Developmental Psychology1986, Vol. 22, No. 6, 832-840

Copyright 1986 by the American Psychological Association, Inc.0012-1649/86/J00.75

Continuity and Transformation in the PsychologicalMeaning of Categorization Breadth

Jack Block, Per F. Gjerde, and Jeanne H. BlockUniversity of California, Berkeley

As part of an ongoing longitudinal project, measures of breadth of categorization were administeredto subjects at age 4 and again at age 11. The category breadth indexes from each age were related topersonality data available at ages 3,4, 7, 11, and 14 in the form of independent California Child Q-Sort (CCQ) descriptions. Although the two breadth indexes were not correlated over the 7-yeartime span, many relations were observed between each of the categorization indexes and personalitydescriptions. Independently of gender, the preschool-based breadth composite was related to a coreset of personality relations. Broad categorizers identified at age 4 were described at all five ages aslacking in autonomous structure and being more susceptible to environmental distraction. Althoughthe relation between breadth of categorization as indexed at age 11 and personality could not beevaluated for girls, many significant relations were obtained for boys. Boys who categorized broadlyat age 11 were described at all five ages as able to organize information about the world in a resource-ful manner. Furthermore, breadth of categorization at age 4 correlated negatively with intelligence,whereas breadth of categorization at age 11 correlated positively with intelligence. This reversal inrelation was highly significant statistically. The observed transformation in the psychological mean-ing of the results suggests that the use of relatively broad categories in early childhood reflects aninability as yet to organize experience effectively; by preadolescence, however, the use of relativelybroad categories reflects a creative ability to see as importantly equivalent those instances that super-ficially are unrelated.

Categorization refers to how individuals classify objects orevents by applying rules of similarity. In categorizing, an indi-vidual, for the purposes of that categorization, treats all objectsin the same category as equivalent and as different from objectsnot in that category. Categorization is cognitively economicalbecause it reduces the potentially infinite number of possibleperceptual discriminations down to personally useful propor-tions (Bruner, Goodnow, & Austin, 1956; Rosch, 1978). Be-cause of the inevitable diversity of perceptual inputs, one must,for such tasks as recognition, learning, and judgment, have theability to categorize stimuli and to classify events by similarity(Tversky, 1977).

Reliable individual differences have been observed in thebreadth or narrowness of the categories that an individual uses(J. Block, Buss, Block, & Gjerde, 1981; Gardner & Moriarty,1968; Gardner & Schoen, 1962; Kogan, 1976; Kogan & Wal-lach, 1964;McReynolds, 1954;Pettigrew, 1958, 1982;Wallach& Caron, 1959). However, studies relating breadth of categori-zation to personality have yielded disparate results. Categorybreadth has been said to have implications for "openness to ex-

This study was supported by National Institute of Mental HealthGrant MH 16080 to Jack and Jeanne H. Block. We are grateful to SusanKeyes and Rachel Melkman for their comments on an earlier draft ofthis article.

Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to JackBlock, Department of Psychology, University of California, Berkeley,California 94720.

perience and rigidity" (Gardner & Schoen, 1962, p. 19) andindependence of external standards and tolerance for deviantinstances (Wallach & Caron, 1959). J. Block et al. (1981) foundbreadth of categorization measured in 4-year-olds to be associ-ated with dysfunctional qualities: Broad categorizers of bothsexes were observed as lacking in autonomous structuring, asbeing susceptible to environmental distractions, and as gener-ally behaving with few internal constraints at ages 3, 4, and 7.According to Kogan and Wallach (1964), broad categorizers aremore cautious than narrow categorizers. Conversely, Nelsonand Bonvillian (1973) reported that breadth of categorizationaided concept learning among a group of children aged 3 andyounger, and Rosen (1961) and Steiner and Johnson (1965) re-ported findings that imply that broad categorizers are less likelyeither to conform when exposed to group pressure or to showdissonance reduction.

This appreciable variation in empirical findings limits con-clusions about the psychological meaning of relatively broad, incomparison with relatively narrow, classification choices. How-ever, an explanation for the disparate pattern of results may pos-sibly derive from consideration of the developmental changes tobe expected in cognition.

Young children have difficulties integrating information; theydo not spontaneously sort items by their common characteris-tics. When young children cognitively advance to a point atwhich they can begin to form personally useful categories, thisbeginning can be only in terms of single, simple, immediatelyfunctional, narrowly understood categorizing principles; cogni-tive complexities are not yet achievable. Young children not yet

832

CONTINUITY AND TRANSFORMATION IN CATEGORY BREADTH 833

developmentally able to impose some kind of coherent, if alsosimple, structure upon their experiences can use only transi-tory, overlapping, "unprincipled" categorizing principles.Given the logic of the world, this latter effort cannot be expectedto enable children to organize their understandings and behav-ior in a consistent, adaptive, self-reinforcing way. In early cogni-tive development, then, efforts to classify are likely to involvenarrow categorization breadth, whereas broad classification islikely to be a sign that the children ignore the criterial standardsby which they could define categories.

