Samuel And Bryant (1984)

Question 0

Age and features of pre-operational stage?

Answer 0

2-7years
Develops language skills
Has ability to mentally represent objects and events
Egocentric and cannot conserve

Question 1

Age and features of sensori-motor stage?

Answer 1

0-2years
Develops motor skills
Develops a sense of subject permanence

Question 2

Age and features of concrete operational stage?

Answer 2

7-11years
Ability to decentre and conserve
Can think about the world how it is, but not how it might be

Question 3

Age and features of formal operational stage?

Answer 3

11+years
Capable of forming and testing hypotheses
Understands rules of formal logic
Able to reason about abstract concepts

Question 4

What was the aim of the experiment?

Answer 4

To challenge Piaget’s findings by changing the method used to investigate conservation in children

Question 5

How many participants were there? Where were they from?

Answer 5

252 boys and girls

Sample was drawn from primary schools and playgroups in Crediton, Devon

Question 6

What was the age range of the sample?

Answer 6

5-8.5 years old

Question 7

How were the participants split/divided?

Answer 7

Split into 4 groups of 63 by mean ages of 5y3m, 6y3m, 7y3m, 8y3m
These groups were then divided into 3 groups of 21, matched to control for age

Question 8

What kind of experiment was Samuel and Bryant?

Answer 8

Laboratory, quasi experiment

Question 9

What were the three independent variables?

Answer 9

Age of participants
Task conditions
Material used

Question 10

Task conditions (IV) - standard condition?

Answer 10

Children are asked about the quantity of the material pre and post transformation

Question 11

Task conditions (IV) - one question condition?

Answer 11

Same as the standard condition, children see the transformation but are only asked one question, post transformation

Question 12

Task conditions (IV) - fixed array condition?

Answer 12

Control condition

The child does not see the transformation, only sees the post transformation material and is asked the question

Question 13

Why was Piaget’s standard condition used in the experiment?

Answer 13

To show that children don’t always fail the standard condition because they cannot conserve
Allows direct comparisons with their one question condition

Question 14

Why was the fixed array condition used? (Control condition)

Answer 14

To assess whether children who answered the post transformation question correctly had done so from using information from the pre-transformation display

Question 15

What was the experimental design?

Answer 15

Independent measures design

Question 16

What three materials were used in the tasks?

Answer 16

Volume - liquid
Mass - play dough
Number - counters

Question 17

Procedure for volume?

Answer 17

Standard and one question: shown two identical glasses of liquid. One glass was poured into a taller narrower glass
Fixed array: only saw the two different sized glasses of liquid

Question 18

Procedure for mass?

Answer 18

Standard and one question: shown two identical balls of play dough. One ball was squished into a pancake or a sausage
Fixed array: only saw the two different shapes of play dough

Question 19

Procedure for number?

Answer 19

Standard and one question: saw two identical rows of six plastic counters. One row was then spread out
Fixed array: only saw the two different length rows

Question 20

How many trials for each material did the children do?

Answer 20

Four trials for each material (12 total)

The order was systematically varied for each child

Question 21

What kind of data was collected?

Answer 21

Quantitative data was collected

Question 22

What was the dependent variable?

Answer 22

Number of errors made by the children

Question 23

What were the findings?

Answer 23

One question condition was easiest
Fewer errors were made by children aged 8 in all conditions compared to children aged 5
Fixed array produced the highest number of errors in all age groups
Volume produced the most errors

Question 24

Conclusion?

Answer 24

Samuel and Bryant were right to question Piaget’s use of two questions - Piaget was confusing children and producing demand characteristics
Ability to conserve develops with age