Context effect in some tasks of comparison of pictures in primary school. Two empirical illustrations

Abstract

Many works have shown that a child, having to solve a problem, deals with the task according to the significations he gives to the problem-space he is facing and to the social space in which the task is inscribed. This article presents two experimentations dealing more particularly with the social space of solution of a classical task of comparison of identical pictures for which the experimenter asks for a judgement. They show how the introduction of slight contextual changes facilitates the variety of answers produced by [4][5] year-olds and 5-6 year-olds children, and consequently the production ofanswers centered on the relation of identity between the pictures.We already know that a child solves a problem according to the meaning he gives to, and according to the representation he builds of this problem. We also know, thanks to the numerous works about the contextual social significations (Elbers, 1986;Schubauer-Leoni, Perret-Clermont, & Grossen, 1992;Schubauer-Leoni & Grossen, 1993) that the meaning given by the child depends on the task itself but also on its social environment of solution (significations related to the contextual space! the task is inscribed in). As a result, a child in front of a problem mobilises procedures of solution based at the same time on the meaning he gives to the problem-space he is facing (comparison with other tasks already encountered and search for similitudes and differences, purpose of the task, strategies to solve it, complexity of the terms of the problem, etc.), but also to the social space of solution in which he operates (What does the other expect from me? What are our respective roles and status? What is the goal? What is at stake? etc.). In other words, as soon as communication starts, the child imagines and translates the cognitive and social elements belonging to each space. He then elaborates his own definition of the situation (Thomas & Znaniecki, 192811981), a definition capable of evolution all through the interaction, according to the various adjustments and negotiations between each partner.Trying to account for the role of the representation of the situation of interaction in the treating of a task also implies referring to the existence of a contract for communication (Ghiglione, 1986(Ghiglione, , 1987Blanchet, 1987) that itself refers to systems of values, of tacit agreements, of implicit rules that contractualize? and finalize the contexts of solution.