1. CULTURAL DIFFERENCES IN INTELLIGENCE 1
Cultural Differences in Intelligence
Ashley Dickson
March 3rd, 2014
Seminole State College

2. CULTURAL DIFFERENCES IN INTELLIGENCE 2
Intelligence is a widely known capability throughout the world. According to the
American Psychological Association, “Intelligence refers to intellectual functioning” (Kazdin,
2000). Along with intelligence is an array of tests. However, many of these tests are “culturally
biased” and that not one intelligence test can be absent of this belief. Unfortunately, this is true
and with the aid of the American Psychological Association’s (APA) President, Robert J.
Sternberg, PhD [Yale University] and Howard Gardner, PhD [Harvard University’s Graduate
School of Education], they have discovered that “non-Western Cultures often have ideas about
intelligence that differ fundamentally from those that have shaped Western intelligence tests”
(Benson, 2003). This is, of course, an unfortunate truth and is being examined closely by
researchers on intelligence and psychologist’s worldwide, making this an eternal conflict as to
which intelligence test is the most effective in measuring intelligence, as well if there is one full-
proof one way of measuring intelligence.
It is a known fact that Western and Eastern cultures differ fundamentally; their
approaches are very different when it comes to intelligence. Richard Nisbett, PhD, is the co-
director of the Culture and Cognition Program at the University of Michigan. Nisbett frequently
argues that “Western cultures tend to view intelligence as a means for individuals to devise
categories and engage in rational debate,” and “Eastern cultures see [intelligence] as a way for
members of a community to recognize contradiction and complexity and to play their social roles
successfully” (Benson, 2003). This theory, or point of view, means that in Western countries,
such as the United States, intelligence is viewed as a topic that is almost always available for
discussion, whereas in Eastern cultures, intelligence is determined by how a certain country, or
community, operates. However, this does not imply that a person from one culture does not carry
the capability of learning the intelligence of another culture.

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Another factor that is evident in the discussion of intelligence is experience. Kaiping
Peng, PhD, is a psychologist at the University of California, Berkeley. Previously, he has worked
alongside Richard Nisbett on a multitude of assignments and believes “there are differences
between the cognitive styles of people raised in Eastern and Western cultures” (Benson, 2003).
Peng is a firm believer in experience’s influence on intelligence and says, “ Culture is not just
race, nationality or any particular social category. Culture is experience” (Benson 2003). In fact,
Robert Serpell, PhD, a researcher from University of Maryland and University of Zambia states,
“some African communities blur the Western distinction between intelligence and responsibility”
(Benson, 2003). In other words, there is no separation of the two principles and they coincide in
a simple fashion.
On another note, Robert J. Sternberg, PhD and Elena Girgorenko, PhD, deputy director of
the Center for the Psychology of Abilities, Competencies and Expertise at Yale University, have
discovered together an African community in rural Kenya. The Luo people are also fond of
blurring the lines between responsibility and intelligence. However, according to a study
produced by Sternberg, “children [in the Luo communities and of the like] who score high on
test of knowledge about medicinal herbs, tend to score poorly on tests of academic intelligence”
(Benson, 2003). These results, which have been published in Sternberg’s journal Intelligence,
provide enough evidence that “practical and academic intelligence develop [separately] and may
even conflict with one another” (Sternberg, 1996).
In recent years, psychologists and researchers on intelligence are devising new, effective
ways of testing intelligence. Patricia Greenfield, PhD, from University of California, Los
Angeles, disputes her view on formal education in Western and Eastern cultures, or in locations
where formal schooling is common or limited. “ In societies where formal schooling is common,

4. CULTURAL DIFFERENCES IN INTELLIGENCE 4
students gain an early familiarity with organizing items into rows and columns, which gives
them an advantage over test-takers in cultures where formal schooling is rare” (Benson, 2003).
However, Greenfield also knows that for one person to be able to experience another culture by
testing, they must be able to carry some understanding of that culture.
In short, there are effective forms of testing intelligence across cultures. Despite that,
people must consider the conditions of another culture to be sure to test a certain culture
properly. A test given in the United States, such as the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT), may or
may not work as well as another form of testing, administered in a different nation. This does not
exclude the fact that there are people in the world who have the capability to comprehend a test
of this level and from a different culture. It means that people must be open to knowledge and
not exclude other cultures from what is commonly seen as “intelligent.”

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Citations
Benson, Etienne. (February 2003). Intelligence Across Cultures. Retrieved from
http://www.apa.org/monitor/feb03/intelligence.aspx
Kazdin, Alan E. (March 2000). Encyclopedia of Psychology: 8 Volume Set. Retrieved from
http://www.apa.org/topics/intelligence/ and
http://www.apa.org/pubs/books/4600100.aspx
Sternberg, R. J. (1996). Successful intelligence. New York: Simon & Schuster. (Paperback
edition: New York: Dutton, 1997).
Sternberg, R. J. (1999). The theory of successful intelligence. Review of General Psychology, 3,
292-316