Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-gbm5v Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-26T19:00:54.107Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

The intelligence of six-year-olds in Hong Kong

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  31 July 2008

Jimmy Chan
Affiliation:
University of Hong Kong, Coleraine, Northern Ireland
Richard Lynn
Affiliation:
University of Ulster, Coleraine, Northern Ireland

Summary

Evidence has accumulated to suggest that the mean IQs of Orientals in the United States and in the countries of the Pacific Basin are higher than those of Whites (Caucasoids) in the United States and Britain. This paper presents evidence from IQ tests on 4858 6-year-old Chinese children in Hong Kong. On the Coloured Progressive Matrices these children obtained a mean IQ of 116. Samples from Australia, Czechoslovakia, Germany, Romania, the UK and the US obtain IQs in the range 95–102. It is suggested that these results pose difficulties for the environmentalist explanations commonly advanced to explain the low mean IQs obtained by some ethnic minorities in the United States.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1989

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

Chan, J. (1976) Is Raven's Progressive Matrices Test culture fair or culture free? Proc. Third IACCP Congr., Tilburg.Google Scholar
Flynn, J. R. (1987) Massive IQ gains in 14 nations: what IQ tests really measure. Psychol. Bull. 101, 171.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jensen, A. R. (1980) Bias in Mental Testing. Methuen, London.Google Scholar
Lynn, R. (1987) The intelligence of the Mongoloids: a psychometric, evolutionary and neurological theory. Person. Indiv. Diffs. 8, 813.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lynn, R. (1988) Educational Achievement in Japan. Macmillan, London.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lynn, R. & Hampson, S. L. (1986) The rise of national intelligence, evidence from Britain, Japan and the USA. Person. Indiv. Diff. 7, 23.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lynn, R., Hampson, S. L. & Iwawaki, S. (1987) Abstract reasoning and spatial abilities in American, British and Japanese adolescents. Mankind Q. 27, 397.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lynn, R., Hampson, S. L. & Mullineux, J. C. (1987) A long-term increase in the fluid intelligence of English children. Nature, Lond. 328, 797.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Raven, J. (1986) Manual for Raven's Progressive Matrices and Vocabulary Scales. Research Supplement No. 3. Lewis, London.Google Scholar
Reddington, M. J. & Jackson, K. (1981) The Raven's Coloured Progressive Matrices: a Queensland standardisation. ACER Bulletin, 30, 20.Google Scholar
Schmidtke, A., Schaller, S. & Becker, P. (1978) Raven-Matrizen-Test Manual Deutsche Bearbeilung Weinheim. Beltz Test Gesellschaft.Google Scholar
United Nations (1978) Statistical Year Book. United Nations, New York.Google Scholar
Vernon, P. E. (1982) The Abilities and Achievements of Orientals in North America. Academic Press, New York.Google Scholar
Zahirnic, C., Girboveanu, M., Onofrei, A., Turcu, A., Voicu, G., Voicu, M. & Visan, O. M. (1974) Etalonarea matriceolor progressive colorate Raven pe copii de 6–10 ani in municipal Bucuresti. Rev. Psih. 20, 313.Google Scholar