Cognitive balancing of hypothetical 3-person systems in which 2 relations are specified and the third is left for S to supply, is examined across the 3 stages of intellectual development described by Piaget: intuitions, concrete operations, and formal operations. Intuitive Ss failed to balance any of the 3-person systems with which they were presented. Concrete operational Ss conformed to the balance model with surprising rigor, often reacting as if the implication of each relation with a triadic system for the other 2 were purely a matter of logic. Formal operational Ss consistently balanced the triads, but recognized that a situation of cognitive balance represents only 1 of many possible relational arrangements in a given 3-person system. It is suggested that cognitive balance arises out of the interplay of evolving intelligence and social experience during the transition from intuitions to concrete operations.
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George E. Atwood (1969) studied this question.