Samuel And Bryant (1984) Flashcards
(25 cards)
Age and features of pre-operational stage?
2-7years
Develops language skills
Has ability to mentally represent objects and events
Egocentric and cannot conserve
Age and features of sensori-motor stage?
0-2years
Develops motor skills
Develops a sense of subject permanence
Age and features of concrete operational stage?
7-11years
Ability to decentre and conserve
Can think about the world how it is, but not how it might be
Age and features of formal operational stage?
11+years
Capable of forming and testing hypotheses
Understands rules of formal logic
Able to reason about abstract concepts
What was the aim of the experiment?
To challenge Piaget’s findings by changing the method used to investigate conservation in children
How many participants were there? Where were they from?
252 boys and girls
Sample was drawn from primary schools and playgroups in Crediton, Devon
What was the age range of the sample?
5-8.5 years old
How were the participants split/divided?
Split into 4 groups of 63 by mean ages of 5y3m, 6y3m, 7y3m, 8y3m
These groups were then divided into 3 groups of 21, matched to control for age
What kind of experiment was Samuel and Bryant?
Laboratory, quasi experiment
What were the three independent variables?
Age of participants
Task conditions
Material used
Task conditions (IV) - standard condition?
Children are asked about the quantity of the material pre and post transformation
Task conditions (IV) - one question condition?
Same as the standard condition, children see the transformation but are only asked one question, post transformation
Task conditions (IV) - fixed array condition?
Control condition
The child does not see the transformation, only sees the post transformation material and is asked the question
Why was Piaget’s standard condition used in the experiment?
To show that children don’t always fail the standard condition because they cannot conserve
Allows direct comparisons with their one question condition
Why was the fixed array condition used? (Control condition)
To assess whether children who answered the post transformation question correctly had done so from using information from the pre-transformation display
What was the experimental design?
Independent measures design
What three materials were used in the tasks?
Volume - liquid
Mass - play dough
Number - counters
Procedure for volume?
Standard and one question: shown two identical glasses of liquid. One glass was poured into a taller narrower glass
Fixed array: only saw the two different sized glasses of liquid
Procedure for mass?
Standard and one question: shown two identical balls of play dough. One ball was squished into a pancake or a sausage
Fixed array: only saw the two different shapes of play dough
Procedure for number?
Standard and one question: saw two identical rows of six plastic counters. One row was then spread out
Fixed array: only saw the two different length rows
How many trials for each material did the children do?
Four trials for each material (12 total)
The order was systematically varied for each child
What kind of data was collected?
Quantitative data was collected
What was the dependent variable?
Number of errors made by the children
What were the findings?
One question condition was easiest
Fewer errors were made by children aged 8 in all conditions compared to children aged 5
Fixed array produced the highest number of errors in all age groups
Volume produced the most errors
