A girl named Natsumi even approached Miss Smith as she was leaving the room and tugged on her skirt and asked, Could you please tell my mommy I did it just like she said?

So, he jumped in the van, he went to Miss Jones' house and said, Miss Jones, I knew you wanted to come to your kid's art opening but you probably didn't have a ride.

Anglo Americans, they did two and a half times more anagrams when they got to choose them, as compared to when it was chosen for them by Miss Smith or their mothers.

When the second group of children came in, they were brought to the same room, shown the same anagrams, but this time Miss Smith told them which anagrams to do and which markers to write their answers with.

In reality, the kids who were told what to do, whether by Miss Smith or their mothers, were actually given the very same activity, which their counterparts in the first group had freely chosen.

In contrast, Asian American children performed best when they believed their mothers had made the choice, second best when they chose for themselves, and least well when it had been chosen by Miss Smith.