Intelligence in Context: The Cultural and Historical Foundations of Human Intelligence

446 Pages·2022·9.434 MB·English

by  Robert J. Sternberg, David D. Preiss

Intelligence in Context
The Cultural and Historical Foundations
of Human Intelligence
Edited by
Robert J. Sternberg · David D. Preiss
Intelligence in Context
Robert J. Sternberg • David D. Preiss
Editors
Intelligence in
Context
The Cultural and Historical
Foundations of Human Intelligence
Editors
Robert J. Sternberg David D. Preiss
Department of Psychology Pontifical Catholic University of Chile
Cornell University Santiago, RM - Santiago, Chile
Ithaca, NY, USA
ISBN 978-3-030-92797-4 ISBN 978-3-030-92798-1 (eBook)
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-92798-1
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Preface
Intelligence often is thought of as represented by a score on some kind of
an intelligence test: a verbal one, a nonverbal one, or perhaps some mix-
ture of the two. The tests yield a score, which may or may not have an
impact on decisions that experts or bureaucrats take about an individual’s
life. The test can provide or restrict educational opportunities, can provide
access to special treatments or interventions, and, in some extreme cases,
save or cost a person’s life if used as a part of a trial for which the death
penalty is a result. During most of the twentieth century, intelligence test-
ing played a substantial role in shaping not only our educational institu-
tions but also our society in general. Today, intelligence tests are still widely
used, but that use is not exempt from intense debate because of the long-
standing differences in test performance between individuals from differ-
ent socioeconomic, cultural, and ethnic backgrounds.
Many researchers in the field of intelligence look beyond IQ tests in
various ways to understand and measure intelligence. Although there are
many ways of looking beyond, one of the most important ones is to look
to intelligence as it occurs in its natural contexts, including not only the
individuals and groups but also the cognitive tools and technologies they
use when performing different tasks (Preiss & Sternberg, 2005). John
Berry (1974), one of the contributors to this book, was one of the earliest
to recognize that intelligence can vary as a function of contextual
demands. Michael Cole and his collaborators also have long taken this
v
vi Preface
position (Laboratory of Comparative Human Cognition, 1982), as have
many others since then (e.g., Mpofu, 2004; Rogoff, 2003; Scribner,
1984; Serpell, 1974; see essays in Sternberg & Preiss; 2005, and a review
in Sternberg, 2020).
As you will discover when you read this book, many of the authors
believe that a contextual approach to intelligence is more important than
ever. IQ has proven inadequate for solving many, perhaps any of the seri-
ous problems the world faces today. And some of these problems, such as
climate change, are potentially catastrophic. The name given to the Epoch
undergoing this possible eventual catastrophe, the Anthropocene, makes
clear that many of the issues that we face today are a result of not only our
activities but also our abilities, including those comprised by the con-
struct of intelligence. In addition to understanding the relation of intel-
ligence to its context, it is important to understand how historical changes
impact intelligence research: They affect not only our definitions of intel-
ligence and of intelligence assessment but also the nature of the abilities
themselves.
The book opens with this brief introduction and then is divided into
seven parts.
In Part I, Intelligence and Cultural Evolution, researchers consider how
cultural evolution shapes intelligence and how intelligence, in turn, is
shaped by cultural evolution. This part consists of two chapters:
“Intelligence as Ecological and Cultural Adaptation,” by John W. Berry,
and “Adaptive Intelligence and Cultural Evolution,” by Chi-yue Chiu,
Hiu-sze Chan, Sau-lai Lee, and Jennifer Yuk-Yue Tong.
Berry advances an ecocultural framework, which suggests that intelli-
gence favors adaptation in multiple and different ways across cultures.
This framework rests on two principles: (i) psychological processes are
largely universally shared, and (ii) these processes are variably developed
historically and ontogenetically. The author indicates that, for under-
standing intelligence, it is therefore necessary to know the challenges
people face in their own ecosystems. Chiu and collaborators link adaptive
intelligence to cultural evolution theories and suggest that adaptive intel-
ligence is supported by individual and interpersonal capacities. These
capacities have evolved and are evolving to support adaptation in con-
crete physical, socioeconomic, and social ecologies. The authors propose
Preface vii
