The Cognitive Style of Breadth of Categorization : Longitudinal Consistency of Personality Correlates

Four tasks measuring breadth of categorization in different ways were administered to 128 4-year-old children. Independent personality data were available on these children at ages 3,4, and 7 in the form of behavior ratings by independent sets of teachers using the California Child Q-Set and in the form of behavior ratings by independent sets of examiners. The four category breadth measures were standard-scored and composited to generate a domain-representative index of category breadth. This index was then correlated with the independent personality ratings available at each of the four ages. A core set of relationships, common across both age and sex, indicated that broad categorizers, relative to narrow categorizers, had difficulty in stimulus exclusion, lacked autonomous structuring, and generally behaved with few internal constraints. Boys were significantly broader in their categorization than girls, although there was appreciable overlap between the sexes. Personality correlates of breadth of categorization observed as early as 3 years of age were also observed at age 7. Results were placed in a larger theoretical context by introducing the concept of underand overperceptualization.