I think he can: Mother's ability mindsets and the impact of cognitive trust in toddlers.
Kurkul, Katelyn.
2011
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Abstract: Over the past decade the number of Spanish-speaking children in US
schools has increased rapidly. However, these students continue to demonstrate low academic
performance and be at-risk for academic failure. Understanding the protective factors that
can help these children achieve academic resilience is integral to helping them achieve
academic success. One protective factor that is ... read moredriven by parenting cognitions rooted in
cultural beliefs is cognitive trust. Cognitive trust is the ability to seek out an adult
for assistance in completing a challenging academic task. Research looking at parenting
mindsets suggests that children are more likely to seek out an adult with an incremental
mindset (the belief that children are capable of changing and their abilities are not
static) in order to help them overcome a challenging academic task. The present study aims
to look at how children develop cognitive trust in adults as a result of parenting mindsets
and values. It is hypothesized that mindsets will influence the way toddlers develop
cognitive trust in their mothers. To test this hypothesis, 10 Spanish-speaking toddlers
were asked to complete a series of problem solving tasks and will be assessed on their
completion of the task as well as by the involvement of the caregiver that is necessary to
help the child persist in completing the tasks. As hypothesized, the majority of mothers in
this sample exhibited an entity mindset. In order to understand the relationship between
mindset and cognitive trust Pearson's r was correlated. When controlling for caregiver's
education findings suggest that there is a strong relationship between caregiver's mindset
and child's help seeking behavior. These findings help educators to understand how children
are influenced by their parent's mindsets and the power such an influence can have on a
child's ability to seek out an adult to help accomplish academic tasks. Understanding the
development of cognitive trust is integral to understanding how childrenperceive educators
and their parents as individuals who can help them achieve academic resilience when faced
with learning challenges.
Thesis (M.A.)--Tufts University, 2011.
Submitted to the Dept. of Child Development.
Advisor: Martha Sellers.
Committee: Maryann O'Brien, and Miguel Basanez.
Keywords: Developmental Psychology, and Early Childhood Education.read less - ID:
- cf95jp96m
- Component ID:
- tufts:20887
- To Cite:
- TARC Citation Guide EndNote
