Which children work harder at school, and what does their effort have to do with their social background? Until now, educational research has been unable to provide empirically based answers to this question. However, a new international study led by the Universidad Carlos III de Madrid (UC3M), with the participation of researchers from the WZB Berlin Social Science Center, reveals that socioeconomic background decisively influences the willingness to exert effort, but that this gap can be mitigated through the use of classroom incentives.

According to the results of this study, recently published in the journal American Sociological Review, schoolchildren from privileged families show greater cognitive effort than those from disadvantaged backgrounds, especially when no reward is offered and motivation is purely intrinsic. Nevertheless, the gap between both groups is not very wide and can be compensated for by incentives: when small prizes (such as toys or social recognition) are offered, children from families with fewer resources work with a level of engagement very similar to that of their more advantaged peers.

The authors of the study state that children's personality traits or intelligence do not explain these differences. Instead, their findings point to effortful behavior being conditioned by the social environment, as available family resources and the level of security children experience in their daily lives play a fundamental role. Conversely, growing up with scarcity (lack of financial means or parental attention) makes sustained concentration on a task more difficult.

These results have a direct policy dimension. The study’s authors emphasize that these findings offer concrete clues for diluting the influence of social background within the classroom—a necessary step toward a more equitable educational system.

Specifically, educational opportunities could become more equitable if, in addition to academic achievement, individual progress within the classroom were valued and rewarded. “School rewards, playful learning, and social recognition can help reduce differences in effort levels between children from different social classes,” notes the lead author of the study, Jonas Radl, Associate Professor of Sociology at the UC3M Department of Social Sciences and Visiting Research Professor at the WZB. "It may be beneficial to consider using more 'gamification'—that is, preparing learning content in a ludic form to tap into the instinct to play that exists within most human beings," adds Jonas Radl, also affiliated with UC3M’s Juan Linz Institute (IJL)".

A large-scale experiment in Madrid and Berlin

To conduct the study, 1,360 fifth-grade students from Madrid and Berlin solved simple cognitive tasks designed to measure concentration, attention, and self-control. In total, 60 classes from 32 schools participated. The tasks were performed under three different conditions: without rewards (unincentivized), with small gifts, and in a tournament competition with additional symbolic recognition.

"We do not want to reinforce a simple idea of the meritocracy narrative, which suggests that all that is needed is for everyone to try hard. In fact, this study demonstrates that one reason why disadvantaged children do not exert as much effort is the lack of resources they grow up with,” concludes Jonas Radl.

This line of research was developed within the framework of the EFFORT project (Effort and Social Inequality: Advancing Measurement and Understanding Parental Origin Effects), funded by the European Research Council (ERC) through an ERC Starting Grant (GA 758600). Indeed, the primary objective of this project was to understand the role of effort in the reproduction of social inequality.

Video: https://youtu.be/1lJc3-Idf20