With the passage of time, however, there develops a greaterabstraction ability, a fluency that generates perceptual-cogni-tive linkages or enables children to see essential equivalencesamong instances that superficially may seem disparate or unre-lated. This developing ability or talent will lead to categoriza-tion approaches that are relatively broad and, within limits, thatdo not strictly define the standards for evaluating categorymembership. On the other hand, a strictly maintained, even ob-sessive adherence to stringent categorization standards at thislater developmental stage betokens a failure to develop abstrac-tion abilities or, according to a motivational or "cognitive style"interpretation, may reflect a preference for narrow categoriza-tion because of discomfort with the "fuzziness" of a looser basisfor classification.

These developmental considerations suggest that althoughrelatively narrow categorization observed in the early years hasadaptive implications because the young child is only beginningto organize experience, narrow categorization observed at alater developmental stage may signify an inability or reluctanceto recognize important broad generalizations. Although broadcategorization observed in early years may be a sign of laggingcognitive development, it later may be an index of a relativelyadvanced cognitive development, a creative stylistic approachto understanding the world. Theoretically, therefore, one shouldnot expect simple longitudinal "consistency" of categorizationbreadth across developmental stages. Rather, the psychologicalmeaning of the relations surrounding categorization breadth asidentified in nursery school may be very different from the psy-chological meaning of the relations surrounding categorizationbreadth identified in preadolescence; that is, one can expect thecorrelates of breadth of categorization to depend on the devel-opmental level of the subjects studied.

There is some, but slight, support for this conceptual posi-tion. Young children confused about the outer limits of a cate-gory tend to overdiscriminate and reject equivalent instances(Saltz & Sigel, 1967). Older subjects, although with better over-all accuracy, tend to overgeneralize and accept as similar someinstances that actually are different. Breadth of categorizationin the preschool years seems to reflect a failure to make fineperceptual discriminations (J. Block et al., 1981).

Data from an ongoing longitudinal study of ego and cognitivedevelopment (J. H. Block & Block, 1980) provided an opportu-nity to examine directly the possibility of development-relatedchanges in the meaning of category breadth. A previous report(J. Block et al., 1981) related a preschool-based categorizationbreadth index to independent personality evaluations made ofchildren at ages 3, 4, and 7. We present additional personalitycorrelates of this early categorization breadth index, extending

the age range studied to include personality and intelligencedata obtained when the subjects were 11 and 14 years old. Aswe demonstrate, the personality characteristics associated earlywith broad categorizers identified at age 4 continued to charac-terize these subjects up to 10 years later. However, in addition,the subjects at age 11 completed three tasks by which we mea-sured breadth of categorization. We thus were enabled to iden-tify broad and narrow categorizers at age 11, then observingthat there were many personality implications of categorizationbreadth in preadolescence. The longitudinal correlates and psy-chological meaning of individual differences in categorizationstyle appear to depend on the developmental age at which cate-gorization breadth is studied.

Method

Subjects

The beginning basic subject sample included 128 children, 64 girlsand 64 boys, who participated in an ongoing longitudinal study of egoand cognitive development initiated by Jack and Jeanne H. Block in1968 at the University of California, Berkeley. (For a comprehensivedescription of this study, see J. H. Block & Block, 1980.) The exactnumber of subjects in a given analysis varied somewhat. About twothirds of the subjects were white, one quarter were black, and onetwelfth were Asian.

Subjects were initially recruited into the study at age 3, while theywere attending either a university-run or a parent cooperative nurseryschool. The children, now adolescents, were assessed on wide-rangingbatteries of measures at ages 3, 4, 5, 7, 11, and 14. They are currentlybeing seen at age 18. Subjects currently live primarily in urban settingsand are heterogeneous with respect to social class and parent education.

Categorization Tasks Administered at Age 4

When the children were 4 years old, as part of a broad assessment ofpersonality and cognitive functioning, four measures of categorizationbreadth were administered by 3 different examiners in sessions sepa-rated by at least 1 week.

Poggles Test. In this task, adapted from Wallach and Caron (1959),the child was first presented with a diamond-shaped figure on a 3 X 5in. (7.62 X 12.70 cm.) card and told that this figure was a "poggle." Thechild then was asked to sort 27 diamond-shaped figures presented in afixed order (originally determined randomly) according to whether theywere poggles or "not-poggles." The stimulus cards diverged from thestandard poggle along two dimensions: four variations in size and fourvariations in acuteness of the angles defining the diamond shape. Threeinstances of each of the eight variations of the standard stimulus itselfconstituted 24 items. In addition, interspersed within the set were threeinstances of the standard poggle. Thus the 27 stimuli represented ninedifferent categories varying in their degree of "poggle-ness." Two boxeswith narrow slots for inserting the cards were placed before the child inorder to foster independence of successive judgments. One box withstandard stimulus displayed on its top was for stimuli that the childjudged to be the poggles, and the other box was for stimuli that the childjudged to be not-poggles. The child was handed the cards one at a timeand told to place them in one of the two boxes. The poggles breadth-of-categorization score was based on the total number of categories ofstimulus cards placed in the poggles box (the possible range was from 1to 9).

Blues Test. In a parallel of the poggles procedure, the child was pre-sented with a medium-blue card that was defined as the standard for

834 J. BLOCK, P. F. GJERDE, AND J. H. BLOCK

judging 27 stimulus cards varying in color saturation along the dimen-sion of "blueness." There were four shades of blue lighter than the stan-dard and four shades of blue darker than the standard. Three instancesof each shade variation plus three instances of the standard blue colorwere presented in a fixed random order to the child to judge as in thepoggles procedure. The blues breadth of categorization score was calcu-lated in the way described in the poggles procedure.

