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SOCIAL CLASS DIFFERENTIALS IN VOCABULARY EXPANSION
Author(s) -
JAHODA GUSTAV
Publication year - 1964
Publication title -
british journal of educational psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.557
H-Index - 95
eISSN - 2044-8279
pISSN - 0007-0998
DOI - 10.1111/j.2044-8279.1964.tb00643.x
Subject(s) - psychology , working class , developmental psychology , interpretation (philosophy) , vocabulary , social class , middle class , population , cognition , intelligence quotient , cognitive psychology , social psychology , demography , linguistics , sociology , law , philosophy , political science , neuroscience , politics
Socio‐economic status differences in performance on intelligence and other cognitive tests are among the most firmly established generalisations in psychological research, though their causal interpretation remains a focus of lively controversy (Anastasi, 1960). There is a considerable weight of evidence indicating that the verbal inferiority of working class children may account in part for the differences (Bernstein, 1961). The existence of a verbal handicap is unquestioned, but its fate over time remains somewhat doubtful. Thus, Eells, et al. (1951) held that status differences remain constant in magnitude, invoking the ‘levelling effect of a common school environment’ as one of the reasons. As against this, Bernstein (1961) contends that with increasing age, working class children tend to fall further behind. A study by Ravenette and Kahn (1962) supports Bernstein's view, but suffers from the limitation of being confined to a comparison of verbal and performance I.Qs. within a disturbed working class population. The aim of the present study was to undertake a direct comparison of working and middle class children at two age levels.