A Review of Bruner and Sherwood's Study of Peek-a-Boo
“A REVIEW OF BRUNER AND SHERWOOD’S STUDY OF PEEKABOO” - Laiba Khanani
“Humans are social animals”. This phrase broadly describes the human behavior and its effect on their development process. One tends to make their lives worth living by experiencing different activities that help them grow. These activities cater humans to strengthen their capabilities and skills.
The main aim of this review article is to introduce the concept of “peek-a-boo” and its mere importance as a game in the development process of a child. Peek-a-boo is a fundamental game which manipulates the infant’s hold on ‘object permanence’ which refers to the ability to be acquainted with the persistent existence of an object even when it is out of sight. The review also includes the analytical evaluation of the concept of peek-a-boo itself. As a simple game of disappearance and reappearance that has always been a part of every infant’s childhood, it has its own strengths and weaknesses which evaluate the methodologies and different viewpoints regarding the game itself. Moreover, the review also focuses on the critical analysis of the different theories of child development put down by various researchers such as Piaget (1980), Vygotsky (1896) and Darwin (1809) with respect to the theory by Jerome Bruner (1977).
The article by Bruner and Sherwood describes a proper study which observed six infants whose age varied from 7 to 17 months, for over a period of 10 months. The design of the study was set such as to make sure that the mother and infant were seen once a fortnight in a laboratory. The mothers were asked about the games that they and their infant enjoyed playing the most. One mother daughter dyad was concentrated on which lasted for 22 episodes. The experiment was started by vocalized or face to face contact and the sessions of the mother and child were videotaped where analysis was carried out on video records. The experiment consisted of three rounds that were played where the
“Humans are social animals”. This phrase broadly describes the human behavior and its effect on their development process. One tends to make their lives worth living by experiencing different activities that help them grow. These activities cater humans to strengthen their capabilities and skills.
The main aim of this review article is to introduce the concept of “peek-a-boo” and its mere importance as a game in the development process of a child. Peek-a-boo is a fundamental game which manipulates the infant’s hold on ‘object permanence’ which refers to the ability to be acquainted with the persistent existence of an object even when it is out of sight. The review also includes the analytical evaluation of the concept of peek-a-boo itself. As a simple game of disappearance and reappearance that has always been a part of every infant’s childhood, it has its own strengths and weaknesses which evaluate the methodologies and different viewpoints regarding the game itself. Moreover, the review also focuses on the critical analysis of the different theories of child development put down by various researchers such as Piaget (1980), Vygotsky (1896) and Darwin (1809) with respect to the theory by Jerome Bruner (1977).
The article by Bruner and Sherwood describes a proper study which observed six infants whose age varied from 7 to 17 months, for over a period of 10 months. The design of the study was set such as to make sure that the mother and infant were seen once a fortnight in a laboratory. The mothers were asked about the games that they and their infant enjoyed playing the most. One mother daughter dyad was concentrated on which lasted for 22 episodes. The experiment was started by vocalized or face to face contact and the sessions of the mother and child were videotaped where analysis was carried out on video records. The experiment consisted of three rounds that were played where the
References: Bruner, J. S. & Sherwood, A. V. (1977). Early rule structure: The case of Peekaboo. In M. Gauvain & M. Cole (Eds.), Readings on the Development of Children (2nd edition) (pp. 73-78). New York: Freeman & Co.