CHILDRENS UNDERSTANDING OF PERSONAL DISPOSITIONS AND ITS RELATIONSHIP TO BEHAVIOR
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Previous research suggests that children's understanding of dispositions (i.e., personality traits and abilities) changes as they grow older. Even though they may apply dispositional labels to individual behaviors, younger children do not seem to view dispositions as stable characteristics that produce consistent patterns of behavior, at least not to the same extent that older children and adults do. In the present studies we examined how an unstable versus stable view of dispositions might affect the motivational consequences of children's (7-8 year olds) success and failure experiences (Study 1) and their self-concept and impressions of other persons (Study 2). Both studies indicate that the different views of dispositions have important consequences for behaviors and perceptions, and they suggest that coming to view dispositions as stable characteristics may be an important clement of social development. 1988.