BASED UPON WORK WITH MIDDLE-CLASS ADULTS AND CHILDREN, THREE APPROACHES TO GROUPING HAVE BEEN IDENTIFIED--(1) DESCRIPTIVE PART-WHOLE, (2) RELATIONAL-CONTEXTUAL, AND (3) CATEGORICAL-INFERENTIAL. A COMPARISON WAS MADE OF THE FREQUENCY OF THE USE OF THESE APPROACHES AMONG MIDDLE- AND LOWER-CLASS, NEGRO PRESCHOOL AND KINDERGARTEN CHILDREN. INITIALLY, SIMILAR TESTING PROCEDURES WERE USED, BUT THE DIFFICULTY OF LOWER-CLASS CHILDREN IN GROUPING LIFE-SIZED PICTURES OF OBJECTS REQUIRED THE ADDITIONAL USE OF ACTUAL OBJECTS. IN THE DESCRIPTIVE PART-WHOLE CATEGORY, THE LOWER-CLASS CHILDREN TENDED TO GIVE MORE COLOR RESPONSES THAN MIDDLE-CLASS CHILDREN. COLOR WAS FOUND TO BE THE PREFERRED CRITERION OF CHILDREN ABLE TO VERBALIZE, A FACT THAT SEEMED TO INDICATE THAT FORM DOMINANCE IS MOST PRIMITIVE, LATER FOLLOWED BY COLOR, AND THEN BY THE REINTRODUCTION OF FORM WHEN CHILDREN LEARN TO USE FORM LABELS. THE USE OF THE RELATIONAL-CONTEXTUAL MODE (MORE FREQUENT AMONG MIDDLE-CLASS GIRLS AND NEGATIVELY RELATED TO ANALYTICAL THINKING) WAS FOUND TO INCREASE IN FREQUENCY IN KINDERGARTEN AMONG LOWER-CLASS CHILDREN WHO DID NOT HAVE HEADSTART EXPERIENCE. THESE CHILDREN INITIALLY GAVE FEW CLEARLY VERBALIZED RELATIONAL-CONTEXTUAL RESPONSES, BUT TENDED TO INCREASE THE NUMBER WHEN THEY WERE NOT REQUIRED TO HAVE A HIGH DEGREE OF ARTICULATION NOR USE TWO OR MORE OBJECTS. LOWER-CLASS CHILDREN GAVE FEW RESPONSES IN THE CATEGORICAL-INFERENTIAL CATEGORY. THIS PAPER WAS PRESENTED AT THE AMERICAN EDUCATIONAL RESEARCH ASSOCIATION ANNUAL MEETING (NEW YORK CITY, FEBRUARY 1967). (JL)