To find out what was causing this defeat response, the researchers looked at self-development in younger children. Around age two, kids normally begin to have a sense of self that they can compare to that of others. This can be seen in the fact that they begin to show a sense of pride when they achieve goals that are applauded by adults and a sense of shame when they don’t live up to grown-ups’ standards. While preschoolers and kindergartners don’t tend to focus much on how their abilities compare to others at this age, they are, as one study puts it, “very concerned about whether their
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