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Reaction times and intelligence: a comparison of Chinese-American and Anglo-American children

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  31 July 2008

Arthur R. Jensen  and
Patricia A. Whang
Arthur R. Jensen
Affiliation:
School of Education, University of California, Berkeley
Patricia A. Whang
Affiliation:
Educational Foundations, Leadership and Technology, Auburn University, Alabama, USA
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Summary

Chinese-American and Anglo-American school children were compared on a nonverbal test of intelligence (Raven's Progressive Matrices) and on twelve chronometric variables which measure the speed with which basic information processes (e.g. stimulus apprehension, decision, and discrimination) can be carried out. All of these tasks are correlated with psychometric intelligence. The two groups differed significantly on most of the variables, but the differences appear to be multidimensional and are not simply due to a group difference in psychometric intelligence, equivalent to about 5 IQ points in favour of the Chinese-Americans. The results are compared with those of Lynn and his colleagues on British, Japanese, and Hong Kong children, and both consistencies and inconsistencies are found.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Biosocial Science , Volume 25 , Issue 3 , July 1993 , pp. 397 - 410
Copyright
Copyright © 1993, Cambridge University Press

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