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THE INTERPRETATION OF CONSERVATION INSTRUCTIONS BY FIVE‐YEAR‐OLD CHILDREN
Author(s) -
Russell James
Publication year - 1975
Publication title -
journal of child psychology and psychiatry
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.652
H-Index - 211
eISSN - 1469-7610
pISSN - 0021-9630
DOI - 10.1111/j.1469-7610.1975.tb01272.x
Subject(s) - psychology , salient , interpretation (philosophy) , perception , semantics (computer science) , cognition , task (project management) , cognitive development , cognitive psychology , expression (computer science) , developmental psychology , linguistics , artificial intelligence , computer science , philosophy , management , neuroscience , economics , programming language
SUMMARY This paper presents an attempt to test Piaget's notion that the child's language reflects his cognitive level, by examining how five‐year‐olds interpret the conservation expression “same amount of room” and then attempting to re‐educate their semantics. Interpretations were generally in terms of height or shape, depending on whether children produced or selected the comparison, implying that failure at the classic conservation task is due to misinterpretation of the instruction rather than to witnessing the perceptual transformation. Correct interpretations were common when neither shape nor height variables were perceptually salient. Semantic re‐education corrected “shape” but not “height” interpretations, implying that failure to conserve is not a purely semantic failure.