A game measuring cooperation and competition was played with pairs of 4-5-year-old Anglo-and Mexican-Americans and with 7-9-year-old Anglo-Americans, Mexican-Americans, and Mexicans. Cooperative play allowed both pair members to receive rewards; competitive play was irrational, allowing no subject to reach his goal. The number of moves pairs took to reach a goal indicated that 4-5-year-olds were more cooperative than the older subjects (p < .001). Among the 7-9-year-old children, Mexicans were most cooperative, Mexican-Americans next most, and Anglo-Americans least cooperative (p < .001). Among the older children, instructional sets designed to create an "I" orientation increased competition, whereas sets stressing a "we" orientation increased cooperation (p < .001). Qualitative differences between patterns of play were noted for the cultural and age groups. Sex differences were not found.This study represents an attempt to assess the degree to which children of two ages and three subcultures differ in the amount of cooperative and competitive behavior they exhibit at a choice point at which both kinds of behavior are possible. A second purpose was to determine the extent to which cooperative or competitive behavior would be elicited by instructional sets, and the extent to which the effects of such sets interacted with age and subculture. A third purpose was the development of a simple, yet sensitive, technique by which the cooperative and competitive behavior of children can be assessed in different cultural settings.That cultures differ in tendencies toward cooperative and competitive behavior is well
Research supports the hypothesis that field dependence explains the poorer school achievement of Mexican-American children compared to Anglo-American children. To test that hypothesis, multiple regression and path analyses were used to interpret the relationships between culture, field dependence, and school achievement among 134 2nd-, 4th-, and 6th-grade Anglo-American and Mexican-American children. Results indicate that Mexican-Americans were significantly below Anglo-Americans in reading and math achievement, field independence was significantly correlated with both reading and math achievement, and Mexican-Americans were significantly more field dependent. Field dependence explains the cultural difference in math achievement but does not fully explain the cultural difference in reading achievement. Implications for understanding both field dependence and the nature of the observed cultural differences are discussed. (32 ref)
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