Premium
Scene schemata and scripts in children's understanding of hospital
Author(s) -
EISER CHRISTINE,
EISER J. RICHARD,
JONES BRYONY A.
Publication year - 1990
Publication title -
child: care, health and development
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.832
H-Index - 82
eISSN - 1365-2214
pISSN - 0305-1862
DOI - 10.1111/j.1365-2214.1990.tb00663.x
Subject(s) - scripting language , set (abstract data type) , psychology , developmental psychology , computer science , programming language , operating system
Summary In a first study, 90 children (aged 3‐5 years) were shown a photograph of a hospital scene, and then asked to identify which of 12 separate items were present in the original scene. Children made more plausible than implausible errors, suggesting that they had well‐organized schemata for hospital scenes. In a second study, we investigated children's knowledge of hospital‐related routines and activities. A total of 152 children (aged 3‐5, 6‐8 and 9‐10 years) were shown five photographs of hospital and five photographs of school, and asked to arrange each set to ‘tell a story’. Children in different age groups showed relatively high agreement in their orderings, and also in selecting the ‘most important photograph’. The data suggest that children's knowledge of hospital is organized around rudimentary schemata and scripts, which enable them to make very plausible inferences about hospital scenes and activities.