Jackal and Crow
Author : Barbara Kelly & Lauren Gawne
Publication date : 2011
Goals
This resource has been created as an elicitation stimulus with similar aims to the “family problems”
task used by the Social Cognition research group. That is, to record rich data about a wide range of
categories relevant to psycho-social cognition.
This task is designed to be used with children, although there is nothing preventing it from being
used with older people as well. It is shorter and less open ended as well as being more suitable in
subject matter for younger people. It is less focused on participant interaction, but still aims to
gather data on speech and though reporting.
Protocol summary
[Full protocol described in instructions document.]
The task consists of 9 images telling the story of the jackal and the crow. This story is a traditional
Sherpa tale, although very similar versions have been recorded as far away as Botswana (Knappert
1985) and France.
It is explained to the participant that they are going to tell a story using the picture cards. The cards
are given to the participant one at a time. If the participant has been unsure of the story until the end
you may wish to ask them to retell it when they have all the cards.
wordings for suggested instructions are as follows:
1. Individual card descriptions
‘I have some pictures here that tell a story. I’m giving you the pictures, one at a time, and I want
you to tell me the story.'
Note: Unlike the family problems picture task we want to make it clear to people from the
beginning that this is one complete story.
2. Retelling, if necessary
‘Now we've seen all the pictures I would like you to tell me the whole story together.’
Additional set ups are suggested in the instructions document.
Development context
This resource has been created as an elicitation stimulus with similar aims to the “family problems”
task used by the Social Cognition research group. That is, to record rich data about a wide range of
categories relevant to psycho-social cognition.