The Relation between Socio-Conceptual Styles and Orientation to School Requirements

This study is one of several which deal with the cognitive nature of educationa disadvantage. It operationalizes generic requirements for school achievement, and finds them to be derivatives of the analytic conceptual style. Many children from low income homes, however, demonstrate a relational conceptual style. Conceptual styles are found to be effective predictors of academic success when common demographic variables, native ability and general information repertoires are held constant. In addition, analytic and relational conceptual styles are found to be intimately associated with formally organized and shared-function primary group participation, respectively, among their users. It is suggested that conceptual styles are developed, stimulated, and reinforced in the users style of primary group participation. By using those variables, it is possible to predict the developmnent of new response patterns through changes in style of primary group membership, and to explain mixed and conflicting types of scores as well as polar response types. Conceptual styles are also used to distinguish between deprivation and culture difference, to comment on non-verbal tests of intelligence, and to identify cognitive components in the phenomena of good, poor, underand overachievement.