EFFECTS OF SYSTEMATIC CONCEPTUAL LEARNING ON THE

INTELLECTUAL DEVELOPMENT OF PRESCHOOL CHILDREN

FROM POVERTY BACKGROUNDS:
A FOLLOW-UP STUDY

LEONARD I. JACOBSON and LARRY E. GREESON

University of Miami

JACOBSON, LEONARD I., and GREESON, LARRY E . Effects of Systematic Con-

ceptual Learning on the Intellectual Development of Preschool Children
from Poverty Backgrounds: A Follow-up Study. CHILD DEVELOPMENT,
1972, 43, 1111-1115. A follow-up investigation of preschool children from
poverty backgrounds who participated in a 20-hour systematic conceptual
learning program was conducted 14 months after program completion. The
participants were trained initially under 1 of 3 experimental conditions that
differed in the method and amount of information presented. In the follow-
up study, 27 of the 36 original participants were reevaluated with the Stan-
ford-Binet. It was found that most of the initial gains in IQ resulting from
program participation were retained. Degree of retention was related to
original experimental condition and initial IQ level.

In a previous report, Jacobson, Berger, Bergman, Millham, and Creeson

(1971) found that preschool children from poverty backgrounds who par-
ticipated in a systematic concept learning program devised by the investiga-
tors demonstrated rapid concept learning and increased substantially in IQ
scores on the Stanford-Binet.
The 36 3- and 4-year-old children who participated in the 20-hour
concept learning program were trained under one of three experimental
conditions that differed in the method and amount of information presented.
In each condition, reinforcement in the form of frosted cereal and social
praise was given for correct responses. In the reinforcement condition, re-
inforcement was administered but no additional information was provided.
The remaining two conditions provided reinforcement and additional forms

This study was supported by a research grant from the National Aeronautics
and Space Administration (NGL 10-007-010). Reprints may be obtained from:
Leonard I. Jacobson, Department of Psychology, University of Miami, Coral
Gables, Florida 33124.
[ChUd Development, 1972, 43, 1111-1115. 1972 by the Society for Research in Child Develop-
ment, Inc. All rights reserved.]
CHILD DEVELOPMENT

of information. In the modeling condition, correct responses were modeled

before the subject responded. In the feedback condition, correct responses
were modeled immediately after the subject responded. Ten additional
children participated in a no-treatment control condition.
As a result of participation in the program, subjects in the reinforce-
ment condition increased 10.58 points in IQ, subjects in the modeling
condition increased 21.08 points, and subjects in the feedback condition
increased 8.16 points. All of these increases were significant, but increments
in the modeling condition were significantly greater than in the other con-
ditions. In addiition, subjects of initially low IQ (46-83) were found to
increase their IQ scores to a greater degree than subjects classified initially
as medium (84-95) or high (96-110) on the Stanford-Binet. No significant
change in IQ was found in the control condition.
In the present study, the subjects were reevaluated with the Stanford-
Binet approximately 14 months after the completion of their participation
in the program. As a result, it was possible to evaluate the extent to which
participation in the program resulted in an enduring modification in the
subjects' IQ scores.

METHOD
Subjects and experimenters.The Ss were comprised of 15 boys and 12
girls. The mean age of the Ss was 57.37 months (SD = 7.90). The mean in-
tervening period between program completion and the follow-up IQ adminis-
tration was 14.07 months (SD = 2.76).
Four white, male graduate student Es, well trained in the adminis-
tration of the Stanford-Binet, administered the follow-up IQ tests. The
experimenters had no knowledge of the Ss' previous IQ scores or prior
experimental condition.
Procedure for locating subjects.Few of the Ss still attended the day-
care center in which the program was administered. Therefore, a persistent
effort was made to locate in the community as many of the original partici-
pants as possible. The Es were highly successful in the pursuit, and the
Stanford-Binet was administered to many of the children in their homes or
schools. As a result of this effort, 27 of the original 36 Ss (75%) were re-
evaluated.

RESULTS
An important question is the extent to which a representative sample
of the original Ss was obtained. A comparison of the mean initial IQ
scores of all of the original Ss and those included in the follow-up study
indicated a mean difference in IQ between the groups of 0.40 points. Thus,
no systematic sampling bias was found. For pmposes of clarity, IQ com-
parisons were computed in the present analysis only for those Ss who par-
ticipated in the follow-up investigation.
Fortunately, the present sample size was sufficient for analyses of
changes in IQ during the intervening period as a function of original ex-
perimental condition and initial IQ level. The sample size was not sufficient

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 LEONARD I. JACOBSON AND URRY E. GREESON

for specific analyses of changes in IQ as a function of initial IQ level within

each experimental condition.
Table 1 indicates that as a result of program participation, Ss across

