A Cross-Cultural Study of the Effects of Familiarity on Classificatory Behaviour

Abstract

243 Ibusa and Glasgow school children aged from about 6 to 12 years were given two classificatory tasks: the sorting of a collection of objects which were familiar to Ibusa children but not as familiar to Glasgow children, and the sorting of models of animals which were equally familiar to both groups. The results indicated that the degree of familiarity influenced classificatory behavior in some ways and that the overall trend of development was similar in both samples in both the tasks.