Sage Journals: Discover world-class research

Abstract

A battery of verbal and nonverbal tests of cognitive ability was administered to 110 four-year-old Maori and Pakeha children in New Zealand. Socioeconomic status was controlled by means of an SES scale based on level of income and education. Results indicated that when SES was controlled few significant differences emerged between the two groups, with verbal tests yielding the largest differences. Socioeconomic status was found to be related to test performance, with higher SES subjects scoring significantly higher on five of the nine tests. Finally, a sex difference vws observed and found to be related to ethnicity. In the Pakeha sample, males tended to obtain higher scores whereas in the Maori group, females ware the high scorers.

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

BENTON, R. A. (1964) Research into the English Language of Maori School Children. Wellington: Maori Education Foundation.

BERRY, J. W. (1966) "Temne and Eskimo perceptual skills." International J. of Psychology 1: 207-229.

BROOKS, I. R. (1975) "A cross-cultural study of cognitive abilities in Maori and Pakeha four-year-olds." Psych. Research Papers: No. 3, Univ of Waikato.

BROOKS, I. R. (1972) "A cross-cultural study of cognitive abilities in Maori and Pakeha four-year-olds." M.A. thesis, University of Waikato, Hamilton, New Zealand.

BROOKS, I. R. and P. F. CUTTANCE (1973) "Socio-economic status in New Zealand: a critique of the Elley-Irving scale." New Zealand J. of Educational Studies 8: 154-159.

CLAY, M. M. (1971) "The Polynesian language skills of Maori and Samoan school entrants." International J. of Psychology 6: 135-145.

Commission on Education in New Zealand (1962) Report. (G.A. Currie, Chairman.) Wellington: Government Printer.

GRANT, G: V. (1966) Form Series Test and Manual for Instruction. Johannes-burg: National Institute for Personnel Research.

JENSEN, A. R. (1973) Educability and Group Differences. London: Methuen.

10.

KLIPPEL, M. D. (1975) "Measurement of intelligence among three New Zealand ethnic groups." J. of Cross-Cultural Psychology 6: 365-376.

11.

LESSER, G. S. , G. FIFER , and D. H. CLARK (1965) "Mental abilities of children from different social class and cultural groups." Monograph of Society for Research in Child Development 30.

12.

MacARTHUR, R. S. (1969) "Some cognitive abilities of Eskimo, White and Indian-Metis pupils aged 9-12 years." Canadian J. of Behavioral Sci. 1: 50-59.

13.

McELWAIN, D. W. , G. E. KEARNEY , and l. G. ORD (1967) The Queensland Test of Cognitive Abilities. Melbourne: Australian Council for Educational Research.

14.

MEYERS, C. E. , H. F. DINGMAN , R. F. ORPET , E. G. SITKEI , and C. A. WATTS (1964) "Four ability factor hypotheses at three pre-literate levels in normal and retarded children." Child Development Monographs 29.

15.

ORD, I. G. and J. SCHOFIELD (1969) The Pacific Infants Performance Scale. Brisbane: Jacaranda Press.

16.

RITCHIE, J. and J. E. RITCHIE (1972) Child-Rearing Patterns in New Zealand. Wellington: A. H. Reed.

17.

ST. GEORGE, R. (1972) "Maori and European psycholinguistic abilities: a resolution of results in conflict with similar studies." Australian J. of Psychology 24: 9-11.

18.

SNIJDERS, J. T. and N. OOMEN (1959) Non-Verbal Intelligence Test for Deaf and Hearing Subjects. Groningen: J. B. Wolters.

19.

WECHSLER, D. (1949) Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children. New York: Psychological Corporation.

Cognitive Ability Assessment with Two New Zealand Ethnic Groups

Abstract

Get full access to this article

References