INDIVIDUAL-DIFFERENCES IN ACHIEVEMENT GOALS AMONG YOUNG-CHILDREN

Developmental research has generally not found evidence of helpless re sponses to failure in young children; a prevailing view is that young children lack the cognitive prerequisite for helplessness. However, re cent evidence suggests that even preschoolers are vulnerable to helple ssness in some situations. In the present study with 4- and 5-year-old s, we tested a goal-confidence model that predicts achievement behavio r during failure for older children. We first catagorized preschoolers ' orientations toward ''learning'' or ''performance'' goals based on t heir preference for a challenging or nonchallenging task. As for older children, goal orientation was independent of ability and predicted c ognitions and emotions during failure. Further, consistent with the mo del, within a learning goal, children displayed the mastery-oriented p attern regardless of confidence level, whereas within a performance go al, children with low confidence were most susceptible to helplessness . These behavior patterns were found on a second task as well. Thus, o ur findings show that individual differences in achievement goals emer ge very early.