The role of external and cognitive conflict in children's conservation learning.
Item
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Title
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The role of external and cognitive conflict in children's conservation learning.
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Identifier
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AAI8820846
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identifier
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8820846
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Creator
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Bodlakova Ward, Vera.
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Contributor
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Adviser: Barry J. Zimmerman
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Date
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1988
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Language
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English
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Publisher
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City University of New York.
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Subject
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Psychology, Developmental
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Abstract
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The purpose of this study was to examine the role of external (social) and internal (cognitive) conflict in children's learning to conserve weight. Piaget's theory of intellectual development rests on two assumptions: (1) moderately discrepant experiences of external conflict between two external events or rules, or between subjects of different operational levels generate internal cognitive conflict (disequilibrium); and (2) cognitive conflict is a necessary precondition for stage progression.;This study employed a 3 (degree of modeled external conflict) x 5 (pretest, treatment, social learning, immediate and delayed posttests) repeated measures factorial design with dangling control group. One hundred nonconservers and transitional kindergarten and first grade children were randomly assigned to one of four conditions: No Conflict (0% disagreement between two adult models about conservation of weight); Intermediate Conflict (50% disagreement); High Conflict (100% disagreement); and Control Group. A critical addition to this research design was the inclusion of "prediction of models' performance" which served as a measure of social learning. Two measures of internal cognitive conflict were employed: behaviorally assessed latency scores and subjectively assessed certainty scores.;No Conflict modeling treatment was significantly more effective in generating acquisition of conservation than either of the two conflict treatments. Children who receive Non-Conflicting modeling were able to predict models' responses more accurately than children in the two conflict groups. Also, children who accurately predicted models' judgments and explanations attained significantly higher immediate and delayed Posttest conservation scores on both training and transfer tasks than children who predicted models' performance less accurately. Children in the Intermediate Conflict condition had significantly lower certainty scores than children in the High Conflict condition but no difference emerged among the other groups. Although response latencies were shorter for the No Conflict group than for all the other groups, this effect was not uniformly significant across all phases of the study. These findings indicate that while external social conflict generated some internal cognitive conflict, this conflict had the opposite effect on children's learning of conservation of weight to that predicted by the Piagetian hypothesis. The results were interpreted as supportive of social learning view of cognitive development. Educational implications for instruction are discussed.
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Type
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dissertation
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Source
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PQT Legacy CUNY.xlsx
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degree
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Ph.D.
