An investigation into the mental abilities of the children of Trinidad

Abstract

A. battery of 19 tests was prepared whose a priori groupings were: Non-Verbal, Space, Picture, Numerical, Verbal, Attainment. 575 children of Standards V., VI and VII belonging to 11 elementary schools were tested with this battery, . the aim being to discover what mental factors were present. For this purpose only the three groups of children, the Negro Boys, the Negro Girls and the Indian Boys, were taken and studied separately. 5 factors emerged in each group, but these, after rotation to oblique axes and also after rotating to an orthogonal reference frame, by no means completely corresponded from group to group.

In order to be certain that a lack of uniqueness in the rotating technique had not caused the differences between the groups, a further analysis was made using 9 non-schooling tests. Here again differences in configuration between the groups was found.

For the purpose of selecting children from poor schools for sending to better ones, equations for estimating school success from success in non-verbal tests were derived, and also equations for estimating individual endowments in "Non- Verbal Intelligence ". ['hese equations differed from group to group, again demonstrating the existence of Sex and Race differences in mental structure. No attempt at all was made to determine whether sex or race superiority in mental ability exists, and reasons for the impossibility of determining this are given.

Many of the tests before being curtailed for the elementary schools were set to the boys of Queen's Royal College, and age norms obtained. As the ages of the boys ranged from 10-18 years norms lave been obtained for the young adult from this school.