Gajendra K. Verma

Cross-Cultural Studies of Personality, Attitudes and Cognition

Notes on the Contributors - Introduction G.K.Verma & C.Bagley - PART 1 THEORY AND MEASUREMENT - The Cross-Cultural Measurement of Personality P.Kline - Putting Cognitive Theory to the Test: Group Testing Reassessed Using the Cross-Cultural Method S.H.Irvine, S.Schoeman & W.Prinsloo - Collectivism vs. Individualism: A Reconceptualisation of a Basic Concept in Cross-Cultural Psychology H.Triandis - Problems in Cross-Cultural Research G.K.Verma & K.Mallick - PART 2 EMPIRICAL STUDIES - Cognitive and Social Factors in Psychological Adaptation to Acculturation among the James Bay Cree J.W.Berry - Cognitive Style and Cultural Adaption in Blackfoot, Japanese, Jamaican, Italian and Anglo-Celtic Children in Canada C.Bagley - Prenatal Cognitive Measures and Maternal Physical Contact in Japan and America N.Shand, Y.Kosawa & P.Decelles - A Model for Preschool Education of Environmentally Disadvantaged Children in a Divided Society S.Biesheuval - Index

Personality, cognition and values

Foreword C.Bagley and G.K.Verma - Notes on the Contributors - PART 1 CREATIVITY, VALUES AND ASPIRATIONS - The Outsider in Science L.Hudson and B.Jacot - Perspectives on the Aspirations, Values and Achievements of Australian Adolescents M.Poole - PART 2 INTELLIGENCE AND PERSONALITY - The IQ Question M.Mackintosh - Relationships between Speed-of-Processing, Personality and Intelligence P.A.Vernon - PART 3 COGNITION AND ACHIEVEMENT - Cognitive Styles: Some Recent Ideas of Relevance to Teachers D.Child - Individual Differences in Reading Ability: A New Perspective H.Francis - Index

Pupil Self-esteem: a Study of Black and White Teenagers in British Schools

Multi-racial education is one of the most significant social issues in contemporary life. The past decade has brought significant social changes in Britain. One of the striking changes is that Britain is fast moving to be a multi-cultural, multi-ethnic society. This is particularly evident when we perceive the character of our large cities and industrial areas. A large number of our primary and secondary schools, especially in heavily populated areas, are now multi-racial. Bullock (1975) rightly remarked that ‘Many schools in multi-cultural areas turn a blind eye to the fact that the community they serve has radically altered over the last ten years and is now one in which new cultures are represented’. These multi-ethnic schools contain pupils, in addition to native whites, from the Commonwealth countries in the Caribbean, the Mediterranean, Africa, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, South America, South-east Asia and Hong Kong.

Education and Immigration: Settlement Policies and Current Challenges

Introduction 1. Immigration Policies and the Education of Immigrants in Britain 2. Immigrant Policies and the Education of Immigrants in Finland 3. Immigration Policies and Education in France 4. German Policy on Foreigners and the Education of Immigrants in the Federal Republic of Germany 5. Settlement Policy in Greece and the Education of Immigrants 6. Multi-cultural Education in Israel as a Fulfillment of the National Ethos and Political Policy

Problems in Cross-cultural Research

Cross-cultural research is one of the most exciting developments in the social sciences in the last couple of decades. Some writers would argue that cross-cultural research commenced much earlier with the work of Wundt (1904) who was interested in cross-cultural comparisons. However, a sizeable number of researchers from the fields of psychology, sociology and anthropology have only recently become aware that models, tools and techniques largely developed in a Euro-American context do not necessarily have validity in other cultural contexts. Yet cross-cultural research is accelerating, and in the process methodologies and strategies are also being refined. The purpose of this chapter is to explore some of the problems facing researchers both at the conceptual and operational levels.

Measured Changes in Racial Attitudes following the Use of Three Different Teaching Methods

Much educational effort in the field of attitude change since the 1950s has been concerned with exploring means by which racial prejudice could be reduced. This effort has been largely confined to three main strategies: ethnically balanced curriculum materials; innovative teaching methods; and the promotion of personal contact between the members of racial/ethnic groups.

A Critical Introduction

In this volume we are concerned with a radical but systematic approach to the study of some of the problems which minority children and adolescents face in white, and largely racist, societies. The chapters which follow highlight four areas-the attempts, unsuccessful in our view, by scientific racists to show that black children are biologically inferior to white; problems faced by attempts to change racist attitudes in students by curriculum innovation in the race-relations field; the problems of identity, self-esteem and self-concept faced by black children in a white, racist society; and the problems encountered by some black and mixed-race children whose family life has been disorganised by the conditions of life faced by black people in Britain. In particular, we discuss in some detail the degree to which transracial adoption is a viable solution for some black and mixed-race children who would otherwise be brought up in institutions. We shall also consider the degree to which adoption studies demonstrate the powerful effects of environment upon the scholastic achievement of young children.