%0 Journal Article
%T Evaluating the Aboriginal child¡¯s mind: assimilation and cross
%A David Robertson
%J History of Psychiatry
%@ 1740-2360
%D 2018
%R 10.1177/0957154X18782638
%X This article examines two psychological interventions with Australian Aboriginal children in the late 1960s and early 1970s. The first involved evaluating the cognitive maturation of Aboriginal adolescents using a series of Piagetian interviews. The second, a more extensive educational intervention, used a variety of quantitative tests to measure and intervene in the intellectual performance of Aboriginal preschoolers. In both of these interventions the viability of the psychological instruments in the cross-cultural encounter created ongoing ambiguity as to the value of the research outcomes. Ultimately, the resolution of this ambiguity in favour of notions of Aboriginal ¡®cultural deprivation¡¯ reflected the broader political context of debates over Aboriginal self-governance during this period
%K Aboriginal Australians
%K assimilation
%K Barry Nurcombe
%K compensatory education
%K history
%K intelligence testing
%K twentieth century
%U https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0957154X18782638