Concept Evaluation Test. A modification of the Concept Evalua-tion Test (CET; McReynolds, 1954) was used. Each child saw a trainingseries of three cards resembling the Rorschach inkblots that were usedas stimuli in the subsequent series. On each of the training cards, thesubject's attention was drawn to an area of the inkblot. For each of thethree training cards, the child was asked whether the designated area ofthe inkblot looked like or could be a familiar concept (e.g., a doll, a dog,an elephant) to which the form indeed corresponded, and whether thesame inkblot looked like or could be another familiar concept (e.g., ahouse, a fish, a chair) to which it clearly did not correspond. In Ror-schach terminology, the designated inkblot areas were of high formquality vis-a-vis the first set of suggested concepts and of poor formquality vis-a-vis the second set of suggested concepts. For almost all sub-jects, the training inkblots established that the subjects could distinguishbetween good and poor form quality for the concepts suggested. If thechild could not make this discrimination, training was discontinued.Provided that the child demonstrated the ability to discriminate be-tween the form-level quality of concepts, 35 (of the standard 50) con-cepts representing different degrees of form quality and distributedamong different areas of the Rorschach cards were presented in turn forjudgment according to the procedure developed by McReynolds (1954).The CET breadth score was based on the number of times that the childsaid an inkblot area corresponded to the suggested concept. Only scoreswithin the range of 5 to 30 were used in subsequent analyses. Threechildren who either accepted or rejected more than 30 concepts wereconsidered to be responding in a nondiscriminating manner and hencewere excluded from analysis.

Sigel Object Categorization Test. The Sigel Object CategorizationTest (SOCT; Sigel & Olmstead, 1970) consists of 12 familiar objects(e.g., pencil, cup, and ball) that the child is asked first to identify andthen to group. Each object is specified in turn, and the child is asked toselect the objects that "go with" each of the specified objects. Uponcompleting each grouping, the child is asked to specify the basis for thechoice of objects. The SOCT breadth score was the average number ofobjects grouped together (excluding trials on which no object was se-lected to go with the stimulus object).

Categorization Tasks Administered at Age 11

When the children were 11 years old, two different examiners admin-istered three procedures by which we assessed categorization behaviorin different task sessions at least 1 week apart. As was the case at previ-ous ages, test sessions included a variety of other procedures.

Category Width Test. In this task, Wallach and Caron's (1959) ad-aptation of the Pettigrew (1958) category width test, children were pre-sented with 12 two-part items. On each item, they were provided witha central-tendency value of a category and with four alternatives defin-ing the upper limit and four alternatives defining the lower limit of thatcategory. For example, they were first told that most birds fly at thespeed of about 17 miles per hour. Then they were asked to provide theupper category limit by selecting one of the four alternatives that werehigher than the central-tendency value. Next, the children were askedto provide the lower category limit by selecting one of the four alterna-tives that were lower than the central-tendency value. Additional itemsconcerned, among other things, the length of whales, the width of roads,the height of buildings, and the speed of sailboats.

We scored the test by assigning the values 1-4 to the alternatives be-low the central-tendency value (the lower category limit) and the values5-8 to the alternatives above the central-tendency value (the upper cate-gory limit). We generated the category width breadth score by subtract-ing, for each child, the value assigned to the lower category limit fromthe value assigned to the upper category limit. The higher the score was,the broader was the category (possible range from 1 to 7).

Object Sorting Test. A modification of Gardner and Moriarty's(1968) Object Sorting Test was used. The children were provided with51 color pictures of common objects (e.g., book, ball, and wallet) andasked to group those that "go together" into separate piles. The ObjectSorting Test breadth score reflected the number of objects in the largestgroup.

Concept Evaluation Test. This test was identical to the version ad-ministered to the children at age 4, with one exception: All 50 originalconcepts were included at this age level. The CET breadth score wasbased on the number of concepts that the child endorsed within therange of 5 to 50.

Intelligence Measures

The Wechsler Preschool and Primary Scale of Intelligence (WPPSI)was administered to all subjects at age 4. The Wechsler IntelligenceScale of Children (WISC) was administered to all subjects at age 11.

Measuring Personality: The CaliforniaChild Q-Set(CCQ)

The children's personality characteristics were described by theirnursery school teachers when the children were 3 and 4 years old andby their public school teachers and project examiners when they were7,11, and 14 years old. These teachers and examiners used the standardvocabulary of the California Child Q-Set (J. Block & Block, 1969,1980;J. H. Block & Block, 1980). The CCQ is an age-appropriate modifica-tion of the California Q-Set (J. Block, 1961/1978) and consists of 100(or 63; see the following discussion) widely ranging statements describ-ing the child's personality, cognitive, and social characteristics.

At age 3, each child was described by three nursery school teacherswho had worked with him or her a minimum of 5 months before com-pleting the descriptions. Teachers also received training and met withthe project director, who explained the rationale, provided written in-structions to the CCQ, and answered questions about item meanings.Teachers then completed an independent Q-sort for a child who was notin the study (usually from a previous year) but who was known to all ofthe teachers. The item descriptions were discussed, and usually a secondchild was described in order to check understandings. At age 4, eachchild was again described via the CCQ procedure, but by an entirelydifferent set of three nursery school teachers equivalently trained.

