A comparison of Brahman and Panchama children in South India with each other and with American children by means of the Goddard Form Board

Abstract

Do racial differences extend to mental characteristics? Are differences in color and other physical features accompanied by differences in general intelligence, or in psycho-motor ability? These are questions of considerable interest that as regards the people of South India have not been approached from a scientific point of view, nor investigated by scientific methods. During the latter part of 1919 the writer took up the subject. A series of tests were made with the Goddard Form Board in some 20 or more schools in the Madras Presidency. More than 700 children of ages from four to fourteen were examined and the results tabulated. As it seemed to be worth while to compare not only Indian children with American children of corresponding ages, but also different racial groups of Indian children with each other, half of the tests were made on Brahman children and half on Panchama children. The results are here discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved)