The effects of personal responsibility and task interruption on the private speech of preschoolers

Abstract

The effects of personal responsibility for failure, task interruption, and success on private speech were assessed. Sixty children (ages 4.0 to 5.2), divided into high and average mental-age (MA) groups, were asked to perform a cognitive task under one of three conditions: personal failure (due to the child’s inadequate performance), task interruption (due to faulty materials), or success (task completion). Both quantity and quality of private speech were higher in the personal-failure condition than the other conditions. Task-oriented behavior was also higher in the personal-failure condition. As predicted, high MA children had higher quantity and quality of private speech than average MA children. There was a weak tendency for high MA children to respond to personal failure more than average MA children. © 1972 S. Karger AG, Basel.