When the children were 7 years old and in public school, one teacherand two examiners provided their Q-sort characterizations. When thechildren were 11 and 14 years old, each was described by four or fiveexaminers who had observed the child while administering a varietyof experimental procedures tapping different aspects of cognitive andpersonality functioning.

When the children were brought in for assessment at ages 7, 11, and14, the examiners evaluating the children Q-sorted them, using only 63of the original 100 CCQ items. The 37 excluded CCQ items were thosefor which the examiners believed reliable judgments could not be for-mulated, given the necessary constraints set by the laboratory environ-ment. To ensure commensurativeness of the Q-data, the examiners, asin earlier assessments, used a nine-step rectangular distribution in sort-ing the 63 CCQ items.

Working independently, the judges described each child by arranging

CONTINUITY AND TRANSFORMATION IN CATEGORY BREADTH 835

the Q-set items in a forced nine-step, rectangular distribution accordingto the evaluated salience of each item with respect to a particular child.At each age, the independent Q-sort formulations were averaged to formcomposite Q-sort descriptions. Eleven nursery school teachers com-pleted the CCQ descriptions when the children were 3 years old; anentirely different set of nine nursery school teachers completed the Q-sorts when the children were 4 years old; 67 different public schoolteachers and two examiners offered their personality evaluations whenthe children were 7 years old; and five different examiners offered Q-sort formulations when the children were 11 years old. Thus the assess-ments at each period are strictly independent of each other. The esti-mated Spearman-Brown reliabilities of the Q-set items, which werebased on correlations among observers, averaged .65 at age 3, .65 at age4, .47 at age 7, .70 at age 11, and .72 at age 14.

This reliability information not only provides important informationabout the relative quality of the personality data used, but also placesperspective on the possible magnitude of correlations that can be ex-pected when these measures are related to our criterion variable:breadth of categorization.

Results

We first present our findings regarding similarity over timein the personality characteristics associated with categorizationbreadth that were identified when our subjects were 4 years old.We then present our findings regarding similarity over time inthe personality characteristics associated with categorizationbreadth that were identified when our subjects were aged 11.The two sets of findings are diametrically different, which sug-gests that a transformation has occurred in the psychologicalmeaning and cognitive utility of categorization breadth overtime.

ity of a verbal score based on four SAT items is less than .5. (d)The four categorization tasks making up the composite werephenotypically quite diverse, and thus the composite scoreachieves a degree of domain representativeness or construct va-lidity that goes well beyond what would be obtainable with sin-gle measures of narrow scope. J. Block et al. (1981) presentedin detail the rationale for using a composite categorizationbreadth score, the intercorrelations among the four categoriza-tion tasks at age 4, and further information about the generali-zability of the preschool-based composite breadth score.

Breadth of Categorization at Age 4 Related toIntelligence From Age 4 to Age 11

For girls, the correlations between the preschool-basedbreadth of categorization composite and intelligence measuresadministered concurrently at age 4 were as follows: —.25 withWPPSI Verbal IQ, -.22 with WPPSI Performance IQ, and -.27(p < .05) with WPPSI Full Scale IQ (« = 58). For boys, thesecorrelations were -.22, -.29 (p < .05), and -.28 {p < .05),respectively (n = 53). The preschool-based categorizationbreadth index was also related to intelligence measures admin-istered at preadolescence: WISC Verbal IQ, WISC PerformanceIQ, and WISC Full Scale IQ. For girls (n = 47), the correlationswere, respectively, -.34 (p < .05), -.45 (p < .01), and -.45 (p <.01); for boys (« = 48), they were -.29 (p < .05), -.38 (p < .01),and -.39 (p < .01). Thus broad categorizers identified at age 4performed less well on intelligence measures both concurrentlyand 7 years later. Indeed, these negative relations seem tostrengthen over time.

The Composite Breadth-of-CategorizationScore at Age 4

We created a breadth index for each child at age 4 by stan-dardizing each of the four individual breadth-of-categorizationscores and then averaging them. The mean category breadthscores for girls and boys at age 4 were 48.7 (SD = 7.69, n = 67)and 51.3 (SD = 6.94, n = 65), respectively. These mean valuesare significantly different (p < .05; all significance tests in thisarticle are two-tailed), a finding in accord with the findings thatother investigators have previously reported (e.g., Pettigrew,1958; Wallach & Caron, 1959): Boys tend to categorize in asomewhat broader fashion than girls.

The internal consistency reliability for this composite catego-rization breadth score, as evaluated via the Lambda4 coefficient(Guttman, 1945), was .56 for the sample of girls and .55 for thesample of boys. In evaluating these reliabilities, one should notethe following: (a) The Lambda4 is a lower-bound estimate andthe actual reliability can be expected to be somewhat higher, (b)The subject samples are relatively homogeneous with respectto intelligence and, by implication, cognitive functions moregenerally; reliability is an index of interindividual variation,and sample homogeneity will tend to depress reliability coeffi-cients, (c) With only a four-item test, high absolute reliabilityshould not be expected; for example, although with 85 itemsthe verbal part of the Scholastic Aptitude Test has an internalconsistency reliability of .95 (Green, 1978), the typical reliabil-

Breadth of Categorization at Age 4 Related to CCQItems Over an 11- Year Period

J. Block et al. (1981) reported the correlations of the pre-school-based breadth of categorization composite with the 100CCQ items at ages 3, 4, and 7 for the total sample; there wereno differences in the correlates associated with gender. In theinterest of data reduction, they extracted a core set of relationsby invoking two criteria for identifying dependable long-termrelations: (a) For each CCQ item, the sign of all three corre-lations with the composite breadth score had to be in the samedirection; (b) at least two of the three correlations had to bestatistically significant at the .05 level.

