Developmental Factors in the Perception of Variability

Abstract

The study was designed to provide an insight into the developmental processes underlying perceived variability. 75 Ss were given 3 training sets of stimuli to ensure that they could discriminate between varying σs, then tested with stimuli varying in both σ and λ. The results indicated that, although the initial training was probably difficult, 1st and 3rd grade children tended to respond configurally and 5th grade children responded dimensionally. These results were interpreted with respect to other results on subjective probability and also with respect to Piaget's developmental stages. The hypothesis was advanced that some of the early strategies utilized in perceived variability are regressively used later when combining subjective probabilities.