The effects of socio-economic status, fathers’ absence, family size, and birth order on the preference for conceptual style of Grade 6 elementary school children in Jamaica, West Indies, were examined. The 206 boys and 212 girls were from 5 urban schools. The Conceptual Style Test and a questiononaire were administered. Analytic conceptual style was significantly and positively correlated with socio-economic status for girls but not for boys. The relations between preference for conceptual style and the other variables were nonsignificant.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
BrelandH. M.Birth order, family configuration, and verbal achievement.Child Development, 1974, 45, 1011–1019
2.
KaganJ., MossH. A., and SiegelI. E.The psychological significance of styles of conceptualization. In WrightJ. C., and KaganJ. (Eds.), Basic cognitive processes in children. Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Development, 1963, 28, No. 2 (Serial No. 86). Pp. 73–124
3.
MillerE. L.A study of body image, its relationship to self concept, anxiety and certain social and physical variables in a selected group of Jamaican adolescents. Unpublished MA. thesis, Univer. of the West Indies, 1967
4.
MillerG. W.Factors in school achievement and social class.Journal of Educational Psychology, 1970, 61, 260–261
5.
RobinsonJ. E., and GrayJ. L.Cognitive style as a variable in school learning.Journal of Educational Psychology, 1974, 66, 793–799
6.
SantrockJ. W.Relation of type and onset of father absence to cognitive development.Child Development, 1972, 43, 455–469
7.
SatterlyD.Cognitive styles, spatial ability, and school achievementJournal of Educational Psychology, 1976, 68, 36–42
8.
ThoulessR. H.General and social psychology.London: Univer. Tutorial Press, 1967
9.
WitkinH. A., DykR. B., FatersonH. F., GoodenoughD. R., and KarpS. A.Psychological differentiation: studies of development.Potomac, Md.: Lawrence Erlbaum, 1974. (Originally published: New York: Wiley, 1962)