In Table 1 we report the 19 CCQ items that met these criteriaat ages 3, 4, and 7. We also report the correlations at ages 11and 14 (an additional 7 years) of these same CCQ items withthe preschool-based category breadth score. In accordance withthe results reported for previous age levels, none of the CCQcorrelates obtained at ages 11 and 14 showed significant sexdifferences. Thus we report only the results for the total sample.

This core set of personality correlates of the preschool-basedcategorization breadth continues to show consistency when theassessment period is extended to cover the years from age 3through age 14. When we consider only those CCQ correlatesin which all five correlations are in the same direction (a findingthat by itself is significant at about the .03 level) and in whichat least two of the five correlations are significant at .05 level,

836 J. BLOCK, P. F. GJERDE, AND J. H. BLOCK

Table 1Longitudinal Personality Correlates of Breadth of Categorization at Age 4, Consistent Over 11 Years for the Total Sample

CCQ item

Unable to delay gratificationRestless, fidgetyCharacteristically tries to stretch limitsShows immature behavior under stressTakes advantage of othersAfraid of being deprivedFeels unworthy, thinks of self as "bad"Imitates behavior of those (s)he admiresPlanful, thinks aheadVerbally fluentHigh standards of performance for selfShows concern for moral issuesAttentive and able to concentrateCan be trusted, is dependableHigh intellectual capacityCompetent, skillfulPerceptually creativeUses and responds to reasonReflective

3

.24*

.28**

.13

.23*

.17

.16

.13

.40***-.30**-.24*-.29**-.27**-.37***-.23**-.25*-.26*-.30**-.26*-.28**

4

.22*

.19*

.18*

.19*

.20*

.24**

.23**

.22*-.22*-.21*-.11-.23**-.31***-.19*-29***-.26**-.19*-.20*-.18*

Age (years)

7

.21*

.26*

.24*

.16

.24*

.32**

.24*

.13-.18-.17-.32**-.01-.26*-.30**-.36***-.48***-.23*-.22*-.15

11

.23*

.17

.13

.19NENENENE

-.22*-.29**-.24*

NE-.26**

NE-.29**-.35***-.18-.18-.24*

14

.16

.10

.15

.12NENENENE

-.18-.18-.18

NE-.14

NE-.31**-.31**-.19-.09-.20

Note. CCQ = California Child Q-sort; NE = This CCQ item was not used at ages 11 and 14. Ns are 91 at age 3, 128 at age 4,79 to 92 at age 7,106 atage 11, and 104 at age 14.*p<.05. *•/><.01. **•/><.001.

the same core set of attributes can be observed (excluding thoseitems not used at ages 11 and 14). If three of the five correlationsmust be significant at the .05 level, 11 of the 13 CCQ itemsadministered at all five ages meet this new, more stringent stan-dard.

In addition to the items included in Table 1, children whocategorized in a broad fashion at age 4 are described at age 11as significantly (.05 level) more likely to be overreactive, morelikely to whine, more emotionally labile, more likely to seekassurance about themselves, more deviant from peers, morecharacterized by mannerisms, and less interesting. In additionto the items included in Table 1, these children are also de-scribed at age 14 as significantly (.05 level) less persistent, lessinteresting, less physically attractive, and less reflective. Thesepersonality correlates of categorization breadth, congruent over11 years, take on added importance in light of the fact that thepersonality characterizations at each of the five age levels areentirely independent. Overall, then, children identified as broadcategorizers at age 4 manifest coherent concomitant and subse-quent personality characteristics that suggest that such earlybroad categorization is maladaptive and foretells later maladap-tation as well.

The Composite Breadth-of-CategorizationScore at Age 11

At age 11, the children completed three categorizationbreadth tasks: the Category Width Test, the Object Sorting Test,and the Concept Evaluation Test. Intercorrelations for girlswere -.15 between the Category Width Test and the ObjectSorting Test, .07 between the Category Width Test and the Con-

cept Evaluation Test, and .07 between the Object Sorting Testand the Concept Evaluation Test, averaging zero and thus logi-cally preventing development of a respectworthy composite cat-egorization breadth score. For boys, the equivalent correlationswere appreciably higher: .31, .22, and .18, averaging .24, andconceptually permitting the formation of a composite breadthof categorization score.

Because an acceptable composite score could not be gener-ated for girls at this age, we report only the results accruing toboys when the implications of breadth of categorization identi-fied at age 11 are analyzed. We do not have a well-founded ex-planation for the absence of a semblance of internal consistencyin preadolescent girls' breadth of categorization. In the Discus-sion section, however, we offer some conjectures regarding thisabsence of categorization coherence at preadolescence.

