5.2 Symbolic Development
Scale Error
children need to learn how big they are in relation to things in their environment
Eg. putting Mr Potato glasses that
are too small on their head
treating minature replica of an object
like it is normal size
common among
2 to 3 year olds
have some sense of their size in relation to their environment but this is fragile
children display frustration when they cannot interact with their environment as they want to
Eg. trying to slide down a slide
that is too small
Eg. trying to enter a car
that is way too small
Emotions can affect their
already fragile understanding
Symbol
something that stands
for something else
Eg. words, signs, pictures, scale models
Judy DeLoache
Research interests
When does symbolic reasoning develop?
Do 2.5 and 3 year olds young children understand
symbolic reasoning?
Scale Model Task
Procedure
Experimenter hides toy in
small room while child watches
Tester hides toy in
same place in big room
without child watching
Child has to find toy
in big room
Results
Scale Model task
2.5 year old fails
3 year old succeeds
Picture Task
Both succeed
Why do 2.5 year olds fail scale model
task but succeed at picture task?
General Symbols
Specific Symbols
represent a particular
place, thing or time
represent a kind
of thing or place
Eg. photographs of grandma
Eg. lego set of a farm
children have little experience with
a scale model and a specific place
Incredible Shrinking Room
Procedure
Familiarisation
1⃣ Show children the magical shrinking machine that can shrink / enlarge Terry the Troll
2⃣ Show children machine can
even shrink / enlarge a room
Test
1⃣ Hide small troll in model
2⃣ Enlarge room with machine
3⃣ Ask child to locate toy
Results
2.5 year old succeeds
Conclusions
children can understand symbols
by 2.5 years of age
may be misled by previous experience
treating scale models as generic symbols