Piaget and Inhelder (Development)
Piaget and Inhelder (1956) The Three Mountains Task (textbook pg.16-19) “Understand the aims, procedures and findings (results and conclusions), strengths and weaknesses of”
Background: According to Piaget’s theory, a child in the pre-operational stage only sees the world from their own viewpoint and cannot see others’ perspectives – this is called egocentrism. When a child can decentre, they can see the world from a viewpoint other than their own and they can consider multiple views of a situation. Piaget and Inhelder carried out a series of experiments, such as the three mountains task, to investigate when children are egocentric, and when they can decentre.
| A | Piaget and Inhelder aimed to investigate the extent to which children of different ages were able to take the view of another person (decentre). |
| P | SAMPLE: A sample of 100 children aged 4-12 was used. The children were from Switzerland. 4 – 6.5 years 6.5 – 8 years 8-9.5 years 9.5-12 years 21 children 30 children 33 children 16 children EQUIPMENT: A model was used, consisting of three “mountains” of various sizes, each with different features: one was short, green with a house on top and a path, one was medium height, brown with a red cross on top and a stream, and one was tall, grey and had snow on top. The model was one metre square and the mountains ranged from 12 to 30 centimetres high. Ten pictures of the model were taken from different angles. There were also three coloured cardboard representations of the mountains (grey, brown and green) and a wooden doll, 3cm tall. QUESTIONING: 1. The child was shown the mountain model and was asked to use the coloured cardboard to show how the scene looked from different viewpoints. They were asked to show their own viewpoint and the viewpoint a doll could “see” (positioned by the researcher around the model). 2. The child was shown ten pictures of the model and asked to select the picture that represented what they could see from different positions, and what the doll could see from different positions. 3. The child was asked to choose a picture then position the doll so the doll could “see” that viewpoint. Piaget and Inhelder also gathered qualitative data by observing the children, as well as recording if they were correct/incorrect in each task (quantitative data). |
| R | Children aged 4-6.5 (in the pre-operational stage) will choose pictures and place cardboard in the position that represents their own viewpoint, even if asked to show the doll’s view. These children cannot place a doll in the correct position when provided with a picture of a viewpoint. Children aged 7-9 start to understand that others can see the model differently. By 9-12 years old, children can understand that the doll has a different viewpoint to them and will correctly select pictures/arrange cards of the doll’s view. |
| C | Children up to around 7 years (pre-operational stage) are egocentric – they cannot see the mountains from a viewpoint that is not their own, and they do not realise others hold different viewpoints. Older children (concrete operational stage) are not egocentric – they can see the mountains from the doll’s perspective (they can decentre). |
| The results provide supporting evidence for Piaget’s cognitive development theory – that children in the pre-operational stage are egocentric, whilst children in the concrete operational stage could co ordinate different viewpoints. |
| G | (+) They used a large sample size of 100 children, improving the generalisability of results to the target population. (-) Some age groups, e.g. 9.5-12 had small sample sizes (16 children), limiting the generalisability of results to the target population. (-) Participants were all from the same culture (Switzerland) – it may be that egocentrism occurs at different ages within different cultures, meaning we cannot necessary generalise the findings to children from different cultures. |
| R | (+) A standardised procedure was used (e.g. same model with mountains of the same heights between 12 and 30cm, with the same features e.g. stream, path, red cross, snow) meaning the procedure can easily be replicated to check the consistency of results, to test for reliability. (-) When the procedure was replicated by Borke using Grover from Sesame Street in a more age appropriate procedure, 3 year olds could give Grover’s viewpoint 79% of the time, and 4 year olds could do this 93% of the time. This tells us that Piaget and Inhelder’s results lack reliability, as different researchers find inconsistent results. |
| A | (+) The results are useful because they provide supporting evidence for Piaget’s cognitive development theory, that children in the pre-operational stage are egocentric, but that children in the concrete operational stage can decentre and see the world from others’ viewpoints. (-) This study found that some children were able to “partly” complete the tasks, and older children in one stage were able to show skills similar to children in the next stage. This suggests Piaget’s theory of “stages” is too rigid, and perhaps his theory should be on a continuum rather than four distinct stages. |
| V | (+) Rich, in depth qualitative data was gathered about the children during the task as they observed their behaviours and actions. (+) A laboratory experiment was used, meaning the researchers had full control over extraneous variables such as the colour of the pictures, meaning they can be sure that the IV (age of child) caused the changes in the DV (whether they could see other viewpoints). This also means a fair comparison could be made against the results of each child. (-) The experimental setting was artificial and lacks ecological validity and the mountains task used lacks task validity – it is an unusual way to measure viewpoints. This may have been confusing for the children and may not represent their true ability to decentre [e.g. when replicated using Grover in a child-friendly procedure, children could show others’ viewpoints much earlier at 3-4 years]… (+) ….However, the task was appropriate for the children from Switzerland, as they would be familiar with mountain scenery, evidencing high ecological validity. |
| E | As the participants were under 16, Piaget and Inhelder would have received consent from their parents. The procedure was not harmful or distressing for the children. |
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