Abstract

Four different measures obtained through analyses of communications play-thing explanation ratings, play-method explanation ratings, the total number of words used in an explanation attempt, and the ratio of indicatives to total number of words used were taken from subjects ranging in age from kindergarten to sixth grade. The difference on each measure between the blind-folded target the person to whom a subject tried to much on how to play with the experimental plaything and the unblind-folded target was used as a measure of decentering ability. There were a total of 140 subjects, 20 in each age group, of which are half were male. Intercorrelations among the four different measures of decentering ability showed that there are at. least three different factors in the decentering ability as measured through analysis of communications made by children in an attempt to explain to a stranger on how to play with a plaything. One factor centers around the rated play-thing explanation score, the second around the rated play-method explanation score, and the third on the ratio of indicatives to total number of words. Thus it appears that decentering ability is not a unitary concept. Decentering ability as measured by the rated play-thing explanation score increased most rapidly at the sixth grade while that measured on the rated play-method explanation score showed most rapid increase around the first grade. The ratio measure did not increase over the age range.