Perceptual and Mofor Skills, 1975,40, 195-202. @ Perceptual and Motor Skills 1975

FIELD DEPENDENCE-INDEPENDENCE, SOCIAL-NON-SOCIAL PLAY AND SEX DIFFERENCES I N PRESCHOOL CHILDREN1 SUSAN COATES' State U~iversityof New York Dotunstate Medical Center

MAE LORD The City College City University o f New York

EVELYN JAKABOVICS State Uniuwsity o f New York Downsfate Medical Center Summary.-The present study investigated the hypothesis that preschool children who spend more time in social play than in non-social play would be more field-dependent than their field-independent counterparts. Over-all the hypothesis was supported by the results. Although the social-non-social dimension appeared to account for most of the findings, correlations between individual play activities and field dependence suggested that this single dimension could not adequately account for all of the findings. The dimension of perceptualmotor demand required in some of the activities may have been involved as well. Discussion focused o n the complexicy of the play preference, cognitive findings, and on sex differences as well.

Field independence refers to a cognitive style that involves the ability to overcome perceptual embedding contexts. Field-independent people are characterized by relatively better performance on perceptual tasks such as the embedded-figures test and the rod-and-frame test which require an active analytic attitude and the use of internal as opposed to external cues for successful performance. During the past two decades, a large body of research has demonstrated that this particular cognitive style is closely interlocked with fundamental aspects of personality functioning; for a review of this work see Witkin, Dyk, Faterson, Goodenough, and Karp ( 1962 ) . Several studies suggest that motivational differences which influence the direction of interest and attention are related to field independence. For example, there is considerable evidence to suggest that field-dependent people are more socially oriented than their field-independent counterparts. Studies of adults have shown that field-dependent people are more aroused by and attentive to social stimulation (Fitzgibbons & Goldberger, 1971; Eagle, Goldberger, & Breitman, 1969; Fitzgibbons, Goldberger, & Eagle, 1965). They are also more accurate in memory of faces (Crutchfield, \Voodworth, & Albrecht, 1958; Messick & Damarin, 1964) and are more likely spontaneously to generate words indicative of 'This study is based in part on a dissertation by Evelyn Jakabovics submitted to the City College of the City Universiw of New York as ~ a r t i a lfulfillment of the reauirernents for a ~ h . b degree. . he authors-are particularly to the directors of the ~ e i ~ h b o r h o o d Playhouse Nursery School, Marcia and David Smahl. for their cooperation throughout this study, to Sharon Speiser and Joel Lazarus who rated the children on the social-nonsocial play preference scale, and to Harris Goldstein for his helpful suggestions on an earlier draft of this paper. Requests for reprints should be sent to Susan Coates, Box 32. Department of Psychiatry, Division of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 450 Clarkson Avenue, Brooklyn, New York 11203.

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socially relevant interest, while field-independent people remember and prefer non-social stimuli (Goldberger & Bendich, 1972 ) . Studies of school aged children have shown that field-dependent children tend to look more at the examiner's face than do field-independent children (Ruble & Nakamura, 1972; Konstadt & Forman, 1965) and they appear to be more interpersonally dependent (Beller, 1958). Furthermore, field-dependent children are more sensitive to negative feedback from adults (Konstadt & Forman, 1965) and more able to make use of social cues for the purpose of problem solving (Ruble & Nakarnura, 1972) than are field-independent children. Most previous studies which have investigated the relationship between social orientation and field dependence have been experimental in design and have used older children or adults as subjects. Only two studies of social orientation and field dependence thus far have studied preschool children in a natural setting (Coates, 1972; Beller, 1958). Yet it seems particularly important to study a motivational variable such as social orientation in a setting where children are given the opportunity to express their own interests. Furthermore, it seems important to try to identify both the motivational and cognitive variables as early as possible in the life of the child so that one could begin to investigate how these variables interact with each other during development. The fact that a reliable and valid measure of field independence for young children, the Preschool Embedded-figures Test (Coates, 1972), has recently been developed makes this kind of study now possible. A beginning step was reported by Coates (1972) in the test manual. She found that field-dependent 4- and 5-yr.-old nursery school girls preferred to play with others in the doll corner whereas field-independent girls preferred to work alone on individual projects. Since her study was carried out with a small sample that used only extreme groups and one sex, only limited generalization was possible. The present study is intended to investigate [he relationship between social orientation and field dependence in young children in a naturalistic setting using both sexes as well as a full range of scores on each variable. A nursery school, which obliges the children to engage in some activity, yet leaves the choice of the activity to the child during some portion of the nursery school day, seems like an idea1 setting for this purpose. It is hypothesized that those children who show a preference for activities which require social participation rather than solitary activities will be relatively field-dependent. Those children who prefer solitary activities such as working alone on projects are expected to be relatively field-independent. Furthermore, boys are expected to differ from girls in amount of time spent in social activities. However, although girls are expected to be more socially oriented than boys, and boys are expected to have greater interest in solitary tasks, the patterns of relationship between play preference and field independence are expected to be the same for both sexes.

