Kindergarten and first-grade children conserved physical attributes of inanimate objects more easily than the physical attributes of animate objects. Significant conservation differences between various animate objects also were found. (Author/RL)

Primary school children at different stages of acquisition of conservation pretended that their judgments on a series of conservation problems were the opposite of their actual beliefs. The nonconservers and transitional conservers made significant gains in conservation, while the conservers did not regress. Cognitive dissonance training is…