Development of Personal Space Schemata among Japanese
in Late Childhood
S. Iwasaki, R.M. Lerner & T. Chihara |
This study assessed whether a target child's sex
and body type provide bases in late childhood of Japanese children's
spatial approach/withdrawal reactions which are comparable to those
found in younger Japanese and American cultural settings. Through use
of a projective, felt board spatial index, an assessment was made of
the personal space schemata of fourth-, fifth-, and sixth-grade middle-class
Japanese children (N per grade = 46; 50 % males per grade) towards
male and female Endomorph, Mesomorph, and Ectomorph stimulus figures.
Indicative of cross-cultural consistency were findings that less space
was used towards same-sex than towards opposite-sex stimuli, and that
more space was used towards Endomorphic than Mesomorphic or Ectomorphic
stimuli. Indicative of cross-cultural disparity was the finding that
grade variation in spatial usage obtained. The potential use of sequential
developmental research in understanding age, cultural, and historical
variation in the role of organismic variables in establishing "circular
functions" in ontogeny was discussed.
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