The Development of Children's Social Rule Awareness through Cognitive Conflict and Social Interaction

This study examined effects of interpersonal and intrapersonal cognitive conflict tasks on 54 fifth and 18 seventh grade children's sociomoral rule awareness. Preconventional stage children 9 years of age were paired in same-sex dyads with 9- and 11-year-old children intermediate between preconventional and conventional stage reasoning. Six legal contravention vignettes were given to all subjects in individual interviews as a pretest. For each vignette, six questions were asked: four were designed to tap children's levels of legalistic awareness on Piagetian moral judgment dimensions and two tested supplementary dimensions of social rule perception. Subjects then played a board game that reintroduced the pretest items. In the interpersonal conflict condition, questions were asked of players that encouraged conflict, discussion, and agreement. In the intrapersonal condition, conventional statements were presented to individual players that conflicted with their earlier preconventional judgments; subjects were asked to accept or reject the conflicting statement and explain their decision. Immediate and delayed posttest interviews introducing novel test items were administered to assess stage advancement. The pattern of change from pre- to posttests supports Piaget's view of cognitive conflict. Intrapersonal conflict subjects advanced more than control subjects, indicating that the social coordination of perspectives is not a prerequisite for advancement. Children can advance by means of an internal perception of conflict and a subsequent restructuring of their knowledge. (RH)