Social Schemas: An Investigation of Age and Socialization Variables

Abstract

The Felt Figure Replacement Technique (FFRT) was administered to 160 normally adjusted male Ss in three distinct chronological age groups. It was hypothesized that the existence of common social schemas would vary with age and that a neutral-latency group of Ss (aged 9.5 to 10.5 yr.) would produce different schematic reconstructions based on relative degrees of perceived maternal warmth. Chi-square analyses did not support the hypotheses. The results were interpreted as consistent with studies of perceptual accuracy and at odds with the use of the FFRT by groups of normal children. Contrasts were made with the positive findings of other researchers using deviant and/or mature normal Ss.