Browsing by Author "McCracken, Betty Brown"
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Item Conceptual styles: Developmental patterns and consistency across tasks(1971) McCracken, Betty Brown; McGaughran, Laurence S.; McCary, James L.; Johnson, Dale L.; Stewart, Robert L.The two main purposes of the present study were (1) to investigate the patterns of development in children’s sorting behavior in terms of the 'continuity� or 'discontinuity' with which certain types of behavior change, and (2) to investigate the consistency of such behavior across tasks of varying content. The three tests used were an object sorting test, a conceptual styles test (SCSI), and the Role Construct Repertory Test (RCRT). Two additional purposes involved (a) investigating the relationship between scores obtained with the active and passive phases of the object sorting test and, (b) investigating possible relationships between the nature of test items and the type of response given on SCSI. Two scoring systems, the McGaughran conceptual area analysis and the conceptual styles measures, as modified by Sigel (1967), were applied to all tests. The McGaughran conceptual area measures are based on two dimensions. The first dimension, open- closed, refers to the relative highness or lowness of order of conceptual classification, while the second dimension, public-private, reflects the relative communicability of the concept. Both dimensions are scored simultaneously resulting in four types of derived measures of conceptual responses: Open-public, closed-public, closed-private, and open-private. The conceptual styles measures represent a more perceptually-oriented system of analysis. Two classes of responses, descriptive-global and descriptive part-whole, are distinguished on the basis of differentiation of the perceptual cues used. A third class, categorical-inferential, is based on relative conformance to language convention, while the fourth class, relational-contextual, is a contextbound type of concept. An additional measure, cognitive complexity, was derived from RCRT according to Bieri’s original method (Blerl, 1955). In all 39 measures were used. The eighty subjects used in this study were divided Into four age groups of ten boys and ten girls each. The ages of the groups were 7, 9, 11, and 13 years. Analyses of variance were first computed to determine whether each of the various measures changed significantly as a function of age. Those 25 measures showing significant changes with age were then analyzed for trends. The developmental patterns were then classified according to the three criteria—predominance, directionality, and rate of change—developed by Penk (1965). The McGaughran conceptual area measures generally showed a more 'continuous,' linear change with age, particularly when derived from the object sorting test, than did the conceptual styles measures. The conceptual styles measures were more 'discontinuous' In that they more often showed changes In directionality and In their rate of change across age groups. Pearson product moment correlations were then computed between all measures bearing the same name across ages and tests, except In comparisons of the McGaughran conceptual area measures with similar measures derived from the RCRT. For those comparisons, Spearman rank order correlations were used. Examination of correlation matrices indicated that, when results for age groups were combined, a fair degree of relationship existed between operations bearing the same names for three of the four McGaughran conceptual area measures in all comparisons involving the object sorting test and SCSI, When correlations were examined for separate age groups, the patterns of significant relationships were sparse and appeared to be differentially affected by age. This was particularly true in comparisons involving the active and passive phases of the object sorting test where no significant relationships were found among the two younger groups. The closed-public measure from this system showed the least evidence of consistency across tests. A fair degree of relationship was also found for the conceptual styles scoring system across tests when results for age groups were combined, but again the relationships were less frequent when the age groups were considered separately. The patterns of correlations across tests indicated that the different types of response classes showed varying degrees of relationships. The extent of consistency appeared to be affected both by age and by the nature and content of the task. Some correspondence between the two systems was found. This correspondence was greatest for the two most divergent measures with in each system. Some overlapping was found, in which a measure from one system was related to several measures from the other system. The degree of correspondence appeared to be affected both by the nature of the test and by the presence of technique factors. Significant correlations were found between scores obtained on the two phases of the object sorting test for three of the four McGaughran conceptual area measures and for two of the four conceptual styles measures. Some support was obtained to indicate that the type of material being classified in separate SCSI items influenced the nature of the conceptual response; this relationship also appeared to be differentially affected by age. The relationships between tests were also considered in terms of the amount of constraint imposed by test instructions, relative difficulty, and perceptual versus conceptual content insofar as such differences affected both developmental patterns and the amount of consistency found. Suggestions for future research included some refinement of particular measures within each of the two systems, as well as examination of sex differences and their effects upon the developmental patterns and nature and degree of consistency found.Item Patterns of development in conceptual styles and word association(1967) McCracken, Betty