Sierksma Jellie, Brummelman Eddie
Utrecht University, Utrecht, the Netherlands.
University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, the Netherlands.
Child Dev. 2025 Sep-Oct;96(5):1660-1674. doi: 10.1111/cdev.14259. Epub 2025 Jun 3.
What are the psychological consequences of receiving direct and indirect help in childhood? We conducted three preregistered experiments (N = 619, 7-9 years, 80% Dutch, 51% girls, 49% boys, mostly higher socioeconomic status) in the Netherlands (July 2020-July 2022). Children received direct help (correct answer), indirect help (hint), or no help. An internal meta-analysis showed that children who received help felt less competent, liked the task less, and felt more in need of help. Children who received help also sought fewer challenges (Study 3). Effect sizes were modest. Direct and indirect help had largely similar effects, except that children disliked and misreported receiving direct help more. Thus, despite being well-intentioned, direct and indirect help can be discouraging.
童年时期接受直接帮助和间接帮助会产生哪些心理影响？我们在荷兰开展了三项预先注册的实验（N = 619，年龄7至9岁，80%为荷兰人，51%为女孩，49%为男孩，大多来自社会经济地位较高的家庭）（2020年7月至2022年7月）。孩子们接受直接帮助（正确答案）、间接帮助（提示）或无帮助。一项内部荟萃分析表明，接受帮助的孩子感觉自己能力较差，对任务的喜爱程度较低，且感觉更需要帮助。接受帮助的孩子也较少寻求挑战（研究3）。效应量较小。直接帮助和间接帮助的效果大致相似，只是孩子们更不喜欢并错误报告接受了直接帮助。因此，尽管直接帮助和间接帮助是出于善意，但可能会令人气馁。
