Social Differences in Auditory Perception

Abstract

Two groups differing in social background and ethnicity were found to respond differently to an auditory time error task. The white middle-class group tended to overestimate the intensity of the second of two objectively equal stimuli and showed a rising curve of overestimation as the time interval between stimuli increased from 1 to 5 sec. They conformed to the response pattern exhibited by similar social groups in previous time error experiments. In contrast, a lower-class group of Negro Ss tended to underestimate the second stimulus and to show a decreasing tendency to do so over time. Indirect analysis suggested that social class and not ethnicity was the critically effective variable in producing the obtained differences but did not exclude the possibility of interaction between these variables. Results reinforce the view that even within a given society, social class and ethnic differences are associated with alterations in an aspect of perceptual functioning which may be pertinent to learning and attention.