Piagets theory - egocentrism + policeman doll study

Define egocentrism

Child’s tendency to only be able to see world from their own point of view aka physical objects and arguments

What did Piaget argue

• Children under the age of 7 can only think in terms of their own perspective.

• 7 and onwards obtain ability to de-centre

What was the aim

To investigate weather egocentrism occurs in children under 7

What was the method - detailed

• Children aged between 3 ½ to 5 years

• Shown model of two intersecting walls, two policeman and a boy doll

• Children asked to hide boy doll in one of the 4 sections from the policeman

• Given 1 practice turn in order for them to understand the task

• Repeated 3 times

What were the results found

• 90% children able to position boy doll where policemen could not ‘see’ him

• Older children performed better

Conclusion?

• Children aged between 3 ½ to 5 years can see things from someone else’s point of view if the task makes sense or is similar to them

What is a weakness

• Potential researcher effect

• Researcher may have glanced at the section where the doll should be hidden which acts as a cue

• Reduces validity

What is a weakness

• Sample bias

• Hughes only studied children aged 3 ½ to 5 years old from Edinburgh

• Sample is unrepresentative of how children elsewhere in uk learn

• Limits generalisability and validity of findings