The Effects of Differential Criteria on the Assessment of Cognitive-Linguistic Relationships

Abstract

SMOLAK, LINDA, and LEVINE, MICHAEL P. The Effects of Differential Criteria on the Assessment of Cognitive-Linguistic Relationships. CHILD DEVELOPMENT, 1984, 55, 973-980. Many investigations of Piaget's model of cognitive-linguistic relationships have used methods that are inconsistent with Piagetian theory. This study examined 3 common methodological problems: (1) the definition and scoring of stage 6 object permanence, (2) the definitions of representational language and symbolic play, and (3) the use of correlations for data analysis. 40 children, 1-3 years old, were tested on 5 invisible displacement tasks, symbolic play level, and representational language. When Piaget's operational definitions of nonlinguistic and linguistic representation were used, presentation of the data in contingency tables supported his contention that nonlinguistic representation precedes linguistic representation. This relationship was unaffected by liberal versus conservative scoring of object-permanence task. When operational definitions developed by other researchers were used, the relationships were underestimated. Collectively, the results suggest that use of Piaget's operational definitions and restricted use of correlational techniques are essential for a meaningful evaluation of his theory. This study provides some guidelines for defining and analysing linguistic and nonlinguistic representation in future investigations of Piaget's model.