The three breadth tasks were composited in accordance withthe procedure used for 4-year-olds. The Spearman-Brown reli-ability of the composite categorization breadth score for boysis .49, which is not high absolutely but of the same order asthe reliabilities of the categorization breadth scores at age 4. Asbefore, this composite score, which is based on phenotypicallydiverse measures, has greater conceptual or domain implicationthan any of the separate category breadth measures on whichit is based. In evaluating the subsequent results associated withthis composite score, one should remember that all relationsare attenuated as a function of its less-than-desirable reliability.

The correlation between the breadth index generated at age4 and the breadth index generated at age 11 was —.20 (ns) forboys (n = 48), which indicates that breadth of categorizationin the preschool years, rather than being positively related to a

CONTINUITY AND TRANSFORMATION IN CATEGORY BREADTH 837

seemingly similar categorization measure obtained in pread-olescence, is instead if anything somewhat negatively related.

Breadth of Categorization at Age 11 Related toIntelligence From Age 4 to Age 11

For boys (« = 54), the correlations with intelligence obtainedconcurrently at age 11 were as follows: .32 (p < .05) with WISCVerbal IQ, .28 (p < .05) with WISC Performance IQ, and .34(p < .05) with WISC Full Scale IQ. The correlations betweenthe preadolescent-based categorization breadth composite andintelligence measures administered at age 4 were .34 (p < .05)for WPPSI Verbal IQ, -.10 for WPPSI Performance IQ, and .18for WPPSI Full Scale IQ (n = 42). In regard to categorizationbreadth as measured at age 4, and except for only WPPSI Perfor-mance IQ, the correlations of categorization breadth with intel-ligence may be seen to reverse in sign from age 4 to age 11. Thesedifferences in correlation are highly significant statistically (psranging from .03 to .0001).

These reversing correlations indicate that with the passage oftime, a dramatic change has taken place in the relation betweencategorization breadth and intelligence in boys. Boys who cate-gorized in a broad fashion at age 4 tended to score lower onintelligence tests both then and 7 years later. However, when thecategorization style of boys was assessed at age 11, boys whocategorized broadly tended to score higher on intelligence testsboth then and 7 years earlier. Within the same and continuingsample of boys, the intellective implications of broad categoriz-ing at an earlier developmental level are appreciably differentfrom the intellective implications of broad categorizing at alater developmental level.

Breadth of Categorization at Age 11 Related to CCQItems Over an 11- Year Period

The preadolescent-based breadth of categorization compos-ite was correlated with each of the 63 CCQ items used at ages3,4,7,11, and 14. In the interest of data reduction, we extracteda core set of relations that were consistent across the 11-yeartime span by invoking two criteria for identifying dependablerelations: (a) For each CCQ item, the sign of all five correlationswith the categorization index had to be in the same direction(the probability of this event alone is about .03); (b) at least twoof the five correlations had to be statistically significant at the.05 level. For boys, 13 (21 %) items, reported in Table 2, satisfiedthese conjoint criteria.

Boys who categorized broadly at preadolescence were de-scribed up to 8 years earlier as cognitively competent, resource-ful, and able to maintain integrated behavior under stress. Theespecially implicative item, "Perceptually creative," is stronglyassociated with categorization breadth from age 3 to age 14,which suggests that broad categorization preferences identifiedin preadolescence reflect an ability to organize informationabout the world in a creative and resourceful manner. This im-pression is further strengthened by the core set of dependablerelations extending back to age 3. For example, preadolescentboys who are broad categorizers were described over the previ-ous years as verbally fluent, competent, intelligent, talkative,

self-assertive, and curious, and as having high performancestandards. Broad categorizers were also described as interestingand likely to become strongly involved in their activities acrossthis time span. Preadolescent boys who were narrow catego-rizers were described as inhibited, nonverbal, and anxious inunpredictable environments.

Further describing the male broad categorizers concurrentlyat age 11 are the following CCQ items: "Vital, energetic, andlively" (r = .29, p < .05), "Withdraws self under stress" (r =—.34, p < .01), "Indecisive and vacillating" (/• = — .31, p < .05),"Behaves in sex-typed manner" (r = —.32, p < .05), "Immobi-lized under stress" (r = -.27, p < .05), and "Shy and reserved"(r=-.35,p<.01).

Identifying the Nature of the Age-RelatedTransformation in the Psychological Meaning ofBreadth of Categorization Within Boys

When the two core sets of personality correlates are com-pared, some striking changes can be seen in the direction of theCCQ correlates in boys. Breadth of categorization is stronglyassociated with personality both in the preschool years and inpreadolescence, but in directions that are psychologically oppo-site. The preschool-based categorization breadth measure ap-pears to reflect an inability to concentrate and resourcefully or-ganize information about the world. In contrast, the personalitycorrelates of a phenotypically similar, preadolescence-basedcategorization breadth measure appears to reflect an ability tocreatively organize information about the world in a resourcefulmanner.

To determine the specific CCQ items differentially associatedwith broad categorization at age 4 in comparison with broadcategorization at age 11, we contrasted for the same group ofboys the set of correlations of the preschool-based categoriza-tion composite with the age 4 CCQ ratings against the set ofcorrelations of the preadolescence-based categorization com-posite with the age 11 CCQ ratings. Then, using the conserva-tive McNemar (1969) method for comparing independent cor-relations, we identified differences in the age-concurrent corre-lates of the two categorization indexes. In Table 3 we list theitems for which, within the same group of boys, there are sig-nificant differences as a function of age in the CCQ correlationswith breadth of categorization.

