Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-ndmmz Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-05-07T16:13:24.463Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Contributions of ability and attainment testing in Africa to a general theory of intellect

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 September 2011

S. H. Irvine
S. H. Irvine
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, Althouse College of Education, University of Western Ontario
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Summary

Factor analytic studies in Africa are compared with other cross-cultural investigations into the structure of abilities in different ethnic groups. Similarities and differences are noted; and environmental influences on the acquisition of skills are also summarized. A correlational study of wrong answers to a battery of thirty marker tests given to a group of predominantly Mashona students indicates that efficiency skills of numerical facility and memory remain at the first order of factor extraction, reasoning abilities emerge in second-order analysis, while perceptual styles are present in the third-order level. This study is used to hypothesize, in the context of African systems of thought, the existence of a primary thought mode that asserts itself in conditions involving repeated errors.

Type
Physiological and psychological aspects
Information
Journal of Biosocial Science , Volume 1 , supplement S1: Biosocial Aspects of Race , 1969 , pp. 91 - 102
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1969

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Berry, J.W. (1966) Temne and Eskimo perceptual skills. Int. J. Psychol. 1, 207.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Biesheuvel, S. (1952) Personnel selection tests for Africans. S. Afr. J. Sci. 49, 3.Google Scholar
Biesheuvel, S. (1954) The measurement of occupational aptitudes in a multiracial society. Occup. Psychol. 28, 4.Google Scholar
Burt, C. (1968) Mental capacity and its critics. Bull. Br. psychol. Soc. 21, 11.Google Scholar
Colson, E. (1962) The Plateau Tonga. Manchester University Press.Google Scholar
Dawson, J.L.M. (1967) Cultural and physiological influences upon spatial-perceptual processes in West Africa (Parts I and II). Int. J. Psychol. 2, 115, 171.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Evans-Pritchard, E.R. (1936) Witchcraft, Oracles and Magic among the Azande. Clarendon Press, Oxford.Google Scholar
Ferguson, G.A. (1954) On learning and human ability. Can. J. Psychol. 8, 95.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ferguson, G.A. (1956) On transfer and the abilities of man. Can. J. Psychol. 10, 121.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
French, J.W., Ekstrom, R.B. & Price, L.A. (1963) Kit of Reference Tests for Cognitive Factors. (New edn.). Educational Testing Service, Princeton, N.J.Google Scholar
Gluckman, M. (1944) The logic of African science and witchcraft. Rhodes-Livingstone J. 1, 61.Google Scholar
Guthrie, G.M. (1963) Structure of abilities in a non-western culture. J. educ. Psychol. 2, 94.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hannan, M.J. (1959) Standard Shona Dictionary. Macmillan, London.Google Scholar
Heron, A. (1966) Experimental studies of mental development in conditions of rapid cultural change. Proc. XVIII Int. Congr. Psychol. Symp. 36, 119. Moscow.Google Scholar
Irvine, S.H. (1963) Ability testing in English-speaking Africa—an overview of comparative and predictive studies. Rhodes-Livingstone J. 34, 44.Google Scholar
Irvine, S.H. (1964) Selection of Africans for post-primary education: pilot survey June-July 1962. Bull. Inter-Africa Lab. Inst. 11, 69.Google Scholar
Irvine, S.H. (1966) Towards a rationale for testing attainments and abilities in Africa. Br. J. educ. Psychol. 36, 24.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Irvine, S.H. (1967) How fair is culture? Factorial studies of Raven's Progressive Matrices in Africa. Int. Workshop on Educational Testing. Padagogisches Zentrum, Berlin.Google Scholar
Irvine, S.H. (1968) Affect and construct; a cross-cultural check on theories of intelligence. Proc. Br.psychol. Soc. Abstract in Bull. Br.psychol. Soc. 21, 111.Google Scholar
Irvine, S.H. (1969) The factor analysis of African abilities and attainments: constructs across cultures. Psychol. Bull. (In press).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jahn, J. (1961) Muntu, An Outline of Neo-African Culture. Faber, London.Google Scholar
Klingelhofer, E. (1967) Performance of Tanzania secondary school pupils on the Raven Standard Progressive Matrices Test. J. Soc. psychol. 72, 205.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lesser, G.S., Fifer, G. & Clark, D.H. (1965) Mental abilities of children from different socialclass and cultural groups. Child Devi. Monogr. 30, No. 4. Chicago, III.Google Scholar
Macarthur, R.S., Irvine, S.H. & Brimble, A.R. (1964) The Northern Rhodesia Mental Ability Survey. Zambia Inst. of Soc. Res., Lusaka, Zambia.Google Scholar
Macdonald, A. (1944–1945) Selection of African Personnel. Reports on the work of the Selection of Personnel Technical and Research Unit, Middle East Force. Ministry of Defence Archives, London.Google Scholar
Segall, M.H., Campbell, D.T. & Herskovits, M.J. (1966) The Influence of Culture on Visual Perception. Bobbs-Merrill, New York.Google Scholar
Stodolsky, S.S. & Lesser, G.S. (1968) Learning patterns in the disadvantaged. Harvard educ. Rev. 38, 546.Google Scholar
Vandenberg, S. (1959) The primary mental abilities of Chinese students. Ann. N. Y. Acad. Sci. 79, 257.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Vandenberg, S. (1967) The primary mental abilities of South American students. Multiv. Behav. Res. 2, 175.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Vernon, P.E. (1967) Working Papers on Cross-Cultural Applications of Factor Analysis. Mimeographed Report, Institute of Education, University of London.Google Scholar