Dr. Barry Osborne

For the purposes of this paper cognition is defined very broadly. This enables the inclusion of as many articles as possible in this review by incorporating studies of perception, cognitive style, and intellectual ability. Accordingly, cognition is "the way in which a [person] gathers, processes, stores, and uses information about [his or her] world" (Martindale, 1981, p. 1).

Furthermore, not just empirical studies are included. Two non-empirical studies are included to keep the database as large as possible and to keep the ways of knowing about cognition as varied as possible. The database for this review comes from journal articles only. It was obtained by way of an off-line computer search of BEBA, ECER, ERIC and PSYCH (see Note 2). This search located 26 studies. Two other studies were located by searching the references of this set of studies. The two studies located by this method were those by Kleinfeld (1973) and McArthur (1973).

Kleinfeld (1973, p. 341) set out to "identify the cognitive strengths" of the Inuits and to "suggest occupational and educational areas where such strengths could be used to advantage." She suggests five factors likely to affect cognition, namely, ecological demands, language, socialization, genetic selection, and compensatory influences. Because of the rigors of survival in an almost featureless Arctic, Kleinfeld suggests that the development of "extreme sensitivity to visual detail" is essential for Inuits (p. 343). They also need to be able to recognize "rotated visual patterns" in order to return to an area from a different direction (p. 344). Inuit language employs extensive use of "obligatory localizers" which "permit economical coding of spatial information" (p. 343). Kleinfeld argues that this could lead to a better memory for such detail. Socialization practices provide "great indulgence" of children which fosters "independence" and "exploration" among them (p. 345). Furthermore, children tend to "learn by watching" more than by "listening", so observational skills may be highly developed. Kleinfeld suggests that because navigation errors in the Arctic can easily result in death, skills of spatial ability may be selectively passed on. This notion supports the questionable notion of a genetic origin of spatial skills. Compensatory influences are included in Kleinfeld’s sources because of the high incidence of hearing loss among the Inuits which could lead to greater dependence on visual, as opposed to aural, cues.

Kleinfeld then provides two pages of anecdotal information about the "uncanny ability to comprehend rotated visual configurations," the "exceptional ability to remember visual detail," teacher perceptions that children are very skillful in perceiving and remembering visual detail, and that "drawings are notable for their precise detail." In sum, the anecdotal evidence supports Kleinfeld’s earlier conclusion about the highly developed visual skills.

The next section of her article deals with four problems (there are others) related to testing people from a different culture from the one in which the test was developed. The ones Kleinfeld discusses are:

Her review leads to this conclusion:

She goes on to point out a possible fifth contamination of etic cross-cultural tests, namely that the visual discrimination tasks (for example) use "idealized geometrical forms like perfect hexagons" which are rare in the Inuit environment. So the question is: What results would be obtained if tests of objects with "natural irregularities" (Kleinfeld, 1973, p. 351) were used?

Kleinfeld (1973, p. 353) then identifies ten probable strengths of Inuits from the 120 abilities of Guilford’s (1967) model of intelligence. Those strengths are:

• Memory of Figural Units (memory for unique visual forms as isolated units of information);
• Memory for Spatial Systems (memory for arrangement of things, for location); Memory for Figural Information (paired-associate memory involving two figures);
• Cognition of Figural Systems (the comprehension of spatial arrangement with the observer as frame of reference);
• Cognition of Figural Transformations (the ability to visualize how a figure undergoes change);
• Evaluation of Figural Units (the ability to compare visual figures with some standard to determine accuracy, more descriptively called "visual accuracy"); Evaluation of Figural Relations (the ability to compare visual relations with a standard of agreement);
• Evaluation of Figural Implications (the ability to compare visual extensions with a standard to determine agreement);
• Convergent Production of Figural Transformations (the ability to break down one perceptual organization to form another - closely related to Witkin’s field-independence); and
• Divergent Production of Figural Transformations (creative, tactical shifts in solving figural problems).

  At this juncture Kleinfeld (1973, p. 353) asserts that:

Kleinfeld continues that if they are, then Inuit children should excel at technical school subjects, be well suited to occupations as clerks and pilots, and be successful in fields like higher Mathematics and Physics. In order for these goals to be reached, however, differentiation of Inuit students on the basis of IQ and other etic test scores may be quite inappropriate; so both tests and classroom strategies may need to qualitatively change to take advantage of Inuit strengths.

This paper now turns to summarizing the remaining journal articles on North American Indian cognition. The articles will be grouped under five headings:

• Visual Perception and Cognitive Style;
• Perception of Self, Time, Information Needs, and the World;
• Piagetian Tasks;
• Reading and Bilingual Education; and
• Cognitive Strengths.

Once the studies have been summarized they will be evaluated against Kleinfeld’s challenge.

