TWO-YEAR-OLDS' SYMBOLIC PLAY AS A FUNCTION OF MATERNAL INTERACTION.
Item
-
Title
-
TWO-YEAR-OLDS' SYMBOLIC PLAY AS A FUNCTION OF MATERNAL INTERACTION.
-
Identifier
-
AAI8713752
-
identifier
-
8713752
-
Creator
-
COX, MARY L.
-
Contributor
-
David J. Bearison
-
Date
-
1987
-
Language
-
English
-
Publisher
-
City University of New York.
-
Subject
-
Education, Early Childhood | Psychology, Developmental
-
Abstract
-
Little is known about specific caretaker behaviors which influence development of symbolic play and, by extension, of the symbolic function. The present study investigated the synchrony, or ability to co-attend, of mothers as it relates to the maturity of their children's symbolic play. Following the theories of Werner and Vygotsky, it was hypothesized that maternal synchrony would correlate positively with maturity of symbolic play. Two depressive traits in the mothers, which it was assumed would counter their ability to synchronously attend to the meaning and focus of their young children's interests on a consistent basis, were also measured and correlated with play and synchrony. The subjects were 24 mother-child pairs. Videotaping was used for data-collection.;No significant correlations between independent play level scores, synchrony, and depression were found. Three findings, however, supported and extended previous research: (1) The children's play level scores were significantly higher when the mother participated; (2) High synchronous mothers were found to engage in significantly more pretend with their toddlers than low synchronous mothers; (3) Mothers' dependency scores (a depression measure) had a significant negative correlation with maturity of interactive play.;The lack of support for the hypotheses was discussed in terms of the homogeneity of the sample, the procedures used, and the play measure which confounded length of play episode and maturity of play type.;The positive findings were discussed in terms of their congruence with Vygotsky's, Werner's and Piaget's theories of the development of the symbolic function. Educationally, the findings lend support to the view that play in interaction with mother or a caretaker may be as important to the age-group's developmental progress as increased memorization or instruction.
-
Type
-
dissertation
-
Source
-
PQT Legacy CUNY.xlsx
-
degree
-
Ph.D.
-
Program
-
Educational Psychology