For boys, 15 (24%) of the 63 comparisons made at both ageswere significantly different (p < .05 or beyond). In comparisonwith broad categorization at age 4, broad categorization at age11 relates significantly more strongly to competence, perceptualcreativity, curiosity, attentiveness, high performance standards,verbal fluency, intelligence, and emotional expressivity. In com-parison with narrow categorization at age 4, narrow categoriza-tion at age 11 correlated significantly more positively with beingnonverbal, the tendency to keep thoughts and feelings to one-self, the tendency to withdraw or be immobilized under stress,fearful anxiousness, and inhibition and constriction.

These development-related differences in the personality cor-relates associated with the breadth of categorization clarify thenature of the transformation that has taken place in the psycho-

838 J. BLOCK, P. F. GJERDE, AND J. H. BLOCK

Table 2Longitudinal Personality Correlates of Breadth of Categorization at Age 11, Consistent Over 11 Years for Boys

CCQ item

Curious and exploringInteresting, arresting childHigh performance standards for selfHigh intellectual capacityVerbally fluentActive involvement in own actionsSelf-assertiveTalkativeCompetent, skillfulPerceptually creativePrefers non-verbal methods of communicationInhibited and constrictedAnxious in unpredictable environment

3

.27

.25

.47**

.47**

.51***

.36*

.11

.33*

.32*

.45**-.29-.24-.35*

4

.48***

.31*

.24

.45***

.31*

.07

.39**

.25

.23

.29*-.35*-.30*-.18

Age (years)

7

-.05.32*.11.43**.41**.03.30*.16.27.28

-.39**-.35**-.14

11

.28*

.44***

.29*

.42**

.50***

.25

.17

.36**

.35**

.50***-.51***-.39**-.31*

14

.35**

.09

.34*

.34*

.37**

.32*

.03

.12

.30*

.36**-.27-.16-.19

Note. CCQ = California Child Q-sort. Ns are 40 at age 3,48 at age 4, 39 to 45 at age 7, 54 at age 11, and 52 at age 14.•p<.05.**p<.01.***p<.001.

logical meaning of categorizing style in boys between nurseryschool and preadolescence.

Discussion

We compared the psychological meaning through time ofbreadth of categorization as identified in nursery school (age4) with the psychological meaning through time of breadth ofcategorization as identified at preadolescence (age 11). Well-based, independent personality and intelligence evaluations in-dicate that both boys and girls who were characterized as broadcategorizers at a preschool stage of cognitive development be-

Table 3Age-Related Differences in the CCQ Correlates of Breadth ofCategorization From Preschool to Preadolescence: Boys

CCQ item

Prefers non-verbal communicationInhibited and constrictedWithdraws self when under stressKeeps thoughts and feelings to selfFearful and anxiousImmobilized when under stressPerceptually creativeVerbally fluentHigh intellectual capacityInteresting, arresting childCurious and exploringCompetent, skillfulEmotionally expressiveHigh performance standards for selfAttentive and able to concentrate

Age (years)

4

.23

.29*

.30*

.21

.27

.25-.32-.28-.31*-.15-.34*-.30*-.25-.22-.25

11

-.50***-.40**-.32*-.40**-.28*-.26

.51***

.47***

.38**

.45**

.27

.31*

.24

.23

.15

z ratio

3.72***3.43***3.04**3.02**2.68**2.47*4.24***3.78***3.42***3.02**2.99**2.98***2.37*2.17*2.12*

Note. CCQ = California Child Q-sort. The same boys (N ••evaluated at both ages.*p<.05. ••/><.01. *••/;<.001.

48) were

have with fewer internal constraints, have more difficulty withstimulus exclusion, are relatively unable to delay gratification,and are less intelligent than individuals who at this early stageare characterized as narrow categorizers. These characteristicscan be seen in different settings and at different times from age3 to age 14. Broad categorizing, as identified in boys at a laterstage of development (age 11) also related through time (fromage 3 to age 14) to independent personality evaluations. How-ever, the psychological implications of these latter correlationswere opposite to those obtained when we referenced the pre-school-based categorization composite. Eleven-year-old malebroad categorizers are described in adolescence and much ear-lier as more competent, more resourceful, more intelligent, andmore able to combine perceptual inputs creatively. These age-differentiated findings among boys are congruent with the ex-pectation that relative breadth of categorization has differentpsychological meaning in preschool than in preadolescence, atan early level of development than at a later level of develop-ment.

The failure to find an internal consistency of categorizationstyle within preadolescent girls has several conjectural implica-tions. This observation, in conjunction with the finding of inter-nal consistency in this sample at age 4, suggests that cognitivechanges have occurred in girls as well as in boys but that theyare of a different kind or perhaps occur at a different rate. Ourfindings of fewer and less consistent results for the sample ofgirls may also be an expression of a more general finding andrecognition in the field of personality development that, withrespect to a host of variables that as yet defy conceptual classi-fication, the empirical results surrounding the analysis of sam-ples of girls are not so strong or simply coherent as are the re-sults surrounding analyses of samples of boys (Lewis, Feiring,McGuffog, & Jaskir, 1984; M. Hetherington, personal commu-nication, October 1985). To account for this widely observedphenomenon, longitudinal investigators have developed the in-formal proposition that transformational personality and cog-

CONTINUITY AND TRANSFORMATION IN CATEGORY BREADTH 839

nitive changes may occur in girls as they approach and passthrough puberty. In order to move beyond conjecture, it is nec-essary to implement research designs specifically targeted atthese and other interpretive possibilities.

