Individual Differences In Persistence Research Articles

Your feelings are reasonable: Emotional validation promotes persistence among preschoolers.

Persistence is a critical factor that significantly predicts life outcomes. Although individual differences in persistence emerge early in life, the knowledge of effective strategies for cultivating persistence in young children remains limited. Based on these two studies, we suggest that emotional validation, defined as the acceptance of emotions without judgment, is a beneficial technique for promoting persistence in the wake of frustration. Study 1 examined 150 parents of children aged 4-6years and found that parents' tendency to validate their children's emotions was positively associated with children's trait persistence. We conducted a randomized experiment (N=93, aged 4-6years) in Study 2 to establish a causal relationship between emotional validation and persistence in preschoolers. Children who received emotional validation feedback (n=31) exhibited higher levels of persistence than those who received emotional invalidation (n=31) and no feedback (baseline, n=31) on a frustrating task. The persistence between the emotional invalidation and no-feedback conditions was not statistically different. This finding highlights the vital role of emotional validation in promoting persistence in children at trait and state levels. In summary, this study offers a compelling strategy for empowering young children with resilience and determination when they encounter challenges. RESEARCH HIGHLIGHTS: Parental emotional validation predicts the trait-level persistence of children aged 4-6years. Children who received emotion-validation feedback persisted longer on a task than those who received emotion-invalidation feedback or no feedback. Children in the emotion invalidation condition did not differ from those in the no-feedback condition in terms of persistence. Future studies are required to investigate the mechanisms underlying emotional validation in promoting task persistence in children.

Relationship between executive function and persistence in 5-year-olds

Children’s persistence can predict later academic achievement. However, few studies have examined the factors related to individual differences in persistence. In this study, we investigated the relationship between executive function (EF) and persistence in 5-year-olds (N = 72). The scores of the Dimensional Change Card Sort (DCCS) task and gift delay task were positively associated with persistence. We conducted a mediation analysis to examine the cognitive mechanisms underlying the associations between EF and persistence. This analysis revealed that children with high scores on the DCCS task, used multiple strategies for the persistence task, and this contributed to their persistence. We also found that children with high scores on the gift delay task concentrated on the task without getting distracted, and this approach contributed to their persistence. Thus, our findings reveal the factors related to individual differences in persistence and cognitive mechanisms underlying these associations between EF and persistence.

Importance of Maternal Persistence in Young Children's Persistence.

Persistence of a distant goal is an important personality trait that determines academic and social success. Recent studies have shown that individual differences in persistence involve both genetic and environmental factors; however, these studies have not examined the role of maternal factors on a young children's persistence. The present study examined whether mothers' persistence is associated with persistence in children aged 3–6 years. In addition, the associations between mothers' persistence/parenting style and children's self-control/social development (prosocial behaviors and difficulties) were examined. Our results showed that maternal persistence is essential for the child's persistence. Children's self-control and social development were also associated with the mothers' persistence and parenting style. Our findings suggest that a young child's persistence may develop under the influence of a familiar adult (i.e., mother) and characterizes their social development, highlighting the importance of persistence in parenting.

Keep trying!: Parental language predicts infants’ persistence

Infants’ persistence in the face of challenges predicts their learning across domains. In older children, linguistic input is an important predictor of persistence: when children are praised for their efforts, as opposed to fixed traits, they try harder on future endeavors. Yet, little is known about the impact of linguistic input as individual differences in persistence are first emerging, during infancy. Based on a preliminary investigation of the CHILDES database, which revealed that language surrounding persistence is an early-emerging feature of children’s language environment, we conducted an observational study to test how linguistic input in the form of praise and persistence-focused language more broadly impacts infants’ persistence. In Study 1, 18-month-olds and their caregivers participated in two tasks: a free-play task (a gear stacker) and a joint-book reading task. We measured parental language and infants’ persistent gear stacking. Findings revealed that infants whose parents spent more time praising their efforts and hard work (process praise), and used more persistence-focused language in general, were more persistent than infants whose parents used this language less often. Study 2 extended these findings by examining whether the effects of parental language on persistence carry over to contexts in which parents are uninvolved. The findings revealed that parental use of process praise predicted infants’ persistence even in the absence of parental support. Critically, these findings could not be explained by caregivers’ reporting on their own persistence. Together, these findings suggest that as early as 18 months, linguistic input is a key predictor of persistence.

