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Variations in Children's Conceptualizations of Mental Retardation as a Function of Inquiry Methods
Author(s) -
Goodman Joan F.
Publication year - 1990
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.1469-7610.1990.tb00835.x
Subject(s) - psychology , developmental psychology , function (biology) , biology , evolutionary biology
This study addresses changes in the responses of third graders to questions about the nature, cause and course of mental retardation under different methods of inquiry. Specifically, do responses vary when the task demands explicit definitions, indirect identification (from a vignette of a functionally retarded but unlabelled youngster), photographic identification, renditions through drawing, or enactment through manipulating a figure on a game board? It was found that the mode of questioning markedly influenced children's portrayal of retardation. Discussion focuses on children's suggestibility (guessing in the service of conformity), greater willingness to be negative when asked to ‘show’ rather than ‘talk’, and genuine confusion.