BrownThe objectives of this study were: (a) To investigate the patterns of development in children's behavior in conceptualisation and word association; (b) to determine whether or not the two forms of the "Conceptual Styles Test" were comparable; and (c) to explore the relationships between certain types of performance across tasks. The manner in which children's thinking progresses toward an adult level was of particular interest. Some disagreement exists as to whether cognition progresses through a series of discrete stages, each specific to a given age range, or whether it develops in a more gradual, more or less linear fashion as a function of age. The measures used in this study were all "type of operation" measures; that is, they were of a class postulated by Werner (1957) to reflect "discontinuity" in cognitive development. The "Conceptual Styles" tests used in this study were those developed by Kagan and the Fels Research Institute staff (CST) and by Sigel (CST-A). Both require the subject to choose two of a group of three pictures on the basis of conceptual similarity. Responses were scored by the method developed by Kagan, Moss, and Sigel (1960, 1963). According to this system the response is classified as (a) "relational" when it involves a functional relationship between the two chosen stimuli; (b) "analytic" when it involves similarity of objective aspects of the two stimuli; and (c) "categorical-inferential" when it is based on an inferred characteristic or conforms to language convention. The word association test used in this study consisted of 33 homonyms, homographs, and/or words that could be used as more than one part of speech. Responses were classified according to "idlodynamic sets" described by Moran, Mefferd, and Kimble (1964). These sets involve (a) functional responses, (b) contrast and coordinate responses, and (c) synonym and superordinate responses. In addition, Thorndike-Lorge frequency of usage scores and two commonality scores, one derived from the present sample and one from an adult sample, were used. A "preconceptual" classification was employed for both the Conceptual Styles and word association tests for scoring responses that failed to satisfy the criteria of any of the three categories in each scoring system. The 80 subjects used in this study were divided into four age groups of ten males and ten females each. The ages of the groups were six, eight, ten, and twelve. The eleven measures were first analyzed for age changes. All measures except functional word association responses varied significantly with age. The relational and categorical-inferential scores from the CST-A and the synonym-superordinate, adult commonality scores from the word association test showed only significant linear trends, reflecting a steady rate of increase or decrease across all age groups. Both significant linear and cubic trends were found for the preconceptual measure from the CST-A; mean scores for this measure showed a change in direction at age ten--an increase-only to resume a decrease among twelve year olds. Scores for the analytic CST-A measure, and the contrast-coordinate, peer commonality, Thorndike-Lorge value, and preconceptual word association measures showed both significant linear and quadratic trends as a function of age. These results indicated that, for these five measures, there was a relatively "discontinuous" growth pattern, because of a significant change in the rate of change at some point along the age curve. Comparisons between the two Conceptual Styles tests, and between the CST-A, developed by Sigel, and the word association test were made by use of Pearson product moment correlations. The relationship between the two Conceptual Styles tests was generally significant across all scoring categories only among the eight year old group. The generally insignificant correlations found in the other age groups appeared to be largely attributable to differences in construction of the tests. The CST was developed to elicit relational and/or analytic concepts; and, insofar as possible, to suppress categorical-inferential concepts. The CST-A was not so constructed. Correlations between the more general of the Conceptual Styles tests (CST-A) and word association measures all failed to meet an acceptable level of significance. In all comparisons, except those between analytic and contrast-coordinate responses, such relationship as was found showed a change in direction. Intercorrelations between each of the two commonality word association measures and Thorndike-Lorge values were generally significant across all age groups. The two exceptions were those correlations involving the ten year old group. Both of these relationships were at about a zero level. This finding suggests that some sort of transition might be occurring at this age which may be partly attributable to changes in language usage patterns. Consideration of qualitative differences occurring within the various categories on both the Conceptual Styles test and the word association test suggested that there was probably not sufficient homogeneity within the scoring categories of either test to provide a definitive test of "true" relationship between perceptual-conceptual and verbal development, without further refinement of the scoring procedures. Suggestions for future research involving the Conceptual Styles tests included analysis of differences occurring within the various categories at different ages, investigation of the possible relationship between the various categories used and the nature of the stimulus array, and consideration of the "regressive" aspect apparent in some of the responses. Some difficulties arising both from the scoring system and from the specific words used on the word association test were described. No analysis of these data was done on the basis of the sex of the subjects, although sex differences were apparent. This area was suggested as a fruitful one for future research on both tests.