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Fifty-four children, 24 girls and 30 boys, at a private nursery school in a middle-class urban setting, participated in this study. Their mean age at the beginning of the study was 4 yr., 8 mo. and the age range for the group was 4 yr., 2 mo to 5 yr., 8 mo. Each child was tested individually in a room adjacent to his regular classroom, with the Preschool Embedded-figures Test and the Wechsler Preschool and Pr~maryScale of Intelligence (Wechsler, 1967). Since the WPPSI Block Design subtest had been demonstrated previously to be highly correlated with this measure of embedded figures (Coates, 1972) and to load substantially the perceptual analytic factor with the Preschool Embedded-figures Test in a factor analysis of scores on these tests: a composite field-independence score was made by summing the Preschool Embedded-figures Test and Block Design Z scores for each subject. Full Scale WPPSI IQs were also determined for each subject. Since verbal ability is likely to affect a child's capacity for social participation, it seems important to assess and control verbal intelligence in this study. In order to assess verbal intelligence, W P S I Vocabulary and Information subtests were formed into a composite score by summing their Z scores. These two subtests were chosen because they had previously been demonstrated to represent the highest two subtests loading on the Verbal factor of this test (Coates & Bromberg, 1973). T o develop a method for assessing play preferences, two researchers first observed the play activities of the children and developed a list of all general activities in which children participate during free-play periods. These were: (1) plays in the doll corner. ( 2 ) plays formal games, ( 3 ) plays with others in the block corner. ( 4 ) plays alone at the task table, and ( 5 ) plays alone with blocks. All children had to choose from one of these activities since they were not permitted to wander around aimlessly, but the actual choice during each play period was a free one. As a second step the researchers categorized the play activities in terms of those whose primary focus involved social interaction and those which primarily involved nonsocial activity. Three activities were felt to focus predominantly upon social interaction: plays in the doll corner, plays formal games, and plays with others in the block corner. When the children played in the doll corner, they established mutually agreed upon roles and fantasies and then set about enacting them. Discussion is constant, both in the establishment of the play enactment roles and fantasies, "Now it's my turn to be Mommy," "Now you must go out of the house," "Now you must be the older sister," etc., and in the actual enactments. Playing formal games, the second social category, involved playing structured games with others. The game most frequently played was "Candyland" which requires children to take turns and follow rules. At this age, the relevant newly developed skill is the channeling of social interaction into objectively prescribed rules. Finally some children worked together in the block corner to build largc structures which required cooperative effort. These joint efforts usually involved frequent verbal communication in order to work out common goals. The general activities that were carried out alone were playing at the task table and playing alone in the block corner. Children who played at the task table made paintings and collages, worked with puzzles, strung beads and wove pot holders, etc. Children who played alone with blocks usually built structures by themselves without the help of others. Although children sometimes spoke to each other as they worked on individual block or task projects, their main focus was on constructing things by themselves which "S. Coates, Field independence and intellectual functioning in preschool children. (Unpublished study, Downstate Medical Center, 1973)

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did not require cooperative effort with other children in order for the task to be completed. At the end of the school year the two teachers who had been with the children all year were asked to rank each child for each of the categories from 1 to 5 in order of amount of time spent in each activity over the course of the year. Lower numbers reflected greater interest in an activity. Ratings by each teacher for each child for each activity were summed for all items. An average social play score and an average solitary play score were determined for each child. Then a ratio of social to solitary play score was derived for each child, with positive scores reflecting greater social play. The inter-rater reliability for this scale was .67.

