skill or chance alone. This experiment also included a sample of adults (N = 202), and found their responses were overall comparable to those of 7-year-olds. Together, these finding are informative about development in children's reasoning about the predictive utility of past success, and potentially about their "theory of performance"--their understanding of factors that determine whether agents are likely to succeed. The findings provide preliminary evidence for development in this theory at Age 5 while also showing that its development is protracted. |
| Abstractor: | As Provided |
| Entry Date: | 2026 |
| Accession Number: | EJ1498358 |
| Database: | ERIC |
| Abstract: | Success at a skill-based activity shows that a person is competent and likely to succeed again in the future. Success at a pure-chance activity, by contrast, does not imply competence or future success. In two experiments, we investigated children's developing understanding of how skill- and chance-based activities differ in relation to competence. In both experiments, children aged 4-7 (total N = 279) saw skill- and chance-based activities and judged whether a person who had previously succeeded with each activity would succeed when next attempting it. From Age 5, children were more likely to see past success as predictive of future success for skill- than chance-based activities. The second experiment also looked at judgments about agents who had previously failed and found that children at all ages predicted future success similarly regardless of whether activities involved skill or chance alone. This experiment also included a sample of adults (N = 202), and found their responses were overall comparable to those of 7-year-olds. Together, these finding are informative about development in children's reasoning about the predictive utility of past success, and potentially about their "theory of performance"--their understanding of factors that determine whether agents are likely to succeed. The findings provide preliminary evidence for development in this theory at Age 5 while also showing that its development is protracted. |
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| ISSN: | 1363-755X 1467-7687 |
| DOI: | 10.1111/desc.70123 |
