Rational analysis of rules of games played by Fang children in a village in Equatorial Guinea
Keywords:
Espacio mental, Demanda mental, Reglas de los juegosAbstract
In order to assess the mental demand of a set task, that is, the minimum number of schemes which the subject needs to activate to resolve it, J. Pascual-Leone proposes that a metasubjective analysis is carried out of each such task. The objectives of the research paper are to are to analyse the most complex rules discussed by the fang children to assess their mental demand, and to study how this is related to the mental capacity of the children who explain and use the rules. The research was undertaked in a Fang village in the interior of Equatorial Guinea. All the children and adolescents in the village aged between 6 and 18 contributed to the stydy. To assess the children's knowledge of the most complex games played in the village (marbles and football), interviews were held with them following the clinical methods supported by the simulation of games situations. To asses the mental capacity (M) of the children the Figures Intersection Teest (F.I.T.) was used. The analysis of the two most complex rules of the games indicated on mental demand of 5 units on the «off-side» rule (football) and of 4 units in the rule of «enser» (marbles). Following this analysis the children must have an mental capacity equal or superior to the mental demand of the rules. The relationship between the mental demand of each rule and the mental capacity or the children was significant.
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References
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