1. INTELLIGENCE ACROSS CULTURES

2. LECTURE OUTLINE I Background and objectives
II Intelligence and its measurement
Generalized mental ability (g)
Intelligence tests
IQ across cultures
Lay notions of intelligence

3. LECTURE OUTLINE (cont)
III Intelligence in cultural context
Cultural variations in notions of intelligence
Intelligence as adaptation to the environment
Intelligence and schooling
Successful intelligence
IV Testing intelligence across cultures
V Conclusions

4. I Objectives
To consider the nature of intelligence and its meaning across cultures
To explore the assessment of intelligence across cultures

5. II Intelligence and its measurement
Generalized versus specific abilities
G (generalized intelligence)
Verbal, memory, reasoning, spatial (Thurstone)
Fluid and crystallized intelligence

6. INTELLIGENCE TESTS Binet Stanford-Binet Weschler
IQ = IA/CA X 100
Weschler
WAIS
WISC
Raven’s Progressive Matrices

7. WESCHLER Verbal Nonverbal
Information
Digit span
Vocabulary
Arithmetic
Comprehension
Similarities
Picture completion
Picture arrangement
Block design
Object assembly
Digit symbol

8. IQ TEST Picture arrangement

9. IQ TESTS

10. IQ TESTS

11. RAVEN’S PROGRESSIVE MATRICES

12. Cultural Differences in IQ
Median IQ in :
Chinese in Hong Kong, Singapore, Taiwan
and China
Japanese in Japan
East Asians in North America 103
Japanese (abstract)
(spatial) 114
American and British (abstract) 100
(spatial) 100

13. Cultural Differences in IQ
Median IQ in Hong Kong (Chan)
Chinese
white
Median IQ on Raven’s Progressive Matrices: Study of 9 year olds (Lynn)
Hong Kong 113
Japan
British

14. Intelligent across cultures??

15. Lay notions of intelligence encompass
practical problem solving, verbal and
social competence abilities

16. CULTURAL CONCEPTIONS OF INTELLIGENCE
Luo of Kenya (Grigorenko et al., 1999)
rieko (knowledge and skills)
luoro (respect)
winjo (understanding social roles)
paro (initiative)

17. CULTURAL CONCEPTIONS OF INTELLIGENCE
Baganda (Wober)
intelligence as socially oriented behaviour to benefit the collective
Shona (Irvine)
Ungwaru (dispositional intelligence)
Uchenjeri (social intelligence)

18. CULTURAL CONCEPTIONS OF INTELLIGENCE
Taiwanese (Yang & Sternberg)
intelligence includes a cognitive factor, interpersonal and intrapersonal factors, intellectual self assertion and intellectual self enhancement

19. CULTURAL CONCEPTIONS OF INTELLIGENCE
Comparative studies by Keats
Australians place more emphasis on academic skills, reading, writing, speaking
Malays place more emphasis on social and practical skills
Chinese place more emphasis on rote memory

20. INTELLIGENCE AS ADAPTATION TO THE ENVIRONMENT
Mathematics in Brazilian street children
(Carraher et al.)
Tacit knowledge and “intelligence” in Kenyan children (Sternberg)
Nzelu and “intelligence” in Zimbabwe (Serpell)

21. Practical intelligence does not relate to
“formal” intelligence or academic
performance

22. What constitutes the components of
intelligence is universal. The content
that constitutes the application of
these components is shaped by
environmental and cultural factors.

23. SUCCESSFUL INTELLIGENCE
Intelligence is defined in terms of the ability to achieve success in life
Ability to achieve success depends on capitalizing on one’s strengths and compensating for weaknesses
Success is attained through the balance of analytical, practical and creative abilities
Balance of abilities is achieved in order to adapt to and shape the environment

24. MEASURING INTELLIGENCE
Catalogue activities that should be mastered
Sample important tasks
Seek tasks that discriminate individuals
Turn selected tasks into test items

25. Because intelligence is embedded
in culture, there can never be a culture-
fair intelligence test.
Activities that are functional and
adaptive, i.e., intelligent, vary
across cultures.
Cole

26. QUESTIONS Do we need a common definition of intelligence?
Will modernization make the concept of intelligence more similar across cultures?