A. Wade Boykin

Intelligence: Knowns and Unknowns

Ulric Neisser (Chair) Gwyneth Boodoo Thomas J. Bouchard, Jr. A. Wade Boykin Nathan Brody Stephen J. Ceci Diane E Halpern John C. Loehlin Robert Perloff Robert J. Sternberg Susana Urbina Emory University Educational Testing Service, Princeton, New Jersey University of Minnesota, Minneapolis Howard University Wesleyan University Cornell University California State University, San Bernardino University of Texas, Austin University of Pittsburgh Yale University University of North Florida

Communalism: Conceptualization and Measurement of an Afrocultural Social Orientation

In recent years there has been an upsurge of interest in expressions of cultural integrity among African Americans. Many more recent efforts have argued that such expressions of integrity are rooted in an African cultural legacy and that these Afrocultural expressions continue to help shape the contours and textures of the African American experience (e.g., Boykin, 1983, 1986; Nobles, 1991; Stuckey, 1987; Thompson, 1983). Among expressions thought to be embodied in this cultural legacy are the following: spirituality, which suggests a focus on the vitalistic, shared essence of all things; the oral tradition, which places a premium on the spoken word; rhythmic-movement expressiveness; and communalism, which highlights the social interdependence of people (e.g., Boykin, 1983, 1986; Dixon, 1976; Jones, 1991; Nobles, 1974, 1991). Although postulated, there have been few systematic efforts within the psychological literature to document the coherency andIn recent years there has been an upsurge of interest in expressions of cultural integrity among African Americans. Many more recent efforts have argued that such expressions of integrity are rooted in an African cultural legacy and that these Afrocultural expressions continue to help shape the contours and textures of the African American experience (e.g., Boykin, 1983, 1986; Nobles, 1991; Stuckey, 1987; Thompson, 1983). Among expressions thought to be embodied in this cultural legacy are the following: spirituality, which suggests a focus on the vitalistic, shared essence of all things; the oral tradition, which places a premium on the spoken word; rhythmic-movement expressiveness; and communalism, which highlights the social interdependence of people (e.g., Boykin, 1983, 1986; Dixon, 1976; Jones, 1991; Nobles, 1974, 1991). Although postulated, there have been few systematic efforts within the psychological literature to document the coherency and

The Comparative Influence of Individual, Peer Tutoring, and Communal Learning Contexts on the Text Recall of African American Children

Peer tutoring strategies tend to use structured peer interactions and group reward contingency. This study was designed to offer a peer learning environment within which the putative communal tendencies of African American youth could be capitalized on to facilitate learning an academic task. There were 72 African American fifth-grade students (36 males, 36 females) randomly assigned to a communal learning, peer tutoring criterion, or an individual criterion context and given a text of prose to learn. Following the learning phase, students individually completed a recall task. A 3 2 between-subject ANOVA revealed that students under the communal learning context recalled significantly more text than students assigned to the peer and individual contexts. Additionally, communal beliefs were correlated with positive attitudes toward task engagement. No such positive relationships were found for individual belief. The discussion focuses on the use of cultural contexts for learning.

Communal Versus Individual Learning of a Math-Estimation Task: African American Children and the Culture of Learning Contexts

The authors compared the performance of 78 African American 5th-grade students who studied a math-estimation task in one of two learning contexts. Learning contexts differed in the degree to which they afforded the expression of communalism. ANCOVA confirmed that posttest performance was best for students who studied in the high communal-learning context. The findings support A. W. Boykins (1994) contention that the cultural context of learning can be a critical mediator of childrens performance.

Examining Mainstream and Afro-Cultural Value Socialization in African American Households.

This article examines the role of culture in the socialization patterns found in the households of low-income African Americans. Using the Triple Quandary theoretical framework, the authors hypothesized that cultural themes consistent with an Afro-cultural ethos would be reported significantly more than those associated with a mainstream cultural ethos. Scenarios depicting socialization activities reflecting the four distinct cultural themes were constructed. Seventy-one low-income African American parents reported how often they perform the activities reflecting the cultural themes in question. Findings revealed that parents reported communal practices significantly more than those activities linked to the remaining three cultural themes. Implications and future research directions are discussed.

The Significance of Contextual Factors in African American Students' Transfer of Learning

This study sought to address the lack of experimental research examining the influence of contextual factors on African American students’ learning. A total of 162 low-income African American and White fourth graders were randomly assigned to ethnically homogeneous, communally structured groups of three to work on a motion acceleration task using either computer simulation or physical tools, or to a control group that did not participate in the learning activities. A 3 (condition) × 2 (ethnicity) MANOVA was computed with initial learning and transfer as dependent variables. Results indicate African American and White students performed equally well on the test of initial learning, with both groups scoring significantly higher than the control group. However, African Americans’ transfer outcomes were better than those of their White counterparts. Regarding tools, work with physical apparatus yielded better transfer outcomes than work with computer simulation. Implications for creating optimal learning contexts for African American students are discussed.

Facilitating Diverse Learning Contexts and Content on Children’s (School-Relevant) Cognitive Performance: Effects of Music and Movement Expression

In this study, 64 African-American and 64 White school children were exposed to two different short stories. One story was presented in a learning context with movement and music, infusing syncopated music and high levels of kinesthetic activity ( HME context); while the other story was presented devoid of such factors ( LME context). Further, half of the participants were presented stories with high movement content themes, embodying character and thematic content depicting high activity and kinesthetics ( HMC ); while the other participants were presented with stories embodying low movement content themes, depicting low levels of activity and movement expression ( LMC ). Performance was measured via recall of story information/encoding-inferring. Salient findings revealed the best performance emerged for African-American children when the HMC stories were presented under the HME contexts. In contrast, facilitating effects emerged for White children when the LMC stories were presented under the LME contexts. Other results are discussed in relation to previous findings. Implications for schooling practices are addressed, as are directions for future research.