This study examined the differential effects of sex of parent, sex of child, and sex of stranger on infant behavior in a stranger-separation situation. Year-old infants (16 males and 19 females) from middle-class families were observed and videotaped twice, at one-week intervals, in a modification of Ainsworth's laboratory stranger and separation…

Effective communication between middle class, or educated (12th grade and up) and the lower class, or uneducated (8th grade or less) is discussed from the standpoint of problems suggested by potential discontinuity brought about by signs (or language) and common experience. Research in the field is cited. It is suggested that if the people of the…

Questionnaire data were obtained from 149 enlisted men in the United States Navy. The job scope/satisfaction with the work itself relationship was examined for the study's total sample and for subsamples created by grouping individuals on the basis of their belief in the Protestant ethic (middle-class work norms and values). Job scope may be…

This study was designed to investigate the assumption that young, lower-class black children have language deficits based on the use of a restricted (as opposed to an elaborated) syntactic code. The speech of 69 black, lower-class and 30 white, middle-class 4 1/2-year olds was compared. Speech samples were elicited through semistructured picture…

The purpose of the present experiment was to investigate whether the effect of observing a peer who was conserving could facilitate subsequent acquisition and transfer of conservation ability in a nonconserving child. Eighty-two nonconserving first grade children acquired the ability to give conservation judgments and reasons on six conservation…

This study investigated the interrelation of self-esteem and racial preferences in black children. The following hypotheses were generated: (1) subjects with impaired self-concepts will be more outgroup oriented than those with unimpaired self-concepts, (2) white preferences will be greater among middle class than among lower class black children,…

A 2-year-project with 48 disadvantaged (D) and 48 middle class (P) Israeli 2-year-olds was set up to study how heterogeneous or homogeneous grouping influences social interaction. Twenty-four D's were the homogeneous group, 48 P's and 24 D's were equally divided into three heterogeneous groups with a ratio of 2:1. This report is based on an…

LINGUISTIC STUDIES IN CHICAGO, DETROIT, LONDON, NEW YORK CITY, AND WASHINGTON, D.C. ARE REVIEWED. THEY SUGGEST ONE OF THE CURRENT TRENDS IN DIALECT RESEARCH--NARROW LINGUISTIC, INTERDISCIPLINARY ANALYSES OF LANGUAGE VARIATION IN CITIES. ANOTHER TREND STUDIED IS THE DESCRIPTION OF THE SPEECH OF STUDENTS IN ELEMENTARY AND SECONDARY SCHOOLS, AND…

Reports that social class indicators explain relatively little variance in environmental attitudes accounted for by "class." Education is subordinate to age as a predictor of environmental attitudes and much of the gross effect of education is the result of the generally high educational backgrounds of young adults. (Author/MA)

High school students with high or average achievement motivation read a passage with a list of learning goals. Two different goal lists were used. The 24 students were also instructed to expect a particular type of test questions. A free-recall test was administered; results are discussed. (GDC)

Results were interpreted as suggesting that sociocultural factors may change the rate of development but not its course. (Author/JMB)

A study of the creative performance of forty-eight preschool children from middle and lower income homes indicated that the boys produced more original ideas than the girls and that the middle class children were higher in creative fluency ability. (MF)

An experiment assessed the verbal conditioning of middle and lower socioeconomic class schizophrenics and normals under conditions of social reinforcement. Results are interpreted in terms of Bateson, Jackson, Haley, and Weakland's double-bind theory, which views schizophrenic behavior as a response acquired after prolonged exposure to…

The author examines the development of theories and practices of intelligence testing during the early years of the twentieth century. (MB)

Illustrates, with data from a sample of U.S. middle-class families, how the structuring of the child care environment is related to culturally defined parental goals and attitudes toward development. Mothers' child care practices seemed to reflect the mothers' emphasis on cultural values such as independence and exploration to further cognitive…