The effect of a change in percepual verbs on intellectual realism errors in appearance-reality tasks

Pillow & Flavell (1985) argue that the phrase 'look like' increases the tendency of young children to commit intellectual realism errors. The present study followed their procedures with the Block Arrays (which includes the Hidden Block task) and, in addition, included the identity task from a previous appearance-reality study by Flavell, Flavell & Green (1983). Forty-two three- and four-year-old preschoolers were presented with a variety of block arrays (Block Arrays task) and realistic-looking fake objects (Identity task) to observe. The subjects were tested on all of the stimulus items in one task before being tested on the second one. Half the subjects received the Block Arrays task first, half received the Identity task first. After the presentation of each array or object, the subject was asked a test question about its appearance while looking at it through a viewing tube. In the Look Like Condition, the test question included the words 'look like' and in the See Condition, the verb 'see' was used instead of 'look like'. If the subjects made any errors in the first condition (Look Like), they then received the second condition (See). No difference was found in the childrens' performance in the Hidden Block task but there was a difference in their performance in the Identity task. However, this difference cannot be attributed solely to the two wordings but rather to some interaction of task type and condition. Further analysis of the Look Like Condition revealed an Age-by-Task interaction in which the threes and fours performed differently in each task. A significant main effect for each of Task and Gender was also found in the Look Like Condition.Education, Faculty ofEducational and Counselling Psychology, and Special Education (ECPS), Department ofGraduat