An experimental task with accompanying apparatus was developed for use in the study of developmental and cultural differences in the cooperative-competitive behavior of children in a small Mexican town and in California. Two groups of 20 Mexican children (aged 7-8 and 10-11), from an elementary school in a town in Baja, California, Mexico, were…

Children judged the ability and effort of peers whose test performance varied across two dimensions: number of problems attempted and percentage correct. There was a developmental progression in the children's evaluative approach. Younger children used only one cue, number correct, to evaluate both ability and effort. Older children used both cues…