Children's Judgments of Age

Authors

William R. Looft, Iowa State University
James E. Patton, Iowa State University
Don C. Charles, Iowa State UniversityFollow
Barbara Gundelach, Iowa State University
Kathryn Magnuson, Iowa State University

Document Type

Research

Abstract

Age judgments of human figures by children, ranging in age from 3 through 9 years, were investigated. The stimuli consisted of 4 different male figures drawn according to typical physical characteristics of the middle-aged adult, adolescent child, and infant. The figures were reproduced in 2 sizes and were matched in all possible pairings. Ss' accuracy in age judgments increased steadily over the 7 age levels. The errors of young Ss were primarily due to a figural-size response set. Older Ss made increasing use of other physical features in making their judgments. Implications of these findings were discussed with references to the theoretical framework of Piaget.

Publication Date

1970

Journal Title

Proceedings of the Iowa Academy of Science

Volume

77

Issue

1

First Page

296

Last Page

301

Copyright

©1970 Iowa Academy of Science, Inc.

Language

en

File Format

application/pdf

Recommended Citation

Looft, William R.; Patton, James E.; Charles, Don C.; Gundelach, Barbara; and Magnuson, Kathryn (1970) "Children's Judgments of Age," Proceedings of the Iowa Academy of Science, 77(1), 296-301.
Available at: https://scholarworks.uni.edu/pias/vol77/iss1/42