In our longitudinal study of individual differences in categori-zation behavior of course by its design, we cannot closely iden-tify a specific developmental basis for the age-related changes incategorization orientation observed in boys. The strong differ-ences in personality correlates obtained at the two ages are inaccord with the conceptual rationale explicated earlier, thatdifferent adaptive functions are served by broad, in comparisonwith narrow, categorization at different developmental periods.We conjecture that this shift in orientation is driven by the expe-rientially evolved construction within intelligent, resilient boysof cognitively adventurous or heuristic premises for under-standing the world. Developmental psychologists who focus onunderstanding the processes underlying categorization will haveto take into account this apparent shift in the function of suchbehavior. Whereas breadth of categorization at age 4 appears tobe an index of inaccuracy and maladaptiveness of classification,breadth of categorization at age 11 appears to be an index (inboys) of a greater capacity for abstraction or the ability to ac-commodate within a category deviant and yet still appropriateinstances. The personality correlates of categorization breadthsuggest, furthermore, the usefulness of going beyond a concep-tion of categorization behavior in strictly cognitive terms.

Our age-differentiated results have implications for the un-derstanding of behavior that extend well beyond the categorybreadth domain. When one seeks to evaluate the consistency orcontinuity or coherence of behavior, it is crucial to consideralong the way whether the behavioral measures being examinedor related are appropriately or fairly comparable. However, theproblems of establishing measure comparability are apprecia-ble and are often ignored. A measure of crawling behavior atage 8 months and a measure of crawling behavior at age 8 yearsare phenotypically similar, but these two behaviorally equiva-lent measures at different developmental stages have verydifferent psychological meanings. Loevinger (1965) advancedthe concept of a "milestone" variable to describe instances inwhich the relation between two variables changes or even re-verses as a consequence of qualitative developmental changes inone of the variables involved. Our findings support the concep-tual usefulness and perhaps even the necessity of recognizingsuch developmental "moderators."

We used two domain-representing indices of categorybreadth that, viewed simplistically or nondevelopmentally,might be expected to correlate over time. Our finding of longitu-dinal inconsistency when we correlated the age 4 and age 11category breadth indices could at first glance have been inter-preted as evidence for developmental discontinuity. Closer anal-ysis, however, revealed consistent longitudinal personality cor-relates associated with each of the two breadth indexes in boys.Broad categorizers as identified at each of the two ages or devel-opmental levels have psychologically coherent and enduringpersonality characteristics. However, the psychological func-tions served by breadth of categorization and the behavior ob-served at these two different ages are quite different. It is thuspsychological lawfulness, not behavioral inconsistency, that has

been demonstrated, although it is a lawfulness that exists at amore complex level of understanding, requiring more and bet-ter theory on the developmental processes involved.

Methodologically, the longitudinal reproducibility of the cor-relates of the preschool-based and preadolescence-based cate-gorization indices attests to the continuing value of using multi-ple and diverse measures of behavioral constructs in order toachieve, via aggregation, greater dependability, generalizability,and external relations for these construct-representing compos-ites. A composite achieves a greater degree of construct domainvalidity than would otherwise be obtainable with single mea-sures (J. Block, 1950, 1978; J. Block et al., 1981; J. H. Block &Block, 1980; Epstein, 1979; Green, 1978; Humphreys, 1960).Although this psychometric recognition is by no means novel(cf. Hartshorne & May, 1928; Spearman, 1910; and many oth-ers), our longitudinal results, which were based on multiple ob-servers and multiple measures, further emphasize the useful-ness and often the necessity of this psychometric rationale.

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Received July 29,1985Revision received February 7, 1986 •

Integrating Personality and Social Psychology: Call for Papers

The editors of the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology intend to publish a specialissue devoted to papers demonstrating that social behavior is best understood by integrating thediverse concerns of the three sections of JPSP Papers are invited that deal with particularsubstantive issues crossing the boundaries of individual differences, social cognition, and inter-personal relations. Papers should represent practical demonstrations that the diverse concernsof this journal belong together in a full understanding of social behavior. We seek previouslyunpublished contributions, primarily empirical studies, but we are also amenable to synthesesof long-term research programs and to innovative theoretical statements.

Contributions intended for the special issue should be sent to the guest editor:

John F. Kihlstrom, PhDW. J. Brogden Psychology BuildingUniversity of Wisconsin1202 West Johnson StreetMadison, Wisconsin 53706

Interested authors should send an abstract of their article to the guest editor by September 1,1986 and plan to submit a completed manuscript by December 1, 1986, at which time thepaper will become subject to the usual peer review process.

Journal of Personality and Social Psychology editors:

Attitudes and SocialCognitionSteven J. ShermanCharles M. Judd

Interpersonal Relations andGroup ProcessesHarry T. ReisNorbert L. Kerr

Personality Processes andIndividual DifferencesIrwin G. SarasonEdward F. DienerWarren H. Jones