RESULTS Means and standard deviations for each of the individual cognitive tests and the play activities are presented in Tables 1 and 2. N o sex differences were found on any of the cognitive tests. However, large sex differences ( t = 3.46, p < .Ol) in the predicted direction amounting to almost 1 SD were found on the social-orientation scale with the girls being more socially oriented than the boys. Inspection of the sex differences on individual play activities shows that girls spend more time in two of the social activities (in the doll corner and playing formal games) while boys spend more time than girls in one of the activities (playing with others in the block corner). Of the solitary play activities boys spend more time alone in the block corner than girls. There were no significant sex differences in amount of time spent at the task table. TABLE 1

MEANS, STANDARD DEVIATIONS AND t TESTSFOR COGNITIVETESTS BY SEX Cognitive Tests Preschool EFT Block Design Vocabulary Information

Girls, N

= 24

Boys. N

= 31

M

SD

M

SD

16.33 11.21 17.29 13.33

2.74 3.69 3.32 3.02

15.63 12.13 18.13 13.40

3.40 4.28 4.13 2.54

t

.80 .84 .81 .09

TABLE 2

MEANS,STANDARDDEVIATIONS AND t TESTS FOR PLAYACTIVITIESBY SEX Play Categories

Girls, N = 24

M Social Play Plays with others in doll corner Plays formal games with others Plays with others in block corner Solitary Play Plays alone at task table Plays alone in block corner Note.-Smaller means which are italicized tailed test.)

SD

4.46 2.13 3.58 1.44 8.95 1.04

Boys, N

= 31

M

SD

7.93 6.67 4.03

2.03 1.90 2.34

t

P

6.11 6.51 9.56

,001 .001 .001

5.37 2.13 1.12 .001 6.00 1.88 5.88 8.20 1.02 indicate greater preference. ( p based on two-

4.79 1.50

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Partial correlations between field independence and social orientation with the effect of verbal ability held constant were -.42 for 24 girls and -.40 for 31 boys (ps < .05, two-tailed test). These correlations are in the predicted direction and are statistically significant. That is, for both girls and boys, fielddependent children are more socially oriented in their play while field-independent children tend to prefer solitary activities. Verbal ability was not significantly correlated with social participation for either sex. In order to determine whether Full Scale IQ rather than field dependence could more powerfully predict social orientation, correlations between the social orientation scale and WPPSI Full Scale IQ (based on all 11 subtests) were determined separately for each sex. For boys this relationship was negligible ( r = -.13), while for girls the correlation was statistically significant ( r = -.46). However, despite the fact that there are 11 subtests included in this battery in contrast to only two in the field dependence cluster, the IQsocial orientation correlation accounts for only a 4% increase in variance above and beyond the field-dependence cluster. To determine whether this increased variance was statistically significant, the incremental F test (Cohen, 1968) was used. The F of 1.22 is not statistically significant. This suggests that the results of this study are most parsimoniously understood in terms of a relationship with a specific cognitive ability, namely, field independence rather than general intelligence. In an effort to further understand the meaning of the field independenceplay preference relationship, correlations were determined between field independence and each of the individual play activities. As can be seen in Table 3, three of the individual correlations were significant for girls. The category, plays with others in the doll corner, was significantly negatively correlated with field independence, while the categories of plays alone in the block corner and plays with others in the block corner were significantly positively correlated with field independence. In other words girls who play with others in the doll corner tend to be field-dependent whereas girls who play with blocks whether alone or with others tend to be field-independent. For girls, the categories, plays formal games with ochers and plays at the task table, were not significantly correlated with field independence. TABLE 3

PEARSON CORRELATIONS OF FIELD INDEPENDENCE WITH PLAY-PREFERENCE ITEMS Play Category Girls, N = 24 Boys, N = 30 Social

1. Plays with others in doll corner

-.52t

2. Plays formal games with others

-.06

3. Plays with others in the block corner

.48t

.O 1

.18 -.50t

Solitary 1. Plays alone at the task table .18 .37 2. Plays alone in rhe block corner .42* .O 1 Note.--Signs are changcd so that scores indicate that greater preference was associated with field independence t p < .O1 (two-tailed test). *p < .05 (rwetailed test).

