PIAGET'S TASKS: THE EFFECTS OF SCHOOLING AND INTELLIGENCE

Abstract

This study had 2 aims: to clarify results obtained with schooled and unschooled children in Hong Kong, and to explore the effects of chronological and mental age upon Piaget's tasks. The Ss were several groups of U. S. schoolchildren, selected to allow a close matching for either MA or CA and to cover a wide range in IQ. The data, combined with Hong Kong data, gave 2 results: (1) lack of schooling does not upset the conservation of weight, volume, or surface but does upset a task of combinatorial reasoning; (2) among schoolchildren, all tasks show a close relation to MA. The interaction between task and schooling may reflect the greater reliance of unschooled children upon perceptually present material or upon action models for reasoning.