Journalartikel

Jahr der Veröffentlichung: 1997

Seiten: 291-300

Zeitschrift: German Journal of Developmental and Educational Psychology

Bandnummer: 29

Heftnummer: 4

ISSN: 0049-8637

Verlag: Hogrefe

Abstract: 
This experiment focuses on the development of cognitive processes involved in averaging. It investigates the rules followed by 8- to 12-year old children and adults when dealing with tasks on the intensity of mixed colours. Two types of tasks were given: (a) subjects were presented with two colour intensities and asked to predict the intensity of the resulting mixture (prediction task), and (b) subjects were presented with the resulting mixture and the intensity of one of its colour components and asked to reconstruct the intensity of the second component (reconstruction task). Results confirmed our expections: In both types of task the normative averaging rule was preceded by an additive combination of the colour intensities as a simplifying rule for solving the task. Many 8- to 12-year old children assumed that the intensity of the mixture was higher than that. of each of its two components. Moreover, results show that in the reconstruction task more 10- to 12-year olds follow the simplifying adding rule than in the prediction task. In both tasks nearly all of the adults employed the normative averaging rule. In line with the view of adaptive thinking it can be concluded that the judging behaviour does not only depend on the formal logical demands of the tasks but also on the presentation of the problem (in this task the demanded direction of conclusion).

Harvard-Zitierstil: Jager, S. and Becker, M. (1997) The development of averaging as an adaptive cognitive process: Prediction and reconstruction in tasks on the intensity of mixed colours, German Journal of Developmental and Educational Psychology, 29(4), pp. 291-300

APA-Zitierstil: Jager, S., & Becker, M. (1997). The development of averaging as an adaptive cognitive process: Prediction and reconstruction in tasks on the intensity of mixed colours. German Journal of Developmental and Educational Psychology. 29(4), 291-300.