The present study was designed to test Kagan's lxypothesis that children's identiflcation with a model who possessed intellectual cheLracteristics world facilitate their receptivity to learning. Forty subjects (24 boys and 16 girls) of grade 2 in an elementary school were matched individually in the basis of sex,' IQ, and personality traits and assigned to two experimental groups, and twenty subjects (12 boys and 8 girls) to a control. The experiment was composed of two sessions : 1) affiliative interactions between a child and a female model, and 2) a later test to examine the occurre-1lce of identification. In the interaction session, half the experimental Ss individually performed the prepared Iearning materials afflliatively with the model perceived to possess intellectual characteristics (affiliative group). The remaining experimental Ss performed them alone, though the model was present in the experimental situation (non-affiliative group).