Shared cognitive operations account: identity and reversibility underlie conservation, pretense play, and gender constancy¶

Theory · All theories
Evidence · no claims cited

Description¶

The article proposes that qualitative and quantitative forms of identity and reversibility share common cognitive system properties, so exercise of these operations in one domain transfers to others. It builds on Kohlberg's suggestion that "the same cognitive factors which account for the development of conservatidh of gwntity might also be involved in the developaent of gender constancy" and tests it experimentally by training nonconserving preschoolers in conservation or pretense play and measuring gender constancy.

Design Implications¶

Context¶

Requirements¶

• Learners must initially fail conservation and mostly fail gender constancy items for training effects to be assessable, as in the selected sample.

Constraints¶

• The article concludes support is partial: pretense play training transferred to both domains, but conservation training did not significantly transfer to gender constancy and gender effects vanished on posttest 2.

Target Learners¶

• preschool children aged 4 and 5

Target Learning Objectives¶

• conservation of quantity
• gender constancy
• pretense play reasoning

Claims¶

Related Theories¶

• Four-phase developmental sequence of gender understanding: labeling, stability, motive, constancy
• Stages of Cognitive Development
• Cognitive theory of pretense: a separate mental workspace in the brain explains pretense

Examples¶

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Key Sources¶

• Golomb, Claire; Vogel, David. (1983). The Role of Cognitive Operations in the Development of Gender Constancy. https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED233823