The relation between (non-) conservation responses and the reasons given for these reactions was investigated among 80 6-year-old children. It was found that partial conservers gave perceptual reasons for their non-conservation responses and identity arguments for their conservation reactions. Language-activation training promoted both the acquisition of the conservation response and the giving of an adequate reason for this response by those children who were partial conservers and already on the border line of conservation. The role played by the identity concept in conservation-acquisition was stressed in interpreting these results.
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