The Development of the Concept of Difficulty.

Abstract

According to attributional analyses of the development of achieve ment motivation, developmental changes in achievement affect and overt achievement behavior can be explained as reflections of changes in the cognitive mediators of that behavior (Nicholls, 1978; Ruble, Parsons, & Ross, 1976; Weiner & Kun, in press). That is, changes in the way children interpret tasks and performance outcomes mediate changes in affective reactions and behavior. One of the more dramatic age-changes in achievement behavior occurs at about seven years. Below this age, almost all children prefer easy tasks when difficulty is communicated in the form of performance norms. Most older children, on the other hand select normatively diffi cult or intermediate level tasks (Veroff, 1969). This change has been explained in terms of the development of understanding that more difficult tasks require greater ability (Nicholls, 1978). Within the framework of attribution theory, a person's difficulty level preferences are held to reflect the attempt to demonstrate high ability while avoid ing demonstrating low ability (Kukla, 1978). People generally select tasks with intermediate subjective probabilities of success where the chances of demonstrating high rather than low ability appear optimum. Individuals with high self-concepts of ability will have inter mediate subjective probabilities of success on difficult tasks and prefer such tasks. Those with low self-concepts of ability will have inter mediate subjective probabilities of success on easy tasks and prefer easy tasks. For older children, norms not only provide a basis for estimating probabilities of success. They also indicate which tasks it is more impressive to succeed on: that is, those demanding more ability— the difficult ones. Thus, provided they perceive their ability on the relevant tasks as moderate or high, they will not choose easy tasks. Young children, on the other hand, do not understand that more nor matively difficult tasks demand greater ability. Consequently, they

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