piaget and inhelder's 1956 study of development

Question 1

what were the aims of the study

Answer 1

-the extent to which children of different ages were able to take the view of another person (not being egocentric)
-children’s overall system of putting together a number of different views

Question 2

what was the equipment used in the ‘Three mountains task’

Answer 2

-the model of the tree mountains
-10 pictures of the model from different perspectives
-3 pieces of card in the same color as the mountains
-3 cm wooden doll with no facial features

Question 3

how many participants participated in the ‘Three mountains task’

Answer 3

100 in total

Question 4

what were the conclusions of the ‘Three mountains task’

Answer 4

-children below were egocentric
-towards the end, children started to realise that the doll had different perspectives
-they were able to look at the mountains from multiple perspectives
-they were able to construct mental images of the dolls perspective

Question 5

what are some weakness of the ‘Three mountains task’

Answer 5

-results may be due to children not being able to understand the task, rather than a reflection of the ‘stage’ they were in
-other studies produced different findings where the task was more appropriate for younger children
-it does not reflect the wider population (only Swiss children were studied)

Question 6

what are some strengths of the ‘Three mountains task’

Answer 6

-the study was repeated with many children (100)
-qualitative data was gathered through observations which was rich and detailed
-experimental methods were used, and careful controls were in place so the study could be repeated

Question 7

Compare to the study (Cops)

Answer 7

Dwecks’s mindset theory and Willingham’s learning theory

Question 8

Study of the ‘Three mountains task’ (copS)

Answer 8

results were supported the theory regarding ego-centrism, however, results indicate that ‘stages’ were not always consistent