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Bradley Whittemore Professor Monique Markoff Educational Psychology - Section 3 8 October !"3 # Study on Pri$ate S%eech &amed de$elo%mental %sychologists 'e$ (ygotsky and )ean Piaget first obser$ed and studied the ha%%ening of %ri$ate s%eech* or s%eech neither intended for nor at others* in the mid"+!!,s- .his occurrence has since been studied by modern scientists to determine /hat effect it has on children on goal-directed tasks /hich focus on memory and %roblem sol$ing- 0o/e$er* Professors Mc1onigle-2halmers* Slater* and Smith from the 3ni$ersity of Edinburgh /anted to study e$en further than their %redecessors had been able to- .hey set out /ith the question of /hether or not the %resence of a listener /ould im%act %ri$ate s%eech in toddlers as /ell as adults.he %ur%ose of this study /as to e4%lore an as%ect of %ri$ate s%eech not yet focused on by other %sychologists- .he %rofessors from the 3ni$ersity of Edinburgh questioned if indi$iduals /ould demonstrate different le$els of %ri$ate s%eech /hen in the %resence of a listener- # unique as%ect of this e4%eriment is that the %rofessors didn,t set out /ith an actual hy%othesis to %ro$e or dis%ro$e* but /ith an aim of reducing the ambiguity as to /hether %ri$ate s%eech is really for the %ri$ate enabling of %roblem sol$ing* or sim%ly chatty obser$ations about the task 5Mc1onigle-2halmers* Slater* 6 Smith* !"37.he study consisted of a grou% of 8 %reschool children and a com%arison grou% of 8 adults- .he %reschool children consisted of " males and " females* ranging bet/een -9 and fi$e years of age- #ll of the children /ere students at a uni$ersity-affiliated nursery* and /ere

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either fluent or nearing fluency in the English language- .he com%arison grou% contained si4 males and "8 females* ha$ing a median age of " years- #ll of the adults /ere students from the uni$ersity and fluent in the English language.he research method used in this e4%eriment is structured obser$ation- .his is because the children and adults are being obser$ed in a setting made by the e4%erimenters* /ith a task not naturally %resent in the %artici%ants, li$es- .he research design is e4%erimental* due to the %resence of a $ariable controlled by those running the study* the $ariable being the %resence or absence of another adult in the room obser$ing the %artici%ant- .he %rocedure of this e4%eriment re$ol$ed around the task of sorting cartoon characters* each /ith different colors and sha%e* by an accessory that each had in to t/o different grou%s- .his task /as made child-friendly by %resenting the goal as %art of either one of t/o different scenarios* /hich /as e4%lained by the e4%erimenter- .he task /as %resented to the %artici%ants $ia a desk com%uter /ith a touch screen and com%uter mouse- &rom there* the e4%eriment %roceeded one of t/o /ays: in Present 5Pres7 condition* or in #bsent 5#bs7 condition- When in Pres condition* the e4%erimenter /ould sit in a chair behind the %artici%ant and /ould not communicate /ith them* unless asked for hel%* in /hich the %artici%ant /ould gi$e them a sim%le* non-indicati$e res%onse- .he only other communication the e4%erimenter /ould make /ould come /hen the %artici%ant a%%eared frustrated from getting an attem%t /rong* to /hich the e4%erimenter /ould gi$e a slight hint by suggesting to ;.ry a different animal-, While this task occurred* the $ariables of Pres and #bs condition /ere $aried by ha$ing half of the test grou% start in Pres and go to #bs half-/ay through* /hile the other half of the test grou% /ent from #bs to Pres- .his transition /as made by means of an outside source calling the e4%erimenter,s cell %hone* requiring him to lea$e the room for a moment- #fter &rom these scenarios* res%onses /ere recorded by micro%hone and

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$ideo camera and then categori<ed- .hey /ere categori<ed by social or %ri$ate function de%ending on /hether or not the %artici%ant turned around to make the res%onse- .hose made /hen turned to/ards the e4%erimenter 5/hen they /ere %resent7 /ere labeled as social s%eech* /hile those made /hen the %artici%ant /as looking at the task /ere deemed %ri$ate s%eech 5or PS7- .hey /ere further categori<ed into #- .ask irrele$ant remarks and questions* B- .ask general remarks and questions* 2- .ask focused remarks and questions* and =- >ncoherent mutterings 5Mc1onigle-2halmers et al-* !"37.he $ideo and audio recorded during the sessions /ere analy<ed by t/o scientists /ho %roceeded to grou% them in to the aforementioned categories* ha$ing "!!? agreement on the category ranking- .hey found that @the results are clear and strongly indicate that PS* as measured by con$entional criteria* is considerably more likely to occur in the %resence of anotherA 5Mc1onigle-2halmers et al-* !"37- >t /as also found that more talkati$e children in the study,s sam%le* determined by ho/ much social s%eech /as obser$ed* /ere more likely to elicit PS- .hey also found that the t/o categories containing the most e4am%les of s%eech /hile in the #bs condition /ere the task-rele$ant comments of a focused nature and incoherent mutterings.he scientists focused on this fact* as the comments of a focused nature ha$e an ob$ious connection to the %ro%osed function of PS* /hile the inaudible mutterings ha$e the %otential of demonstrating $ocali<ations becoming internali<ed- #lso* /hen the %artici%ant /as in the #bs condition* the maBority of task-rele$ant comments referred to already attem%ted or ongoing mo$es* hinting that the PS /ere of a narrati$e nature rather than hel%ing to %lan out strategiesOne other finding /as that the social %resence of the listener had a similar effect on PS in adults.his study* being fairly /ell %ut together* has a fe/ small fla/s- .he first* ackno/ledged by the scientists* is that some comments made by the %artici%ants in the Pres condition /hile

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facing the com%uter may ha$e actually had a social function* e$en if the %artici%ant didn,t turn around- .he scientists found a /ay around this by refining the criteria for the PS to the findings made in the #bs condition- E$en this refining to challenge the slight fla/ they disco$ered yielded results that /ere similar to the %re$iously obser$ed findings- .he last %otential error in this study is that the PS found in this study /as mainly commentary on e$ents* %resenting the %ossibility that the task may ha$e been too easy- .his could ha$e easily been the case as the %artici%ants /ere able to reflect on errors and focus on easily obser$able characteristics- 0o/e$er* this /as required to elicit the PS that the %rofessors /anted to research- .his study is easily a%%licable to a real-/orld setting* since the findings suggest that PS is increased /ith the %resence of a listener- .his could be a%%lied to a %reschool* for e4am%le* by ha$ing a teacher /alk around behind students* encouraging their %ri$ate s%eech- .his s%eech /hich /ill one day be internali<ed* allo/ing them to reach unthinkable mental benchmarks-

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Ceferences: Mc1onigle-2halmers* M-* Slater* 0-* 6 Smith* #- 5 !"3* #ugust " 7- Cethinking %ri$ate s%eech in %reschoolers: .he effects of social %resence- =e$elo%mental Psychology- #d$ance online %ublication- doi: "!-"!3DEa!!33+!+