Serpell (1976) details the close relationship between tests of visual perception and cognitive style. Accordingly, the six studies which deal with either are grouped together in this section.

Three studies deal with the hemispheric dominance of Indian/Anglo people. Left hemispheric dominance is believed to be associated with analytical thinking (Witkin’s, 1977, field-independent cognitive style) whereas right hemispheric dominance relates to creative abilities. Two studies used dichotic listening tasks to establish hemispheric dominance (Scott, 1979; Scott, Hynd, Hunt, and Weed, 1979). Scott (1979) presented 30 pairs of CV syllables in the dichotic listening task to a sample of 40 Navajos and 40 Anglos (Male and Female, who had been screened for facility in the English language, hearing, and non-verbal IQ). Navajos responded more accurately via the left ear, whereas Anglos were more accurate via the right ear. This finding supported Scott’s hypothesis of the right hemispheric dominance of Navajos and the left hemispheric dominance of Anglos. In a similar study with 10 Male and 10 Female Navajos matched with Anglos by age, sex, and handedness, Scott et al. (1979) provided three practice runs for their volunteers before presenting the dichotic listening task of 30 CV syllables. Once again the Navajos displayed the left ear right hemispheric dominance effect while Anglos displayed the right ear left hemispheric dominance effect. Cattey (1980) after a literature-based comparison of Chinese and Navajo child-rearing concluded that Navajos are likely to be high in visual discrimination skills and also to be left-hemispheric dominant. Scott’s (1979) study is cited in her review.

Martin (1977) investigated the developmental levels of cognitive style of 90 Indian and 90 non-Indian students and checked cognitive style against performance on paired-associate and concept learning tasks. The students were evenly distributed in grades K-2. Kagan and Buriel (1977) challenge the efficacy of developmental levels of cognitive style, which implies that field-independence is more mature and desirable than field-dependence. Martin found that cognitive style seemed to develop (established correlationally across age cohorts rather than longitudinally) similarly for both Indian and non-Indian students. Grade level and cognitive style affected Indian students performance on one of the two learning tasks. They learned more quickly on that test (not identified in the journal article) if they had a particular cognitive style (again, which one was not identified).

Anhelm (1974) investigated the preferences of Indians (from White Earth and Red Lake) with Anglo preferences for each of five visual qualities in art work. The sample comprised 209 Indians in grades one, three, and six and 259 Anglos of the same grade levels. At all class levels, Anglos preferred linearity, angularity, and curvilinearity. For the grade six Indians contrast was the most preferred characteristic. Anhelm concluded that "some visual illustration may be ineffective across cultures."

Working with university students (20 city-raised Euro-Canadians and 16 Cree Indians from James Bay, Quebec), Annis and Frost (1973) investigated whether visual acuity was related to the ecology of the environment in which they had been reared as children. They found that Euro-Canadians had a higher resolution for vertical and horizontal gratings in the stimuli presented. They concluded that these visual acuity differences may be tuned by the early visual environment.

Their conclusion, though tentative, could fit notions of the carpentered nature of urban surroundings, resulting in greater awareness of horizontal and vertical lines among urban dwellers as opposed to people who live in non-carpentered environments (see Serpell, 1976; Cole & Scribner, 1974, pp. 75-80).

This set of results indicates that there can be difference in styles of thinking and visual perceptual preferences and skills when Native Americans are compared with Anglo Americans. The studies varied from tight experiments (Scott, 1979; Scott et. al., 1979), to correlational (Martin, 1977; Anhelm 1974; Annis and Frost, 1973), to a literature review (Cattey, 1980). In all studies except the last, which used no measures, the measures were etically developed (Berry, 1980, pp. 11-12) even though it is possible to combine both emic and etic measures (Brislin, 1980, pp. 391-395). Little regard was paid to factors like the sociocultural origins of any of the groups tested, the racial origin of the tester, or other factors which might affect results.

This section analyzes eight studies which dealt with the views people have of their world and their perceptions of aspects of social reality. This section deals with them.

Tafoya (1982) used a non-empirical approach to highlight differences between Native American views of the world and family as well as different approaches to learning and literacy. By way of analysis of a coyote tale, he stresses the importance of unity with the world, the nature of the extended family within the Navajo system, and the emphasis based upon watching, listening and waiting in order to learn. Although non-empirical, this study by a Native American is useful because of its emic interpretation of cognitive phenomena.

Halpin, Halpin, and Whiddon (1980) attempted to relate measures of self-esteem and locus of control to perceived parental techniques of child-rearing. Working with males and females between the ages of 12 and 18 from the Flathead Indian reservation or Anglos attending the same public schools, Halpin et al. (1980) administered an Intellectual Achievement Responsibility Questionnaire, the Coopersmith Self-Esteem Inventory, and a Perceived Parenting Questionnaire. For the Indian students they found that an internal locus of control and high self-esteem were related to parental companionship together with support for their school learning. High self-esteem on its own, for this Indian sample, was related to praise of grades, parental pleasure at their effort, and praise. The study does not specify how common these parental techniques were among the parents, nor indeed whether they were techniques normally associated with that particular culture.

