ABSTRACT
This chapter reviews some developmental data obtained in cross-cultural studies of Jean Piaget's concrete operations and discusses some aspects that can be related to "dips" or discontinuities in cognitive development. In order to test Berry's functional model within Piagetian developmental psychology, the author has selected three populations that can be placed on Berry's eco-cultural dimension: Eskimos (Cape Dorset) at one extreme (nomadic, hunting, low food-accumulating, low population density); African agriculturalists (Adio-podoume) at the other extreme (sedentary, high food-accumulating, high population density); and Australian Aborigines (Hermannsburg) in an intermediate position but definitely on the nomadic side. Three Piagetian tasks were used to assess the development of topological, projective, and Euclidean spatial concepts: linear, reverse, and circular orders; rotation of landscape models; and horizontality (level of liquid in a tilted bottle).
