Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Arts (MA)

Department

Psychology

Faculty/School

Faculty of Science

First Advisor

Not applicable

Advisor Role

Not applicable

Abstract

Nonconserving children were placed in a situation where they had to interact with either two conserving adults or two conserving children. Each triad (one nonconserver and two conservers) was asked to give judgments and explanations for conservation problems. The type of conserving explanations (invariant quantity, reversibility, and compensation) given by the conservers in the interaction were varied. Approximately one week after the interaction the nonconserving subjects were posttested and the results indicated that nonconservers increased in conservation score after interacting with conservers. Hearing different explanations did not differentially affect the scores of nonconservers. The results did indicate that invariant quantity explanations were used more often than either reversibility or compensation explanations by the subjects after the interaction. There were no differential effects when interacting with either adult or peer conservers. These results were discussed in terms of Piagetian Theory. The ramifications of these findings on our educational systems were discussed as were suggestions for future research.

Convocation Year

1976

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