Summarizes an investigation designed to demonstrate the utility of selective recall as a partial index of a preferred attitude. The experiment, which dealt with maternal attitudes on three child-rearing themes, revealed social class differences in the selective recall of information related to the importance of physical affection and…

To study maternal behaviors as related to social class differences, 30 middle class and 30 working class white mothers were observed at home on two separate days with their 10-month-old firstborn baby girls. Predesignated behaviors which occurred during 5-second intervals were recorded by an observer. Total observation time was 4 hours for each…

It was suggested that working-class mothers less frequently believed that their infants were capable of communicating with other people, and hence felt it was futile to attempt to interact with them verbally. (Authors)

There are seven major sets of differences between young children of different economic backgrounds. The middle class child, compared to the lower class child, generally exhibits: (1) better language comprehension and expression, (2) richer schema development, involving mental preparation for the unusual, (3) stronger attachment to the mother,…

This is a partial report of a longitudinal investigation designed to assess the psychological effects of an experimentally conducted day care program on children during the first 30 months of life. The experimental subjects were Chinese and Caucasian children from working and middle class families who were cared for at a special group care center…