Object label learning by middle- and working-class, black and white, younger and older preschool children

The present study examined the ability of younger and older preschool children from different backgrounds (16 middle-class black, 16 middle-class white, 16 working-class black, and 16 working-class white) to map labels to objects and to establish inclusion relationships. The children were taught novel labels for perceptually related and unrelated unfamiliar objects. Although the groups were similar in their ability to comprehend the first label during the first session, white children produced the first label more. When additional labels were taught during subsequent sessions, the differences among the groups of children were augmented. Although children from all backgrounds applied labels to objects based on initial labelings, middle-class, white, and older children did this to a greater extent than working-class, black, and younger children. Evidence for the use of inclusion relations for perceptually related target objects was not found for the children; rather, the children used a mutually exclusive labeling strategy.