Report of Comparative Study in Mentality of Formosan and Japanese Children

Abstract

660 Japanese children (330 boys, 330 girls) and 643 Formosan children of Chinese descent (325 boys, 318 girls) in grades I-VI in elementary schools in Taihoku, Formosa Island, Japan, were given in September, 1922, the following battery of tests: 1. Immediate memory (reproduction of a 5 spot pattern). 2. Symbol-substitution. 3. Maze. 4. Cancellation (Pieron's forms). 5. Free association. 6. Color preference. 7. Preference of colors in combination. 8. Emotion (report on emotional objects). 9. Motor strength (Collin's hand dynamometer) and speed (tapping). 10. Esthesiometry. 11. Consonance of sound (this test was discarded). 12. Motor coördination (form board). The Japanese children were compared with the Formosans by the means, or medians when a time limit was set, of each test, grouped in grades and ages. The Japanese excelled the Formosans in all grades in free association, motor accuracy, maze, and tactile sensibility; did poorly in motor coördination; did poorly in cancellation and symbol-substitution in lower grades, but excelled the Formosans in upper grades. The two races overlapped in motor speed, hand grip, and memory. The Japanese excelled the Formosans in all ages in cancellation, symbol-substitution, motor coördination, maze, association, hand grip, and memory; did poorly in tactile sensibility in younger ages, but came up in older ages; excelled in motor accuracy and speed in younger years, but fell off in older years. The sex difference wherever shown was smaller in the Japanese than in the Formosans. The Japanese preferred purple and blue; the Formosans red. The two races disliked violet most and green next. The Formosan girls disliked green and yellow. The Japanese cited earthquake as the most horrible thing; the Formosans mentioned the tiger. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved)