Free Word Association and Form-Class in Middle-Class and Socially Disadvantaged Children

Abstract

Free word association responses of 200 Ss, 100 lower- and 100 middle-class children, to audiory and visual stimuli were sampled. Middle-class Ss gave more paradigmatic responses than lower-class Ss. Visual presentation method yielded higher mean number of paradigmatic responses for both kindergarten Ss, and lower-class Ss. Auditory presentation yielded higher mean for fifth-grade Ss.