| Abstract: | Assessments of infants' mastery motivation have been made from observations of their levels of engagement with tasks. In this study we examined the relation of levels of task engagement to investigation and visual attention in data obtained from 53 thirty-month-old children. Significant correlations were found between task engagement and other mastery behaviors. The levels of task engagement had low significant correlations with scores on a developmental test. These findings provide additional evidence that task engagement is a valid assessment of mastery behavior. The findings also suggest that there is organization in the play of young children that can be explained by a motive to master and acquire information. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved) |
