Social Class—Sex Contrasts in Patterns of Cognitive Style

Abstract

Ninety-six adolescents, aged between fifteen and sixteen, and drawn from contrasted social class and sex groups, were administered a battery of cognitive style tests. It was hypothesized, largely on the basis of socialization theory, that different patterns of intellectual functioning would be apparent. The results indicated that middle-class boys exhibited a cognitive style that was differentiating, analytic and flexible; middle-class girls one that was creative, inferential, high on psychological concepts but low on category estimation; working-class boys and girls displayed little differentiation, categorizing flexibility, or creativity but revealed a marked preference for inferential and physical concepts.