Role of affective meaningfulness and self-concept in the verbal learning styles of White and Black children

White and Black 5th graders, representing 2 social class and 2 self-concept (Piers-Harris Self-Concept Scale) levels, recalled nouns which they had prerated for likability in a multitrial free recall format. While self-concept failed to have any noticeable influence on the total sample, it interacted significantly with race. As predicted, the high self-concept White Ss recalled positively rated words more readily than negatively rated words, while their low self-concept peers showed no memory predilection. Although the low self-concept Black Ss also reflected no preference for their affective evaluations, the high self-concept Black Ss showed a greater propensity to recall their negatively rated words. Social class had a negligible effect on affective learning styles. (15 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2006 APA, all rights reserved).