Social factors in conservation

Abstract

This study is a partial replication, with variations, of the experiments of McGarrigle & Donaldson (1975) and Light et al. (1979). Sixty-four 5-year-old children were tested on traditional Piagetian tests of conservation of number under a standard control condition, and one of two experimental conditions: one (M) in which the task materials were apparently accidentally transformed by a mischievous monkey manipulated by a second experimenter, and another ( I ) in which the transformation was made to appear irrelevant to the main purpose of the task. The frequency of initial conserving responses was higher in the two experimental conditions than in the control, and this effect was strongest for the I condition. All groups of children but one appeared to exhibit a response set such that initial judgements were preserved in the second test condition. These results are discussed in relation to those of the other two studies, and their implications for Piagetian theory are considered.

The relationship between theory of mind and conservation abilities in children using an active/inactive paradigm

“…Research has shown that conservation questions can be problematic for young children and that when the question is altered these children perform better (Hargreaves et al, 1982). That is, framing the conservation question as an appearance-reality question facilitates children's understanding of what is actually being asked of them (e.g., "Are they really different or is there still the same amount?"…”

“…The ecological validity of standard conservation tasks has been identified as a factor in young children's poor performance (Donaldson, 1978;Gelman, 1978), and linguistic difficulties are said to contribute to the failure of children younger than 7 years (Hargreaves, Molloy & Pratt, 1982;Rose & Blank, 1974). The ecological validity of standard conservation tasks has been identified as a factor in young children's poor performance (Donaldson, 1978;Gelman, 1978), and linguistic difficulties are said to contribute to the failure of children younger than 7 years (Hargreaves, Molloy & Pratt, 1982;Rose & Blank, 1974).…”

“…As with false belief tasks, standard conservation tasks have long been identified as being problematic. The ecological validity of standard conservation tasks has been identified as a factor in young children's poor performance (Donaldson, 1978;Gelman, 1978), and linguistic difficulties are said to contribute to the failure of children younger than 7 years (Hargreaves, Molloy & Pratt, 1982;Rose & Blank, 1974). In a well-known study, McGarrigle and Donaldson (1974) attempted to improve the ecological validity of the number conservation task by having a puppet accidentally make the transformation.…”

Acquiring Piaget’s Conservation Concept of Numbers, Lengths, and Liquids as Ordinary Play

“…Other reports have stated that acquisition can begin sooner (between 4-and 6-year-olds) if task methods are properly designed or training is conducted (Seigler, 2016;Gelman, 1969;McGarrigle & Donaldson, 1974;Light, Buckingham, & Robbins, 1979;Hargreaves, Molloy, & Pratt, 1982).…”

“…In fact, many studies concerning pragmatics relate to this point (Goswami, 1998;Donaldson, 1978;Rose & Blank, 1974;Siegal, 1991;McGarrigle & Donaldson, 1974;Dehaene, 1997). Furthermore, some reports have stated that acquisition can happen sooner, at between 4 and 6 years, if task methods are properly designed or practiced (Siegler, 2016;Gelman, 1969;McGarrigle & Donaldson, 1974;Light, Buckingham, & Robbins, 1979;Hargreaves, Molloy, & Pratt, 1982). However, designing tasks often changes questions' contexts, and some researchers have held that such changed questions do not actually examine Piaget's conservation concept (Miller, 1982;Nakagaki, 1990;Goswami, 1998).…”