Shannon (1976) investigated the perceptions of idle time versus productive time among school students ranging in ages from 10 to 17 years. Her sample contained 40 male students from each of the following ethnic backgrounds; Anglo, Native American, and Mexican-American. Twenty in each ethnic group were between the ages of 10 and 12; the remaining 20 in each group were from 14 to 17 years old. In the younger groups, a tester of the same ethnicity administered the questionnaire. For the older groups, testers from each of the three ethnic groups rotated among the students as they completed the questionnaires. All questionnaires were in English. Shannon found that Mexican-Americans and Native Americans were less likely than Anglos to relate productive time to achievement. She concluded that the concepts of time for these two groups may differ from that of Anglo students. In a related study, again with 120 Male students of Anglo, Mexican-American and Native American backgrounds (Shannon, 1975) investigated perceptions of past, present, and future times to see if there were differences between the groups. Shannon found that time x age x cultural group produced significant differences at .05 level and the .001 level. These findings occurred because only the Anglo students became more future-oriented with age; Native Americans and Mexican-Americans did not. These two groups maintained their present orientation and Shannon concludes that this may be quite functional in terms of their prospects for later employment. She seriously challenges the common notion that present orientation is the cause of failure to achieve at school. Instead, she argues, time orientations may have been reasonably accurate reflectors of social reality in terms of life opportunities for these minority boys from low and middle social economic backgrounds.

Granzberg (1976), working with 100 Euro-Canadian (N = 64), acculturated Cree (N = 44), and traditional Cree (N = 12) boys between the ages of 8 and 11 years, investigated the relationships between delay of gratification, aggression, dependence, and abstract ability. The traditional Cree boys were tested in Cree by a trained Cree assistant to the researcher. The remaining students were tested in English by the researcher himself. The Thematic Appreception Test was administered to obtain scores for Aggression, Dependence, and Abstraction. Delay of gratification was measured by offering one candy on completion of the test or offering two candies to be given one week later. Granzberg found that relatively more Euro-Canadians and acculturated Cree chose to delay their gratification than was the case for the traditional Cree, at least on the first test. Delay of gratification also related to abstraction. At second testing, a higher proportion of Euro-Canadians (but not acculturated Cree) exhibited delay of gratification. He also found that Cree definitions of self-control (with regard to aggression) are different from those of Euro-Canadians.

Albas, McCluskey, and Albas (1976) investigated the perceptions of the emotional content of nonverbal vocalizations by White Canadians and Cree Indians. Twelve White and 12 Cree males were recorded as they said, in their own language, whatever they chose to express, the emotions of happiness, sadness, love, and anger. The meaning of the words spoken was extracted electronically and the resulting vocalizations were played to 40 different males from each group. The researchers found that the White Canadians were far better at identifying emotions from the vocalizations made by Whites while the Crees were far better at identifying from the Cree recordings.

Norton (1975) investigated children’s perceptions of their teachers’ nonverbal behaviors. The children were Caucasians, Black, and Indian children aged 6, 8, and 10 years from elementary schools at Pawnee, Sapulpa, and Beggs (Oklahoma). Norton developed her own Perceptions of Nonverbal Behaviors Index (PNB) for the study. She found that sex, age, and cultural group affected the amount of clustering about single factors on the PNB but the factors were not identified in the article. Nevertheless, it is possible that cultural group membership is related to perceptions of nonverbal behaviors of teachers.

This set of studies indicates that there may be important differences in the perceptions of the world, of time, of the emotional content of nonverbal vocalizations, and of the meaning of teachers’ behavior between American Indians and Anglos. Once again the studies are of varying quality.

Five studies were conducted with what Piaget claims are tasks that tap universals of development. These tasks were developed for European children and over the years have been widely used with children from many cultures. The tasks fulfill all the criteria outlined by Berry (1980) of etic, as opposed to emic research:

There are problems associated with each approach. Etic research runs a considerable risk of tapping skills it considers to be universal which they may not be. This is particularly true when culture B does not exhibit a specific skill on a test developed in culture A. The skill may exist in culture B, but it may have certain contextual bases which the test does not tap. Cole, Gay, Glick, and Sharp (1971) convincingly demonstrate this in their studies with the Kpelle. Conversely, emic research is designed to be noncomparative. As such, it is difficult to draw meaningful generalizations across studies which have established their criteria in various different cultures. The solution to the dilemma seems to be to attempt to tap universals by seeking them out in the local culture, then developing tests which reflect this cultural context. This approach would be useful in all the topics discussed in the current review but it is particularly crucial in investigating Piaget’s universals. Accordingly, emic attempts to find local bases of the Piagetian skills will be specified in the discussion which follows, wherever a researcher has made them.