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For boys, the category, plays with others in the block corner, was significantly negatively correlated with field independence; the category, plays alone at the task table, was significantly positively correlated with field independence. In other words boys who tend to be field-dependent tend to play alone at the task table. The other 3 activities, plays with others in the doll corner, plays formal games with others, and plays alone in the block corner, were not significantly correlated with field dependence for boys.

DISCUSSION The greater social interest of the field-dependent adult and child is supported in this study of play preferences among preschool children. Both girls and boys who preferred to spend more of their time playing with others were more field-dependent than those who preferred to play in relative isolation. These results replicate the earlier finding of Coates ( 1972 ) that preschool fielddependent girls spent more of their free time in social play than did their field-independent counterparts and extend these findings to preschool boys as well. A closer look at the correlations between individual play preferences and field independence suggests that for girls social-nonsocial orientation may be only one of the variables involved in the significant relationship between cognitive style and play preference. For girls playing with others in the doll corner was significantly associated with greater field dependence whereas playing with blocks, alone or with others, was associated with greater field independence. That is, for girls only, one activity, plays with others in the block corner, was associated with greater field independence in the direction opposite that predicted. This was not true of boys for whom playing with others in the block corner was, as predicted, associated with greater field dependence. This activity apparently has a different meaning for each sex, which suggests that a more complex conceptualization of the play preference variable may be necessary. Sherman's review of the available field-dependence data (1967) suggested that differential practice with spatial visualization tasks might be an important factor in determining differences in field independence. She has hypothesized that experience with spatial-visualization tasks has an enhancing effect on the development of field independence. The nursery school activities described in this study do seem to differ in the amount of spatial-visualization skill required. Since they all require, to differing degrees, integration of motoric activity with the spatial visualization skill, we shall refer, in this paper, to perceptual-motor demand. Although some skill in spatial visualization and motoric integration is of course necessary for all activities, it appears to us that the perceptual-motor demand of doll play and formal games is minimal compared to block building and projects at the task table where it is the predominant component of the activity. Using Sherman's hypothesis, perceptual-motor demand of a given activity may have served as an

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additional dimension contributing to the play preference-field independence relationships. Looked at from this perspective, the play preferences could be interpreted in the following two-dimensional manner as reflecting both social orientation and perceptual-motor demand: Sociadwiih minimal perceptual-motor demand 1. plays with others in the doll corner 2. plays formal games with others S o c i a b i i h considerable perceptual-moior demand 1. plays with others in the block corner NonsocirrLwith considerable perceplual-mocor demand 1. plays alone at the task table 2. plays alone in the block corner

According to this two-dimensional scheme, all of the predictions made earlier would remain the same except for the category, plays with others in the block corner. This activity includes social play which should be associated with a more field-dependent cognitive style and the perceptual-motor demanding block activity which should be associated with a more field-independent cognitive style. Aspects of this play preference then contain dimensions that would result in opposite direction predictions. The fact that these two separate dimensions did not cancel each other out but were expressed in opposite direction effects suggests that perhaps only one of the dimensions was being primarily tapped for each sex. Further understanding of these opposi~edirection effects may be gained by looking at sex differences in mean time spent in each of the play activities. The sex differences reported here, like those in numerous other studies, support the conclusion that girls as a group are more socially oriented than boys. In this study no assumption is made about the causes for greater social interest in girls than in boys. It is certainly possible that in this nursery school, teachers engaged in socializing the children into commonly accepted sex roles of our culture. Or, knowing the sex-role stereorypes, teachers may have biased their perception so that girls were seen as engaging more often in social activities, boys in nonsocial activities. This may have exaggerated the magnitude of the obtained sex differences; however, it is unlikely that it affected the principal findings. If one looks at the sex differences in individual play preferences viewed from the two-dimensional perspective proposed here, one finds that girls spend significantly more of their time than boys in both activities which are social without perceptual-motor demand (plays with others in the doll corner and plays formal games with others). Boys spend significantly more of their time than girls in activities that involve a perceptualmotor demand (plays blocks alone, plays blocks with others) with and without social involvement. It may be that for girls, moving away from sex-role stereotyped interests that involve predominantly social participation to activities that require the use of percepmal-motor skills is associated with greater field independence even when it still occurs in a social context. Thus the significant dimension in block playing with others for girls may well have been the perceptual-motor experience which enhanced field independence. For boys who, as a group, tend to spend most of their time in tasks involving per-

