Two Measures of Category Breadth: Age, Sex, Examiner Differences and Intercorrelations

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Abstract
Two measures of category breadth—an adaptation of Pettigrew's (1958) Category-width scale and a learning task called poggles (Wallach & Caron, 1959)—were administered in a battery to 100 children, ages 7 to 11, grades 2 to 6. Sex differences were not replicated. Significant age differences occurred. The two measures of category breadth evidenced different growth patterns: one measure followed a linear decline combined with a resurgence of means; the other measure showed a U-shaped quadratic trend indicating that youngest and oldest children used broader category breadths than intermediate-aged children. Examiner differences were not significant. Intercorrelations suggested that test correlates and behavioral referents of category breadth necessitated redefinition or elaboration. While broader categorization may continue to be defined as high tolerance for deviant instances in psychological similarity, it is not associated with the converse—high tolerance for nondeviant instances. Specifically, broad categorization negatively related to measures of comparatively mature levels of verbal abstractions.

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