Masden (1982) working with 27 Hopi boys and 30 Hopi girls between the ages of 12 and 14 attempted a replication of Dennis’s (1943) study of animism, consciousness of inanimate objects, and moral realism. These are Piagetian tasks and Masden was interested to see what changes had occurred over time. He tested in English and the research was clearly etic. He found that the percentages of children at the first and second stages of animism had increased but not the percentages at the third and fourth stages. Ascribing consciousness to inanimate objects had decreased markedly from 58% to 13%. Similarly, there was a substantial drop in moral realism from 64% to 25%. He concludes that passage of time has resulted in changes in these aspects of children’s views of the world. Western schooling has probably contributed to this change.

Sampson (1981) measured formal operational ability (on tasks of exclusion, proportion, and combination) of 315 students aged from 11 to 17 years. There were 105 students from each of three groups, Black, White, and Indian. Sampson also tested reading ability in order to check age effects on reading skill when cognitive level was held constant. He found that at no age did the majority of his sample reach formal operations. Furthermore, age and reading ability did correlate when cognitive level was held constant. Finally, he found that there was no significant difference between Whites and Indians on formal operational ability, but that significantly less Blacks were formal operational. Although Sampson seemed surprised by his finding that at no age were the majority of the students formally operational, this could have been anticipated.

Odell (1979) tested 144 Navajo children (aged from 5 to 13 years) and 24 Navajo adults on relational term tasks and for conservation of number, mass, and continuous quantity. Testing was done by Navajos and testing was conducted in English, Navajo, or a combination of both. She found that conservation increased with age and in particular that 28% of the 13 year olds were conservers and that 79% of the adults conserved. Thus she supported Piaget’s constructs, but found a time lag in the acquisition of the skills. The children were also correct in the use of all the relational terms (same, less, and more).

Swanson and Henderson (1979) experimentally investigated the use of televised modeling versus direct instruction. They worked with 43 Papago children, the total enrollment at three Headstart Centers. The preoperational learning tasks were administered by Papago females. The control group received seven placebo tapes; the TV group received six tapes and then a repeat of the last tape. The TV plus direct instruction group received six tapes and one direct instruction lesson. Each group was pretested then posttested three or four days after the intervention. A retention test was administered 7 to 10 days later. There were no significant differences on the pretests. Both experimental groups significantly outperformed the control group on posttest and retention test. There were no significant differences between performance of the two experimental groups on either posttest or retention test. Swanson and Henderson conclude that the visual discrimination aspects of the televised modeling may have been enough to teach the concepts and that the direct instruction was thus superfluous.

Dasen (1975) investigated perception and conservation skills among 10- to 14-year-olds from Inuit (Cape Dorset, Canada), Ebrie (Africa), and Aboriginal (Hermannsberg, Australia) communities. Tests were administered to 10 children from each group, five boys and five girls where possible. He was looking for ecological sources of perception and conservation skills among these largely tribal groups. Although the conservation tasks were etic they were adapted to the local scenes. He found that ecology did account for spatial concept development and for conservation skills (among 12- to 14-year-olds but not among the 10- to 11-year-olds). His sample size is not large and the discrepancy in findings for the two age groups is difficult to explain.

These studies seem to support Piaget’s notions of conservation and formal operations with a degree of time lag in the development of the skills when compared with European children’s rates of acquisition.

Six studies were located for inclusion in this section.

Vorih and Rosier (1978) compared the effects of the Bilingual Program at Rock Point with those from two other programs. The first of these was the program at Rock Point before the Bilingual Program was introduced. The second program used for comparison was the Teaching English as a Second Language Program as it was conducted in BIA control schools. The Bilingual Program at Rock Point was one with 70% Navajo in kindergarten, 50% Navajo in grades one and two and 25% Navajo in grades three to six. The question posed was whether this program was more effective in producing reading achievement (in English) than the other two programs. Reading achievement was measured by the SAT. They found that in grades four through six, the Rock Point students in the Bilingual Program were 2 years ahead of students at the same school prior to the introduction of the program. When compared with students in BIA schools, the Rock Point Bilingual Program students were minimally lower in grade two and minimally higher in grade three. By grade four they were 0-5 years ahead, in grade five they were 1-6 years ahead, and in grade six they were 2-0 years ahead of the BIA students. It is reasonable to conclude that, after at least 4 years of exposure to Bilingual schooling, Navajo students, who came to school initially either monolingual Navajo or dominant Navajo speakers, will outperform, on tests of English reading ability, students who have been taught only English as a Second Language.