TABLE 1
MEANS AND STANDARD DEVIATIONS FOR THE T H R E E IQ ADMINISTRATIONS

IQ ADMINISTRATION

Initial Post Follow-up

FACTOR N M SD M SD M SD
Across conditions 27 86.85 15.22 101.22 12.77 95.96 10.71
Condition:
Reinforcement . . . . 10 87.00 17.13 98.10 16.89 97.90 12.78
Modeling 9 83.56 16.81 106.33 7.95 95.11 7.93
Feedback 8 90.38 10.27 99.38 10.76 94.50 11.64
Initial IQ level:
High 9 101.78 5.07 110.22 9.15 97.67 9.58
Medium 8 89.38 4.31 101.13 4.73 103.25 8.50
Low 10 71.40 11.76 93.20 15.07 88.60 9.13

conditions showed a mean gain of 14.37 points on the Stanford-Binet. They

retained 9.11 points of this increment. However, a repeated measures anal-
ysis of variance indicated significant differences among the conditions in
the tendency of Ss to retain the gains found on the post-IQ measure,
F(2,24) = 3.24, p < .05. The greatest decline between post-IQ and fol-
low-up scores occurred in the modeling condition, the condition in which
the greatest initial gains had been found.
In the original study, Ss in the reinforcement condition had shown a
more modest increase between the initial and post-IQ measures than Ss in
the modeling condition. In the follow-up study, Ss in the reinforcement con-
dition demonstrated only a negligible decline in IQ. The total gain in this
condition, as indicated by the difference between initial and follow-up
scores, is comparable with that found in the modeHng condition. In con-
trast, the feedback condition resulted in the most modest initial IQ gain.
The follow-up study indicated that Ss assigned originally to the feedback
condition demonstrated a substantial decline in IQ scores.
Table 1 indicates also that the increase found previously for Ss of
initially high IQ (96-110) was absent in the follow-up administration. In
contrast, Ss initially of medium IQ (84-95) increased their performance
gains from 12 to 14 points. The initially low IQ groups (46-83), which had
shown the greatest gains as a result of program participation, retained 17
of their 22-point IQ increase.

DISCUSSION

It may be concluded that most of the original gains in IQ were retained

by the Ss, and that they continued to function at a level close to the na-

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CHJLD DEVELOPMENT

tional IQ norm 14 months after completion of the program. The factors

that resulted in this high degree of retention are not clearly identifiable.
It is likely that placing children with limited prior learning experiences in
situations highly conducive to rapid learning will result in increased IQ
scores and improved cognitive functioning, and the present data support
such a rationale.
The same behavioral theoretical position suggests also the possibility
that when individuals are returned to the situation in which tHeir initial
cognitive deficit was generated, a decline in performance to the original
level of functioning may be expected over time. Indeed, a number of studies
have indicated that the IQ scores of preschool children from poverty back-
grounds may be expected to decline until these children reach approximately
11 years of age (HARYOU 1964; Whiteman & Deutsch 1968; Zigler &
ButterBeld 1968). As Jensen (1969) has pointed out, however, this pur-
ported decline in IQ indicates, in fact, the slower rate of increase in mental
age scores attained by disadvantaged children, when compared with mid-
dle-class children.
The high degree of retention of IQ gains found on the follow-up ad-
ministration suggests that the participants continued to progress in their
intellectual development at a rate similar to that found for middle-class
children. This finding suggests that once certain complex human behaviors
are acquired they are not easily extinguished. One factor maintaining the
skills acquired may be situational reinforcers generated as a result of im-
proved functioning. It is likely that learning to speak or think effectively
has important consequences for the individual's daily life, including an
enhancement of motivation for continued progress.
The role of motivational factors in generating this favorable rate of
learning is probably a critical one. A number of studies have demonstrated
the importance of sociomotivational factors in determining IQ scores (Sacks
1952; Zigler & Butterfield 1968). Perhaps the clearest and most precise
demonstration of the operation of these factors was the present investiga-
tors' previous study (Jacobson et al. 1971). Preschool children from poverty
backgrounds participated in a social interaction program, in which oppor-
tunities for systematic social learning were minimized, for 5, 10, or 20 hours.
It was found that the greater the time the children participated in the
program the greater the increment in IQ scores.
Enhanced motivation may result also in more effective learning. It is
likely that the continued progress demonstrated by the children who par-
ticipated in the present study resulted from improved motivation to continue
to learn, as well as from the learning strategies acquired during the initial
training period. It seems reasonable to view a high level of motivation as
an essential aspect of any genuine learning to learn paradigm.
If enhanced motivation resulted in an improved rate of learning, the
present Ss may be expected to demonstrate greater effectiveness in per-
formance in an elementary school setting than children from similar back-
grounds who were not program participants. This hypothesis may be tested
empirically, and it would seem desirable to perform such an evaluation, since
successful performance in elementary school remains the critical test of the
effectiveness of any preschool compensatory educational program.

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 LEONARD 1. JACOBSON AND LARRY E. GREESON

REFERENCES
Harlem Youth Opportunities Unlimited, Inc. (HARYOU). Youth in the ghetto.
New York, 1964.
Jacobson, L. I.; Berger, S. E.; Bergman, R. L.; Millham, J.; & Greeson, L. E.
Effects of age, sex, systematic conceptual learning, acquisition of learning
sets, and programmed social interaction on the intellectual and conceptual
development of preschool children from poverty backgrounds. Child Devel-
opment, 1971, 42, 1399-1417.
Jensen, A. R. How much can we boost IQ and scholastic achievement? Harvard
Educational Review, 1969, 39, 1-123.
Sacks, E. L. Intelligence scores as a function of experimentally established social
relationships between child and examiner. Journal of Abnormal and Social
Psychology, 1952, 47, 354-358.
Whiteman, M., & Deutsch, M. Social disadvantage as related to intellective and
language development. In M. Deutsch, I. Katz, & A. R. Jensen (Eds.), Social
class, race, and psychological development. New York: Holt, Rinehart &
Winston, 1968. Pp. 86-114.
Zigler, E., & Butterfield, E. C. Motivational aspects of changes in IQ test per-
formance of culturally deprived nursery school children. Child Development,
1968, 39, 1-14.

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