'Imagine you're clever'.

A series of four studies was conducted to investigate the influence of role enactment on problem-solving in 6-10 yr old children from a disadvantaged background. It was hypothesized that asking the child to enact someone 'clever' (and in one instance someone 'not clever'), would modify the child's performance on the Matching Familiar Figures test as against performance under standard administrative conditions. Apart from the 6 yr old sample, the findings supported the experimental hypothesis. In addition, the speech of 7 and 8 yr old impulsive and reflective children, and children previously administered reflectivity training schemes, was analysed in terms of a classification scheme of reflexivity. No differences were found between these groups on the measures of reflexivity used in speech. The implications of these findings and this approach for disadvantaged children are discussed.