PRESCHOOLERS' EXPECTANCY PREDICTIONS AND PERFORMANCE EVALUATIONS ON MOTOR TASKS (SELF-EFFICACY, SEX DIFFERENCES)

This study investigated age and gender differences in preschool age children's expectancy predictions and post-task evaluations of self, same age and gender peers, and opposite sex peers on four motor tasks. Additional questions investigated the effect of making a prediction, and how post-task evaluations were reflected in performance. It was hypothesized that gender differences in expectancy and self-evaluation seen in older children begin between the ages of 4 and 5. The effect of making a prediction was not expected to influence preschoolers' performance. The study employed a 2 x 2 x 2 design using ages 4 to 4.5 and 5 to 5.5 boys and girls, and predictor versus non-predictor conditions. Subjects were 96 children from area preschools. In the predictor condition, subjects were asked to make pre-performance expectancy predictions of their own and same sex and opposite sex peers' performance. Non-predictor subjects performed tasks without having to make predictions. Dependent measures included level of prediction (in the predictor groups), time spent on tasks, number of attempts, number of successes, and level of post-task evaluation of self plus same and opposite sex peers. Results confirmed that there are gender and age based differences in performance expectancy on motor tasks. Four year olds had higher expectations than 5 year olds, and boys had higher expectations than girls. Boys felt girls would do less well than other boys, and girls felt boys would do better than other girls. The differences, however, were not reflected in performance behavior. Making a prediction and age factors, not gender, were related to persistence and success. Girls' performance and self-evaluation were diminished by making a prediction regardless of their actual performance, whereas boys' performance and post-task evaluations more accurately reflected their actual competencies. Conclusions from the study are that gender based differences in attitudes regarding personal competency begin prior to school age, and are present developmentally before being manifested in behavior. Additionally, the solicitation of expectancy statements was shown to be a powerful manipulation which heightened the evaluative components of performance and debilitated girls' more than boys' performance. The importance of further study of the gender differences in evaluative attitudes as well as the distinction between learning and performance goals for boys and girls was emphasized.