Cropley and Cardey (1975) investigated the effects of acculturation on abstract learning and language. They compared White (N = 49), urbanized Cree (N = 48), and reservation Cree (N = 63) children in grades one through three. The tests used were a verbal IQ, Raven’s Colored Progressive Matrices, and The Goodenough-Harris Drawing Test. They found that the Reserve Cree children scored equally as well as the urban Cree children on all three tests, but that while the Whites scored the same as the urbanized Cree they outperformed the reservation Cree on the Raven’s Colored Progressive Matrix. They suggested that these results could indicate qualitatively different forms of intelligence related to degree of acculturation.

Downing, Ollila, and Oliver (1975) sought to discover whether different orientations to reading of young children are sociocultural. They studied kindergarten children from two bands of Canadian Indians (N = 72) and non-Indians (N = 92). The Indian bands had no tradition of literacy but speak a form of English. When they administered the Canadian Reading Readiness Test, Downing et al. found that the Indian children scored lower on orientation to literacy; understanding literacy behavior; technical knowledge of literacy; visual letter recognition; and initial phonemes. This finding is hardly surprising in children from communities with no traditions of literacy.

Mickelson and Galloway (1973), in a similar way, attempted to investigate whether there were differences in the verbal concepts of Canadian Indian (N = 30) and non-Indian (N = 32) school beginners. The children were 5 or 6 years old and in kindergarten or grade one. The Boehm Test of Basic Concepts was used and non-Indian children scored better than their Indian counterparts.

Although these last two studies did not produce particularly novel findings it could be that they were attempts to refute cultural deficit theory which had its head reared again by Jensen (1969, 1973), Eysenck (1971), and Schockley (1972). If so, they provided some evidence to refute lack of ability by establishing sociocultural factors as being related to slow performance scores in reading. Unfortunately, both studies could be interpreted from a cultural disadvantage point of view (Hess and Shipman, 1965; Deutsch, 1968), which stresses early intervention to compensate for deficiencies (see Keddie, 1973; Ginsburg 1972; Kelly and McConnochie, 1970; Baratz and Baratz, 1970). Bilingual programs, based on a cultural difference perspective, would seem to be a more productive way of developing reading skills (see Vorih and Rosier, described previously).

Krywaniuk and Das (1976) sought to improve the reading scores and sequential learning of Canadian Indian children in grades three and four. In the experimental study the WISC was administered before and after intervention. Reading test scores as well as visual and auditory memory improved after maximum intervention. Krywaniuk (1973), working with 40 low achieving Hobbema Indian students in grades three and four introduced special teaching strategies to try to raise test performance. The special teaching strategies involved explicitly presenting the processing strategies required to store and retrieve information. The intervention lasted 3 months. Pretests and posttests, including the WISC, were administered to both control groups and to the experimental group. The control groups showed little improvement but the experimental group improved on almost all measures with the most marked improvement on visual and auditory memory tasks.

These six studies indicate that while some American Indian children come to school either monolingual in a language other than English or unfamiliar with written English (or even both), there are strategies which can be used to improve reading test scores.

Although Kleinfeld (1973) argued for studies to tap cognitive strengths, this review unearthed only two which sought to do so.

Steinberg (1974) looked for evidence of two kinds of intelligence, one psychometric and the other operative. She defined psychometric intelligence as "an outcome or end-product of intellectual functioning" and operative intelligence as the process of that functioning. Seventy children on a Canadian Indian reservation were the subjects of her study. Psychometric intelligence was measured by the WISC. A variety of problems, designed around Luria’s and Piaget’s work comprised the test of operative intelligence. Steinberg found a relationship between age and verbal IQ as would be expected and little change in performance IQ when the same subjects’ scores were compared after 2 years. Statistical analysis revealed differences between WISC scores and those obtained on the operative test. Steinberg argued that she was tapping different aspects of intelligence on the two tests. Both tests also had low predictive validity. Steinberg accepts that school success is predicted by psychometric intelligence scores but posits that processes also determine these school results. If this is the case, then according to Steinberg cultural understanding will be increased if both operative and psychometric intelligence are investigated.

In a study extracted from a much larger international study, McArthur (1973) investigated ecological factors and acculturation factors associated with different measures of psychometric intelligence. His sample comprised 62 Inuits and 65 Nsengas; both groups had an average age of 14.4 years and their average years of schooling were 6.0 and 6.4, respectively. Twenty-seven measures of psychometric intelligence were used. Among his six conclusions McArthur lists:

• ecology and child-rearing seem to have fostered a broad cluster of spatial field-independence abilities, but also a distinctive cluster of abilities involving inductive reasoning from nonverbal stimuli;
• in both ethnic groups, on Form Assembly and Blocks Design, in contrast with other tests, middle-aged people with very little schooling performed quite well as did young adolescents who were still at school; and
• a main conclusion reemphasizes the need for very careful attention to construct validity of psychological tests used in particular cultural contexts.