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ceprual-motor skills, movement away from a task with pure petcepmal-motor involvement such as plays alone with blocks into a task that had social orientation as one of its components (plays with others in the block corner) was associated with greater field dependence. The significant dimension for boys then may well have been the social component which enhanced the relationship with field-dependence. Since the aaiviry. plays with blocks with others, was significantly preferred by boys, it seems that some degree of cross-sex typing in girls is associated with greater field independence. This latter finding supports what has been previously suggested by Maccoby (1966) and Wirkin, et al. ( 1962). This study supports the conclusion that social orientation as manifested in play preference is linked with field-dependent cognitive functioning in preschool children. It was concluded, however, that the single dimension of social orientation did not adequately account for the relationships observed. A second dimension, namely, perceptualmotor experience, may have contributed partially to the play preference-field dependence relationships. The demonstration of significant relationships between motivational and cognitive variables in young children now suggests rhe further step of a longitudinal study to begin to understand how these variables affect each other over time. REFERENCES BELLER, E. K. A study of dependence and perceptual orientation. American Psychologist, 1958, 13, 347. ( Abstracr) COATES, S. T h e Preschool Embedded Figures Test-PEm. Palo Alto, Calif.: Consulting Psychologists Press, 1972. COATES, S., & BROMBERG,P. M. The factorial structure of the WPPSI between the ages of 4 and 6%. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 1973, 40, 36527n /, -.

COHEN,J. Multiple regression as a general data analytic system. Psychological Bulletin, 1968, 70. 426-443. CRUTCHFIELD, R. S., WOODWORTH,D. G.. & ALBRECHT,R. E. Perceptual performance of effectwe persons. USAF WADC Technical Note No. 38-60, 1958. EAGLE.M., GOLDBERGER, L., & BREITMAN,M. Field dependence and memory for social vs neutral and relevant vs irrelevant incidental stimuli. PercebWal and Motor Skills, 1969, 29, 903-910. FITZGIBBONS,D., & GOLDBERGER. L. Task and social orientation: a study of field dependence, arousal and memory for incidental material. Perceptiral and Motor Skills. 1971, 3 2 , 167-174. FITZGIBBONS,D., GOLDBERGER, L., & EAGLE, M. Field dependence and memory for incidental stimuli. Perceptual and Motor Skills, 1965, 21, 743-749. GOLDBERGER, L., & BENDICH, S. Field dependence and social responsiveness as determinants of spontaneously. -produced words. Perce~tualand Motor Skills, 1972, 34, 883-885. JAKABOVICS. E. H. Field dependence and social behavior in preschool children. Unpublished doctorat dissertation, City College of the City Univer. of New York, 1973. KONSTADT,N.. & FORMAN, E. Field dependence and external directedness. Journal o f Personality and Social Psychology, 1965, 1 , 490-493. MACCOBY. E. Sex differences in intellectual functioning. In E. Maccoby (Ed.), T h e development o f sex differences. Stanford: Stanford Univer. Press, 1966. P 25 55. MESSICK,S., 8( DAMARIN, F. Cognitive style and memory for faces. ~ o u r n a 7 ' o fAbnormal and Social Psychology, 1964, 69, 3 13-318. RUBLE,D. N., & NAKAMURA,C. Y. Task orientation vs. social orientation in young children and their attention to relevant social cues. Child Deuelopnent, 1972, 43, 471-480. SHERMAN,J. A. Problem of sex differences in space perception and aspects of intellectual functioning. Psychological Review, 1967, 74, 290-299. WECHSLER,D. Wechrler Preschool and Primary Scale o f Intelligence. New York: Psychological Corp., 1967. WITKIN, H. A,, D m , R. B., FATERSON,H. F., GOODENOUGH, D. R., & KARP, S. A. Psychological differentiation. New York: Wiley, 1962. -

Accepted October 24, 1974.