Urban and rural Aboriginal- and Anglo-Australian children were tested for reading and mathematics achievement, for nonverbal psychometric test intelligence, and for three cognitive styles: reflection-impulsivity, field dependence-independence, and style of conceptualization. Previously observed cultural and location differences in school achievement were replicated. It was found that both psychometric test intelligence and cognitive style account for significant proportions of the variance shared by environment (cultural and location) and scholastic achievement. However, it was also found that psychometric intelligence was clearly a more powerful predictor of the effects of culture and location on school achievement than was cognitive style. Furthermore, psychometric intelligence is just as compatible with a difference (as opposed to deficit) model of cultural effects as is style.
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