An emerging literature indicates that dispositional bias in causal attribution of social behavior is weaker for people with working-class (vs. middle-class) backgrounds. However, it is unknown whether this difference is also present in spontaneous forms of trait inference. In the current work, American undergraduates were asked to merely memorize…

This preliminary study explores (1) the relationship between children's behavioral responses to cognitive tasks in a testing situation and in a nursery school environment, and (2) the relationship of the above responses to sex, race, and class differences. Studies by Sigel investigating the classification behavior of preschool children, and by…

Studied the relationship between mental age and progression toward Piaget's stages of concrete operations and formal operations in a sample of middle class children. Formal operations in preadolescence and adulthood are discussed in relation to IQ. (GO)

Black children (N=233) from three age levels and two socioeconomic (SES) levels were given five Piagetian tasks to determine if differences in sex were associated with differences in cognitive development levels. Results showed that higher SES children performed better than lower SES children on all five measures of reasoning, seriation,…

This research was designed to compare the responses of disadvantaged and advantaged 5-year-olds in typical Piagetian experiments, in order to determine whether differences exist in the normative characteristics of centering, conservation, egocentricity, space conception, and irreversibility. A sample of 60 children was drawn from a metropolitan…

SEVERAL EXPERIMENTS ON THE CONCEPTUAL BEHAVIOR OF LOWER AND MIDDLE CLASS CHILDREN ARE DESCRIBED IN AN EFFORT TO CLARIFY AN APPARENT DISCREPANCY BETWEEN PREVIOUS LABORATORY FINDINGS AND OBSERVED CLASSROOM PERFORMANCE. IN THE FIRST EXPERIMENT, INDUCTIVE CONCEPT LEARNING WAS INVESTIGATED AS A FUNCTION OF SOCIAL CLASS MEMBERSHIP AND PRIOR EXPERIENCE.…

THERE IS GROWING EVIDENCE THAT THE PROCESS OF EDUCATIONAL RETARDATION WHICH HAS BEEN OBSERVED IN MANY CHILDREN FROM ECONOMICALLY DEPRESSED AREAS SETS IN LONG BEFORE THE CHILDREN ENTER THE FIRST GRADE. THIS STUDY WAS DESIGNED TO EXAMINE THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN MATERNAL LANGUAGE STYLES AND PRE-SCHOOL CHILDREN'S COGNITIVE STYLES AND INTELLECTUAL…

PART OF A LARGER STUDY OF THE COGNITIVE ENVIRONMENTS OF PRESCHOOL CHILDREN, THIS EXPERIMENT EXAMINED THE RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN MOTHERS' LANGUAGE STYLES AND THE CONCEPT ATTAINMENT OF THEIR PRESCHOOL CHILDREN. SPEECH SAMPLES WERE OBTAINED FROM 160 URBAN NEGRO MOTHERS OF FOUR SOCIOECONOMIC GROUPS (MIDDLE-CLASS, UPPER-LOWER, LOWER-LOWER, AND…

This study details three methods developed during the course of an investigation for describing adult-child interaction: (1) the "VINEX" category system for coding the actual language of the adult and the child; (2) a coding system for describing nonverbal behavior; and, (3) "Interaction Language," for the use of an observer in…

The purpose of this study was to develop a method for assessing aspects of the cognitive functioning of young children from their symbolic play. Subjects were 60 children, aged 3 to 5 years, from middle-class and lower-class families. The study was conducted in two phases, with the following objectives: (1) to identify and analyze aspects of…

Eight propositions regarding the interaction of teachers and students to create educational outcomes are presented and discussed: 1. It is necessary to look at both cognitive and affective outcomes whenever we want to evaluate the effectiveness of teachers, or an educational program. 2. There is a need for more research on the reciprocal…

In an effort to understand the schooling process, a longitudinal study was conducted of children enrolled in three elementary schools. Children entering first grade in a middle class white school, an integrated lower class school, and an all-black lower class school were followed to the end of third grade. This final report of the study presents…