Naughty Teddy

• Aim

  to see if children developed consevation skills at an earlier age than piaget found , if the change to the materials was accidental.
• study design

  A laboratory study in which there was some control of possible extraneous variables. All procedures were standardised to ensure the study could be replicated easily. Eighty children between the ages of four and six took part in the study.
• Method

  The children were shown two rows of counters and asked if there was the same amount in each row. Then a glove puppet called Naughty Teddy' made an appearance. Naughty Teddy accidentally messed up one row of counters in front of the child. The messed-up row was spread out to look longer than the other row. The experimenter pretended to be really cross with Naughty Teddy and told it off. The child was then asked if there were the same amount of counters in each row
• Results

  62 per cent of the four-to six-year-olds stated that there was still the same amount of counters in each row, therefore they could conserve. Only 16 per cent of study, when the adult made the change to the counters,four-to six-year-olds answered the question correctly in Piaget's conservation of number
• Conclusion

  Children younger than the age of seven can conserve if the change to the materials is seen to be accidental. When Naughty Teddy messes up the row of counters and spreads them out, younger children know that the amount of counters has not changed.
• Other psychologists have also found that children develop conservation skills before seven years of age
• Conservation of number experiment

  1. Showed children two rows of counters in silence

  2. Spread out one of the rows of counters

  3. Asked 'Is there the same amount in each row?'
• More six-year-olds got the answer correct


  Offering more support to McGarrigle and Donaldson's conclusion that children can conserve before the age of seven
• McGarrigle and Donaldson's experiment can be criticised
• Criticisms of McGarrigle and Donaldson's experiment

  • Children used in the study were tested by an adult stranger in an unusual environment
  • If the adult making the change was familiar to them, and they were in their usual environment, more children would be able to conserve
• Evaluation

  Why the study is important

  • It showed that contrary to Piaget's conclusions, children younger than seven can conserve.

  Limitations of the study

  • Over 30 per cent of children still failed to conserve when Naughty Teddy' made the change.

  The study was replicated by another psychologist who found that although more children could conserve when Naughty Teddy' was used, the results were not as high as McGarrigle and Donaldson had found.