Enumeration Of Objects In Pictures

PROCEDURE. Use the three pictures designated as "Dutch Home," "River

Scene," and "Post-Office." Say, "_Now I am going to show you a pretty

picture._" Then, holding the first one before the child, close enough to

permit distinct vision, say: "_Tell me what you see in this picture._"

If there is no response, as sometimes happens, due to embarrassment or

timidity, repeat the request in this form: "_Look at the picture and

tell me everything you can see in it._" If there is still no response,

say: "_Show me the ..._" (naming some object in the picture). Only one

question of this type, however, is permissible. If the child answers

correctly, say: "_That is fine; now tell me everything you see in the

picture._" From this point the responses nearly always follow without

further coaxing. Indeed, if _rapport_ has been properly cultivated

before the test begins, the first question will ordinarily be

sufficient. If the child names one or two things in a picture and then

stops, urge him on by saying "_And what else_" Proceed with pictures _b_

and _c_ in the same manner.



SCORING. The test is passed if the child enumerates as many as _three_

objects in _one_ picture _spontaneously_; that is, without intervening

questions or urging. Anything better than enumeration (as description

or interpretation) is also acceptable, but description is rarely

encountered before 5 years and interpretation rarely before 9 or 10.



REMARKS. The purpose of the test in this year is to find out whether the

sight of a familiar object in a picture provokes recognition and calls

up the appropriate name. The average child of 3 or 4 years is in

what Binet calls "the identification stage"; that is, familiar objects

in a picture will be identified but not described, their relations to

one another will not be grasped.





In giving the test, always present the pictures in the same order,

first Dutch Home, then River Scene, then Post-Office. The order of

presentation will no doubt seem to the uninitiated too trivial a matter

to insist upon, but a little experience teaches one that an apparently

insignificant change in the procedure may exert a considerable influence

upon the response. Some pictures tend more strongly than others to

provoke a particular type of response. Some lend themselves especially

to enumeration, others to description, others to interpretation. The

pictures used in the Stanford revision have been selected from a number

which have been tried because they are more uniform in this respect

than most others in use. However, they are not without their

differences, picture _b_, for example, tending more than the others to

provoke description.



There seems to be no disagreement as to the proper location of this

test.