Children's preference for complexity as a function of perceived units in collative motivation

The purpose of this investigation was to manipulate a constant number of four elements (red and blue rectangles) to represent differentially perceived units of complexity. The hypothesis that motivational arousal and choice preferences of second- and fifth-grade children would be a positive function of the number of perceived units, ranging from one to four, was confirmed, consistent with Berlyne's (1960) theory. When the number of elements was held constant at three, as compared to four, similar results were obtained in a test at two intermediate levels of complexity. Implications for organization of elements and the effects of symmetry in determining children's preferences for levels of complexity are discussed.