Etude comparative de l'atteinte du niveau opératoire formel par des sujets sourds profonds de naissance

Abstract

This paper is based on the works of the Genevan psychologists and tries to throw a light on the problem of the attainment of the formal operational stage by subjects deaf from early life. A review of the main researches about this theme brings out contradictory results ; therefore, a new experimental investigation has been worked out. It deals with the setting of combinatory reasoning from a task in which the subject has to find out all the classes of two elements taken from a whole of x elements. The results clearly point out that deaf subjects stay fixed at a transitional stage. When faced with the task, the deaf subjects proceed empirically, but the bringing in of an experimental constraint proves that they are able to make use of a systematic strategy leading to success, by means of methodical and complete combinations. This discrepancy between their spontaneous performance and their operational ability seems to be at the root of the opposite conclusions drawn by the different searchers.