Citation

Fonzi A, Smorti A. Int. J. Behav. Devel. 1994; 17(2): 383-395.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1994, SAGE Publishing)

DOI

10.1177/016502549401700209

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

This study is an analysis of the "meaning giving" process in children when they have to classify empirical objects. There are three stages to the experiment: (1) the children performed a classification task individually; (2) they performed it with a companion; (3) in the individual control situation they performed it again but alone. The aim of this research project was to establish: (1) how children change the meanings they give to objects when they move from an individual situation to a social one; and (2) the role of the two children's different classification strategies in the negotiation of shared meanings. The sample consisted of 72 6-year-old children. Three different classification criteria were distinguished: category; function; and narrative. The results showed that children who used narrative criteria in the first phase ("narrative children") modified them during the second phase in favour of more categorial criteria. Analysis of the interactional process revealed that narrative children were significantly more willing than "logical children" (who had used categorial criteria in the first phase) to come to terms with their companion's point of view. In the third phase both types of children changed their classification strategies, in part absorbing their companion's classification approach. We conclude that: (1) the personal approach to giving a meaning to objects influences the individual child's interaction strategies; and (2) the experience of comparison and social conflict modifies attribution of meaning in narrative and logical children.

Language: en