How Adults’ Actions, Outcomes, and Testimony Affect Preschoolers’ Persistence

Across four experiments, we looked at how 4‐ and 5‐year‐olds' ( n = 520) task persistence was affected by observations of adult actions (high or low effort), outcomes (success or failure), and testimony (setting expectations—“This will be hard,” pep talks—“You can do this,” value statements—“Trying hard is important,” and baseline). Across experiments, outcomes had the biggest impact: preschoolers consistently tried harder after seeing the adult...