Effect of Competitive Success and Failure on Pupil's Choice of Task

Third-grade pupils representing both high and low economic strata were exposed to 2 competitive and 1 non-competitive experimental conditions. Children who were led to believe that they were competitively successful in performing an originally preferred task persisted in their preference for that task. Pupils who were led to believe that they were competitively successful at an originally non-preferred task did not switch their preference from an originally preferred task. The results indicate that contrived information concerning competitive success does not cause pupils to shift their preference for a task.