McArthur, then, is the only one of the researchers reviewed who has identified cognitive strengths (as opposed to visual perception and auditory perception strengths) of any North American Indians. He also stresses the implicit problems of etic research instruments being used without due care in cultures they were not designed for.

The main weaknesses of the studies reviewed have been mentioned or implied during the discussion and include the etic nature of tests used; failure to allow for or discuss the language of testing/subjects; general omission of discussion of factors related to ethnicity of the tester(s) (like subjects’ anxiety and their failure to trust the tester); the correlational nature of many studies; the lack of details on socio-economic and socio-cultural background of students; the failure of most researchers (apart from Scott, Shannon, and Krywaniuk) to stay with their research findings and questions; an absence of studies dealing with the same topics; the failure to provide details of the local origins of subjects (that is, lumping all manner of people together as Indians); and in some cases research which does little if anything to inform our knowledge about perceptual or cognitive abilities. Two other weaknesses should be mentioned.

One is that over a 10-year period 28 studies (16 in America, 12 in Canada) represent remarkably few studies of North American Indian cognition. Perhaps this is a result of difficulties researchers face in obtaining permission to study. There could be an unwillingness by tribal leaders to allow strangers into their domains; they could be confronted with research proposals which lack substance; or they may suspect the relevance of psychological studies of cognition to real-world events like the schooling of their children. Some researchers have moved away from psychological studies to related ones in education (as Kleinfeld, 1975, 1979 has done) and the like. It could be, of course, that few people are opting to conduct cross-cultural research because the emic-etic dilemma is now well known, and to do good emic research requires considerable time in the field if good tests are going to be designed. For whatever the reasons, the small number of studies is disappointing. The area of knowledge is important and little progress has been made yet towards finding the "cognitive strengths" Kleinfeld exhorted researchers to discover.

The second is that only one native American was identified as having conducted research (Tafoya, 1982) and only two studies reported the training of Native Americans to collect data during the research project (Odell, 1979; Granzberg, 1976). Native American researchers could do much to provide emic research from within their own cultures. It is unfortunate that as yet few have turned their hands to studies of cognition and that few have been involved as assistants on research projects.

Given all the above weaknesses spread variously through the studies reviewed and given the vast array of different cultures I have included under the single umbrella term "Native American" (at least nine different tribes together with those simply referred to as "Indian" from both urban and rural, acculturated and traditional, non-tribal, and reservation locations), it is very difficult to draw conclusions. Perhaps the best thing to do, then, is select findings of studies which seem to support each other and suggest them as fruitful lines for further investigation.

Well-developed visual perception skills were found by a variety of authors (Kleinfeld, 1973; McArthur, 1973; Anhelm, 1974; Annis and Frost, 1973) and these findings were supported by Tafoya’s (1982) and Swanson and Henderson’s (1979) studies dealing with learning by observation (even as effectively as by direct instruction). John (1972) and John-Steiner and Osterreicher (1976) provide studies supporting visual perception skills, although these two studies do not fit within the review parameters of this study because of a publishing date before 1973 and because of nonpublication in a journal, respectively. Furthermore, the studies by Krywaniuk and Das (1976) and Krywaniuk (1973) showed improvements in visual (and auditory) memory. Further studies of visual perception should prove informative, particularly if they can be linked to visual styles of learning.

Another promising area of further research is that of hemispheric dominance (Scott, 1979; Scott et al., 1979) and its relationship to analytic/holistic ways of thinking (Tafoya, 1982; Cattey, 1980; Martin, 1977). In that this is a cognitive style variable (Witkin, Moore, Goodenough, and Cox, 1977) and cognitive style is related to interpersonal sensitivity, the studies of Albas et al. (1976) and Norton (1975) (although the authors did not relate their findings to cognitive style) might provide an interesting extension of cognitive style research. Even in their own right studies of interpersonal sensitivity should be conducted because it is so crucial in classroom interaction, job interviews, employee satisfaction, intercultural communication, and to life in general.

Further studies of the long-term effects of bilingual programs (like the one by Vorih and Rosier, 1978) are well overdue. Other intervention strategies like those of Swanson and Henderson (1979), Krywaniuk and Das (1976), and Krywaniuk (1973) could prove helpful to teachers although they may not further our knowledge of perceptual or cognitive processes to any great extent.

Kleinfeld’s (1973) and McArthur’s (1973) challenges to develop emic tests of cognitive strengths have still to be taken up. Hopefully the challenge will be accepted by researchers who are willing to stay with their selected topic and their chosen cultural group. If this happens, then the next 10 years should provide research findings which increase our knowledge of Native American cognition more than it has during the last 10 years.

