EXTINCTION OF PIAGETIAN CONCEPTS: AN UPDATING

Abstract

Can children be induced by contradictory evidence to abandon their belief in concrete-operational concepts? Miller (1971) reviewed nine studies directed to the issue of of conservation. Since that review, 11 more studies of the extinction of Piagetian con cepts have appeared; in addition Strauss (1972, 1974) and Brainerd (1973) have exchanged opposing views on the current state of the literature. In Strauss's view, extinction, in the sense of a genuine re turn to an earlier level of functioning, is infrequent. Much of the ap parent extinction that has been reported can be attributed to problems of measurement. In Brainerd's view, extinction occurs fairly readily, but its probability depends on the developmental level of the concept in question. Specifically, the claim is that developmentally early con cepts are more difficult to extinguish than developmentally later ones. The purpose of this paper is to reconsider some of the issues raised by Miller (1971) in the light of the more recent evidence and commentary. Several themes underlie the paper. A first is that ex tinction studies speak to central claims in Piaget's theory concerning the origins and nature of operational knowledge. A second is that such studies are very difficult to do, and are often not done very well. A third is that neither Strauss nor Brainerd provides a satisfactory picture of the current state of the evidence.