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DEVELOPMENT OF THE PERCEPTION OF SOCIAL DIFFERENCES IN CHILDREN FROM 6 TO 10
Author(s) -
JAHODA GUSTAV
Publication year - 1959
Publication title -
british journal of psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.536
H-Index - 92
eISSN - 2044-8295
pISSN - 0007-1269
DOI - 10.1111/j.2044-8295.1959.tb00693.x
Subject(s) - psychology , developmental psychology , perception , feeling , test (biology) , vocabulary , social status , intelligence quotient , cognition , social class , social psychology , middle class , paleontology , linguistics , philosophy , social science , neuroscience , sociology , political science , law , biology
A specially devised pictorial technique to test the ability to perceive social differences, requiring a minimum of verbal instruction, was applied to a sample of 179 children systematically distributed according to age, sex and social status of parents. A performance test of intelligence and a vocabulary scale were also administered. An expected improvement with age was found with the social perception test, and there were significant sex and status differences. Analysis of covariance revealed that, except in the case of lower middle‐class girls, all status differences were in fact a consequence of the association between intelligence level and status, disappearing when the former was held constant. In discussing the children's responses it is shown that an incipient class concept can exist without the facility for giving it any verbal expression. An examination of the ways in which children build up a conceptual framework regarding social differences indicates that occupational divisions tend to come first with all children; later these are linked with differences in wealth, income and in the case of middle‐class children to some extent style of life. While a cognitive grasp of social differentiation is primarily dependent upon intellectual level, attitudes and feelings are largely determined by influences emanating from the child's particular social environment.