1. Inuits is the term preferred by the people referred to Kleinfeld and other authors in this study as Eskimos. Throughout the text Inuits will be used.

2. The search was conducted by staff at the American Indian Bilingual Education Center University of New Mexico, Albuquerque. Sincere appreciation is expressed to the director Douglas Knox and his assistant Roberta Benecke for conducting the search. The abbreviations stand for National Clearinghouse for Bilingual Education, Exceptional Child Education Resources, Education Resources Information Center, and Psychological Abstracts, respectively.

Albas, D.C., McCluskey, K.W., and Albas, C.A. (1976). "Perception of Emotional Content of Speech: A Comparison of Two Canadian Groups." Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology. 7, 4, pp. 481-490.

Anhelm, F.A. (1974). "A Comparative Study of Preferences of Anglo American and Indian Children for Particular Visual Qualities." Dissertation Abstracts International. 34 (10-A), p. 6346.

Annis, R.D. and Frost, B. (1973). "Human Visual Ecology and Orientation Anisotropies in Acuity." Science. 182, pp. 729-731.

Baratz, S.A. and Baratz, J.C. (1970). "Early Childhood Education: The Social Science Base of Institutional Racism." Harvard Educational Review. 40, 1, pp. 19-50.

Beaulieu, D.L. (1974). "An Analysis of Differences in the Perception of Information Needs Among American Indian Students in Two Selected Indian Reservation Communities." Dissertation Abstracts International. 34 (11 A), p. 6936.

Berry, J.W. (1980). "Introduction to Methodology." In Triandis, H.C. and Berry, J.W. (Eds) Handbook of Cross Cultural Psychology. Methodology. Volume 2. Boston: Allyn and Bacon. pp. 1-28.

Brislin, R.W. (1980). "Translation and Content Analysis of Oral and Written Materials." In Triandis, H.C. and Berry, JW. (Eds) Handbook of Cross Cultural Psychology. Methodology. Volume 2. Boston: Allyn and Bacon. pp. 389-444.

Cattey, M. (1980). "Cultural Differences in Processing Information." Journal of American Indian Education. 20, 1, pp. 23-29.

Cole, M., Gay, J., Glick, J., and Sharp, D.W. (1971). The Cultural Context of Learning and Thinking. New York: Basic Books.

Cole, M. and Scribner, S. (1974). Culture and Thought: A Psychological Introduction. New York: John Wiley.

Cropley, A.J. and Cardey, R.M. (1975). "Contact with the Dominant Culture and Cognitive Competence in Canadian Indians and Whites." Canadian Journal of Behavioural Science. 7, 4, pp. 328-338.

Dasen, P.R. (1975). "Concrete Operational Development in Three Cultures." Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology. 6, 2, pp. 156-172.

Dennis, W. (1943). "Animism and Related Tendencies in Hopi Children." Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology. 38, pp. 21-36.

Deutsch, C.P. (1968). "Environment and Perception." In Deutsch, M., Katz, I., and Jensen, A.R. (Eds) Social Class, Race and Psychological Development. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston.

Downing, J. Ollila, L., and Oliver, P. (1975). "Cultural Differences in Children’s Concepts of Reading and Writing." British Journal of Educational Psychology. 45, 3, pp. 312-316.

Eysenck, H.J. (1971). Race, Intelligence and Education. London: Temple Smith.

Ginsburg, H. (1972). The Myth of the Deprived Child. New York: Prentice Hall.

Granzberg, G. (1976). "Delay of Gratification and Abstract Ability in Three Societies." The Journal of Social Psychology, 100, pp. 181-187.

Guilford, J.P. (1967). The Nature of Human Intelligence. New York: McGrawHill.

Halpin, G., Halpin, G., and Whiddon, T. (1980). "The Relationship between Perceived Parental Behaviors to Locus of Control and Self-Esteem Among Indian and White Children." Journal of Social Psychology. 111, 2, pp. 189-195.

Hess, R.D. and Shipman, VX (1965). "Early Experience and the Socialization of Cognitive Modes in Children." Child Development. 36, pp. 869-886.

Jensen, A.R. (1969). "How Much Can We Boost IQ and Scholastic Achievement. " Harvard Educational Review. 39, pp. 1- 123.

Jensen, A.R. (1973). Educability and Group Differences. New York: Harper and Row.

John, V.P. (1972). "Styles of Learning—Styles of Teaching: Reflections on the Education of Navajo Children." In Cazden, C., John, V.P., and Hymes, D. (Eds) Functions of Language in the Classroom. New York: Teachers’ College Press.

John-Steiner, V. and Osterreicher, H. (1976). "Learning: Pueblo Style." Notes from Workshop Center for Open Education. 5, 1, pp. 21-26.

