Abstract
The hypothesis tested is that 5- and 6-year-old preschool children when asked to choose between geometric solids will select as “bigger” those objects having greater verticality. For each pair of solid three-dimensional objects in eight displays, the 5- and 6-year-olds (N = 25) indicated the “bigger” figure to be the solid having the greater vertical dimension (p <.001). For all of the displays the choice patterns differed significantly from those of a control group of 25 college freshmen. The results suggest that the vertical dimension may be the salient misleading perceptual cue in studies of conservation.
Article PDF
Similar content being viewed by others
Avoid common mistakes on your manuscript.
References
BERLYNE, D. E. Recent developments in Piaget’s work. In Harper, Anderson, Christensen, and Hunka (Eds.), The cognitive processes: Readings. Englewood Cliffs, N. J.: Prentice-Hall, 1964, Pp. 311–324.
FLAVELL, J. H. The developmental psychology of Jean Piaget. Princeton, N.J.: van Nostrand, 1963.
GRIFFITHS, J. A., SHANTZ, C. A., & SIGEL, I. E. A methodological problem in conservation studies: the use of relational terms. Child Development, 1967, 38, 841–848.
HAYS, W. L. Statistics for psychologists. New York: Holt, Rinehart, & Winston, 1963.
LUMSDEN, E. A., & POTEAT, B. W.-S. The salience of the vertical dimension in the concept of “bigger” in five- and six-year olds. Journal of Verbal Learning & Verbal Behavior, 1968, in press.
PIAGET, J. Le developpement des perceptions en fonction de l’age. In J. Piaget, P. Fraisse, E. Vurpillot, and R. Frances (Eds.), Traite de psychologie experimentale: VI, La Perception. Paris: Presses Universitaires de France, 1963.
PIAGET, J., MATALON, B., VINH-BANG, MORF, A., et RUTSCHMANN, J. Recherches sur le developpement des perceptions. No. XLII-XLV, Archives de psychologie, 1961, 38, 23–200.
RUDEL, R. G., & TEUBER, H. Discrimination of direction of line in children. Journal of Comparative & Physiological Psychology, 1963, 56, 892–898.
SEKULER, R. W., & ROSENBLITH, J. F. Discrimination of the direction of line and the effect of stimulus alignment. Psychonomic Science, 1964, 1, 143–144.
WALLACH, L., WALL, J. A., & ANDERSON, L. Number conservation: the roles of reversibility, addition-subtraction, and misleading perceptual cues. Child Development, 1967, 38, 425–442.
WOHLWILL, J. F. Developmental studies of perception. Psychological Bulletin, 1960, 57, 249–288.
WOHLWILL, J. F. The mystery of the pre-logical child. Psychology Today, 1967, 1, 25–34.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Poteat, B.WS., Hulsebus, R.C. The vertical dimension: A significant cue in the preschool child’s concept of “bigger”. Psychon Sci 12, 369–370 (1968). https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03331356
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03331356