The hare and the tortoise: The impact of action- versus state-orientation on entrepreneurial progress and persistence

Action-orientation is portrayed as key for entrepreneurship. To understand the conditions under which action-orientation is indeed favourable for entrepreneurs, we introduce the personality-systems-interaction (PSI) theory to entrepreneurship research. PSI theory distinguishes action- versus state-orientation and explains how both dispositions influence an entrepreneur’s cognition (including goals), emotional reactions and the resulting behaviour. It provides a novel basis for understanding individual differences in persistence and progression through the venture creation process. Based on the tenets of PSI theory, we develop propositions to explain how action-oriented versus state-oriented individuals respond differently to the demands of the entrepreneurial process.

Student, School, and Country Differences in Sustained Test-Taking Effort in the 2009 PISA Reading Assessment

In this article, the change in examinee effort during an assessment, which we will refer to as persistence, is modeled as an effect of item position. A multilevel extension is proposed to analyze hierarchically structured data and decompose the individual differences in persistence. Data from the 2009 Program of International Student Achievement (PISA) reading assessment from N = 467,819 students from 65 countries are analyzed with the proposed model, and the results are compared across countries. A decrease in examinee effort during the PISA reading assessment was found consistently across countries, with individual differences within and between schools. Both the decrease and the individual differences are more pronounced in lower performing countries. Within schools, persistence is slightly negatively correlated with reading ability; but at the school level, this correlation is positive in most countries. The results of our analyses indicate that it is important to model and control examinee effort in low-stakes assessments.

Ability to maintain internal arousal and motivation modulates brain responses to emotions.

Persistence (PS) is defined as the ability to generate and maintain arousal and motivation internally in the absence of immediate external reward. Low PS individuals tend to become discouraged when expectations are not rapidly fulfilled. The goal of this study was to investigate whether individual differences in PS influence the recruitment of brain regions involved in emotional processing and regulation. In a functional MRI study, 35 subjects judged the emotional intensity of displayed pictures. When processing negative pictures, low PS (vs. high PS) subjects showed higher amygdala and right orbito-frontal cortex (OFC) activity but lower left OFC activity. This dissociation in OFC activity suggests greater prefrontal cortical asymmetry for approach/avoidance motivation, suggesting an avoidance response to aversive stimuli in low PS. For positive or neutral stimuli, low PS subjects showed lower activity in the amygdala, striatum, and hippocampus. These results suggest that low PS may involve an imbalance in processing distinct emotional inputs, with greater reactivity to aversive information in regions involved in avoidance behaviour (amygdala, OFC) and dampened response to positive and neutral stimuli across circuits subserving motivated behaviour (striatum, hippocampus, amygdala). Low PS affective style was associated with depression vulnerability. These findings in non-depressed subjects point to a neural mechanism whereby some individuals are more likely to show systematic negative emotional biases, as frequently observed in depression. The assessment of these individual differences, including those that may cause vulnerability to depressive disorders, would therefore constitute a promising approach to risk assessment for depression.

Measuring Sisu

Sisu is a Finnish term loosely translated as endurance or resilience in the face of adversity. In the athletic arena, the construct of Mental Toughness (MT) similarly describes the ability of some top athletes to overcome challenge and persist. We sought to measure sisu, or mental toughness, within an academic context in an effort to understand if mental toughness may be one of the missing puzzle pieces in understanding individual differences in persistence in STEM majors and careers. Exploratory factor analysis yielded similar constructs underlying academic MT as compared to athletic MT. This preliminary research provides the first step in creating a reliable and valid tool to assess MT in academics. Further research establishing the reliability and validity of this construct is warranted given the finding that several MT factor correlations with academic self- efficacy existed. We believe the ability to identify and quantify one’s MT will serve as an important variable in understanding individual differences in challenging situations.