Kagan, S. and Buriel, R. (1977). "Field Dependence-Independence and Mexican-American Culture and Education." In Martinez, J. (Ed.) Chicano Psychology. New York: Academic Press, pp. 279-328.

Keddie, N. (1973). Tinker, Tailor . . . The Myth of Cultural Deprivation. Harmondsworth, London: Penguin.

Kelly, M.E. and McConnochie, K.R. (1970). "Compensatory Education, A Suble Form of Racism?" Australian Journal of Education. 18, 1, pp. 30-49.

Kelsall, R. K. and Kelsall, H. M., (197 1). Social Disadvantage and Educational Opportunity. London: Holt, Rinehart and Winston.

Kleinfeld, J.S. (1973). "Intellectual Strengths in Culturally Different Groups: An Eskimo Illustration." Review of Educational Research. 43, 3, pp. 34 1-359.

Kleinfeld, J.S. (1975). "Effective Teachers of Eskimo and Indian Students." School Review. 83, pp. 301-344.

Kleinfeld, J.S. (1979). Eskimo School on the Andreafsky: A Study of Effective Bicultural Education. New York: Praeger.

Krywaniuk, L.W. (1973). "Forty Children." Mental Retardation Bulletin. 1, 1. pp. 17-20.

Krywaniuk, L.W. and Das, J.P., (1976). "Cognitive Strategies in Native Children: Analysis and Intervention." Alberta Journal of Educational Research. 22, 4, pp. 271-280.

Martin, J.C. (1977). "Cognitive Style and its Relationship to Paired-Associate and Concept Identification Task Performance of Primary-Aged School Children." Dissertation Abstracts International. 37 (9-A), p. 5705.

Martindale, C. (198 1). Cognition and Consciousness. Homewood, Illinois: Dorsey Press.

Masden, M.C. (1982). "Animism and Related Tendencies in Hopi Children. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology. 13, 1, pp. 117-124.

McArthur (1973). "Some Ability Patterns: Central Eskimos and Nsenga Africans." International Journal of Psychology. 8, 4, pp. 239-247.

Mickelson, N.I. and Galloway, C.G., (1973). "Verbal Concepts of Indian and Non-Indian School Beginners." Journal of Educational Research. 67, 2, pp. 55-56.

Norton, L.S. (1975). "Elementary School Age Children’s Perceptions of Teacher’s Non-Verbal Behavior." Dissertation Abstracts International. 35 (10-A), p. 6371.

Odell, S.J. (1979). "Piagetian Conservation in Navajos." Dissertation Abstracts International, (1979). 39 (12-A), pp. 7139-7140.

Sampson, G.L. (1981). "Attainment of Piaget’s Formal Operational Level in Mathematics Relative to Ethnic Group and Reading Ability." Dissertation Abstracts International, (1981). 41, 12, 5014.

Scott, S.A. (1979). "Comparative Linguistic Processing, Dichotic Listening, and Cerebal Listening." Dissertation Abstracts International, (1979). 40 (3-A), pp. 1368-1369.

Scott, S., Hynd, G.W., Hunt, L., and Weed, W., (1979). "Cerebral Speech Lateralization in the Native American Navajo." Neuropsychologia. 17, 1, pp. 89-92.

Serpell, R. (1976). Culture’s Influence on Behaviour. London: Methuen.

Shannon, L. (1976). "Age Change in Time Perception in Native Americans, Mexican Americans, and Anglo-Americans." Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology. 7, 1, pp. 117-122.

Shannon, L. (1975). "Development of Time Perspective in Three Cultural Groups: A Cultural Difference or an Expectancy Interpretation." Developmental Psychology. 11, 1, pp. 114-115.

Shockley, W. (1971). "Models, Mathematics and the Moral Obligation to Diagnose the Origins of Negro IQ Deficits." Review of Educational Research. 41, 4, pp. 31-35.

Steinberg, R.H. (1974). "Psychometric and Operative Intelligence in an Indian School Population." Dissertation Abstracts International. 35 (5-B), p. 2449.

Swanson, R.A. and Henderson, R.W. (1979). "Introduction of a Concrete Operational Concept Through Televised Modeling: Evidence and Speculation on Mediational Processes." Contemporary Educational Psychology. 4, 3, pp. 202-210.

Tafoya, T. (1982). "Coyote’s Eyes: Native Cognition Styles." Journal of American Indian Education. 21, 2, pp. 21-33.

Vorih, L. and Rosier, P. (1978). "Rock Point Community School: An Example of a Navajo-English Bilingual Elementary School Program." TESOL Quarterly. 12, 3, pp. 263-269.

Witkin, H.A., Moore, C.A., Goodenough, D.R., and Cox, P.W. (1977). "Field-Dependent and Field-Independent Cognitive Styles and Their Educational Implications." Review of Educational Research. 47, pp. 1-64.