2014 Volume 62 Issue 2 Pages 87-100
The present study investigated children’s adjustment of planning, depending on their prediction of an external evaluation of what they have done, in relation to their age. The participants were 6-year-old (n=58) and 9-year-old (n=58) children. Half of the children in each group were assigned to a condition in which they predicted an evaluation, and the other half, to a no-evaluation condition. The task consisted of drawing patterns on stickers. In the evaluation-prediction condition, the children were told in advance that a famous drawing teacher would evaluate their pictures, and they were also told to use the seals neatly. After they finished their drawings, the children were asked about their expectations about the evaluation and the reasons for those expectations. The children in the no-evaluation condition were told to draw freely, because no one else would see their drawings. The children’s drawings were analyzed from the following perspectives: (a) deliberateness of planning, (b) conformity with the expected evaluation criteria (in the evaluation group), and (c) effects of deliberateness of planning on problem solving. The results suggested that the 9-year-old children planned deliberately by predicting the external evaluation, whereas the 6-year-old children did not show such an adjustment. The present results suggest that in 9-year-old children, internal criteria are self-inhibited and external criteria included in the prediction of external evaluation. Furthermore, the idea of a goal state is defined by external criteria.
