Cooperations
Cooperation 6: Developmental Psychology / Cognitive Psychology
The aim of the collaboration between the projects on developmental psychology and cognitive psychology was to investigate the importance of action-related cognitive control processes (i.e., executive functions) for the achievement of social and performance goals in the school context. Stop- and flanker-tasks were used in order to assess inhibitory control and attention control in school children at two points of measurement. Faster response times and lower error rates in the flanker-task suggested an increase in information processing speed. Thus, students entering secondary school showed a greater motivation and ability to engage in goal-oriented behavior and ignore irrelevant information than they did at the end of fourth grade. Analyses revealed positive relations between inhibitory control and mathematical achievement, which was assessed by standardized tests. We also found a positive indirect effect of inhibitory control on school achievement (grades) that was mediated by mathematical ability. However, there was no evidence for significant relations between executive functions and socioemotional competencies (e.g., prosocial behavior, coping with peer conflict). Cognitive factors (i.e., IQ, mathematical achievement, inhibitory control) as well as the motivation and ability to use problem-focused strategies in peer conflict situations were positive and significant predictors of school achievement. These findings support the assumption that limits of intentionality, in terms of the ability to act intentionally (e.g., motivation and ability to successfully fulfill normative achievement expectations in the school context, measured by teacher’s ratings), is related to individual differences on the level of elementary behavioral responses (i.e., inhibition of goal-irrelevant responses).
Goal-directed behavior serves to maintain and successfully implement intentions, and it requires the motivation and ability to engage in inhibitory control as one aspect of self-regulation. A comparative study with university students, however, has revealed no significant relations of selective attention and inhibitory control on school achievement and academic performance. These findings suggest that the importance of executive control processes for successful goal achievement decreases during the course of development.