State, But Not Trait, Measures of Persistence Are Related to Negative Affect

Task persistence describes the act of persisting with a difficult or effortful task. Although there are likely individual differences in persistence, the same person may also display different levels of persistence under different circumstances. This study sought to examine whether task persistence can be conceptualized as both a state and as a trait, and to examine the self-control strength model with negative affect as a drain on limited resources necessary for persisting. Smokers with schizophrenia (n = 43), schizoaffective disorder (n = 28), and nonpsychiatric smokers (n = 78) seeking treatment at state-funded tobacco-dependence treatment clinics completed two behavioral measures and two self-report measures of task persistence along with a measure of negative affect before their target quit date. Analyses of covariance suggest that behavioral measures of persistence were significantly related to negative affect while two self-report measures of persistence were not. These findings suggest that behavioral, but not self-report, measures of persistence are related to negative affect. We argue that these behavioral measures capture "state" persistence whereas the self-report measures capture "trait" persistence. These data also lend support to the self-control strength model by suggesting that negative affect can drain the limited resources necessary for persisting with difficult behavioral tasks.

Individual differences in persistence in lying and experiences while deceiving

The present study examines individual differences in persistence in lying, feeling uncomfortable when lying, and finding lying a difficult task. We hypothesized that being manipulative, being teen on making a good impression on others, being good at con trolling verbal and nonverbal communication, and having an active social life would be positively related to persistence in lying, and negatively related to feeling uncomfortable when lying and finding it difficult to lie. We also hypothesized that being reserved in social contacts would be negatively related to persistence in lying and positively related to feeling uncomfortable when lying and finding it difficult to lie. A total of 38 college students were thoroughly interviewed by a police detective about the course they study. They were all asked to pretend that they were studying psychology. The number of questions they answered before admitting to not studying psychology was taken as a measurement of persistence in lying. Feeling uncomfortable when lying and finding it difficult to lie were measured by means of a questionnaire. The findings support most of the hypotheses. Only the expected relationship between having an active social life or being reserved in social contacts and the dependent variables received little support.

SELECTIVE LEARNING IN SEVERELY RETARDED CHILDREN AS A FUNCTION OF DIFFERENTIAL REACTION TO NONREWARD

This experiment was essentially correlational and carried out in two phases. In Phase I, 30 severely retarded children were instrumentally conditioned under partial reinforcement and extinguished on two non-terminal tasks requiring a simple motor response. Persistence was defined as resistance to extinction. Individual differences in persistence on these two tasks were stable (p = .503). Neither CA nor IQ were significantly related to persistence. Ss were separated into high, medium, and low persistence levels on the basis of ranked total persistence scores (sum of resistance to extinction scores on the two instrumental tasks) and given a selective learning task in Phase II. The task involved choosing between a 50 per cent reinforced stimulus and a 0 per cent reinforced stimulus which were always presented to S in the same position. A trend analysis of learning data showed that high persisters chose the 50 per cent reinforced stimulus a significantly greater percentage of the time. Results were discussed in terms of Amsels frustration theory. The active role of frustrative nonreward has been conceptualized by Amsel (1958, 1962) in terms of fractional anticipatory goal reactions (ro - so) in order to explain the persistence of behavior in the face of omitted reinforcement. The basic position is that all learned, instrumental responses are a function of classically conditioned implicit responses, which are learned counterparts of behavior elicited by three types of goal events. These goal events and corresponding antedating goal reactions are rewarding events developing r, - sR, punishing events developing r, - sp, and frustrative events developing r, - s,. The hypothesized role of frustrative Appreciation is expressed to the superintendent of Woodward State Hospital and School, Woodward, Iowa, for cooperation in conducting this study. Author's address: Director of Research, Cedar Rapids Community School District, 346 Second Avenue, S.W., Cedar Rapids, I.