Measuring the Social Schemata of Preschool Children

Abstract

One measure of social schemata is based on the distances that subjects freely place a representation of “self” from representations of other social stimuli. The present study explored the feasibility of using the technique with preschool children. A high correlation of .81 was found between nursery-school children's tendency to place “self” near “teacher” on the social schemata measure and their actual tendency to “cling” to their nursery-school teacher. The authors concluded that the social schemata technique can be a useful research tool even when the subjects are quite young, i.e., between 4 and 5 yr. of age.