a conceptual framework for understanding, measuring, and developing a
psychological system of adaptive intelligence.
Part II deals with Culture and Society in the History of Research on
Human Intelligence. There are three chapters: “A Brief History of IQ
Testing: Fixed vs. Malleable Intelligence,” by Alan S. Kaufman, Dowon
Choi, Hansika Kapoor, and James C. Kaufman; “The Idea of a Peculiarly
Female Intelligence: A Brief History of Bias Masked as Science,” by Gerd
Gigerenzer; and “Intelligence and Wisdom in Chinese Intellectual
History and in Modern-Day Taiwan,” by Shih-ying Yang, Kimberly
Y. H. Chang, and Shin-yi Huang.
Kaufman and his collaborators review the history of IQ test develop-
ment. They assess how different scholars in the history of the field have
considered the malleability of intelligence. Specifically, they summarize
the views of Binet, Terman, Wechsler, and others on both basic and
applied topics related to the definition and interpretation of intelligence
and its measurement. Next, Gigerenzer identifies three approaches devel-
oped by men to a peculiarly female intelligence in order to explain and
justify their own superior social position. He summarizes historical
approaches as well as other approaches originating from modern research
on intelligence and related fields. Closing this section, Yang and collabo-
rators explore the concepts of intelligence and wisdom in Chinese intel-
lectual history and in modern-day Taiwan, showing that, in Taiwan, the
Chinese term for intelligence is often used interchangeably with that for
wisdom. Then, they trace the evolving concepts of wisdom and intelli-
gence through Chinese intellectual history and present a pilot study
exploring perceived differences between wisdom and intelligence in
Taiwan today.
Part III focuses on Socio-cultural Influences in Human Intelligence. It
comprises three chapters: “The Status of Intelligence as a Panhuman
Construct in Cross-Cultural Psychology,” by Johnny R. J. Fontaine and
Ype H. Poortinga; “Cultural intelligence: From Intelligence in Context
and across Cultures to Intercultural Contexts,” by Kok Yee Ng, Soon
Ang, and Thomas Rockstuhl; and “Cultural Change in Africa under the
Pressure of HIV/AIDS: The Role of Natively Developed Intelligence,” by
Mei Tan and Elena L. Grigorenko.
viii Preface
Fontaine and Poortinga summarize the early history of intelligence test-
ing in cross-cultural contexts and present examples of studies that have
produced credible findings about effects of economic and social condi-
tions on intellectual performance. Second, they argue that the distinction
between credible and noncredible approaches in cross-cultural research on
human intelligence centers on a differentiated approach to psychometric
equivalence. Third, they discuss various approaches to the assessment of
intelligence, in terms of the level of equivalence that can be achieved, and
the consequent prospect for cross-cultural comparison. Kok Yee Ng, Soon
Ang, and Thomas Rockstuhl take the view that intelligence and context
are deeply intertwined. They show how three different streams of intelli-
gence research emerge from different conceptualizations of context: (1) a
narrow focus on intelligence in context; (2) an ethnological approach
focused on intelligence across cultures; and (3) an integrative approach,
which they name “cultural intelligence.” The last approach studies the
capability to function effectively in the specific context of intercultural
interactions. The authors discuss implications and future research direc-
tions in the Anthropocene epoch. Tan and Grigorenko discuss culturally
shaped components of intelligence playing a relevant role in the survival
and well-being of individuals affected by HIV/AIDS in sub-Saharan
Africa. They focus specifically on cognition relevant to social responsibility
and social connectivity. They then illustrate how such skills have been
instrumental in individuals’ adaptation, with a focus on the accommoda-
tion of AIDS orphans within African kinship systems, and the transfor-
mation of African conceptions of time to support habits of medication
adherence.
Part IV deals with Context, Assessment, and Intellectual Performance. It
has two chapters: “Taking an Intelligence Test: Does the Context Matter?”
by Adrian Furnham and “A Contextual Approach to Research on
Intelligence and Complex Task Performance,” by David Z. Hambrick.
Furnham makes a distinction between the academic view and the lay
understanding of intelligence, considers issues about the perception and
accuracy of intelligence tests, and, in contrast with typical other means of
assessment, looks at other everyday tests and markers of intelligence and
what they mean. He concludes that most people take a wider view of
intelligence and are skeptical about tests because their face validity seems
Preface ix
not to coincide with people’s understanding of what intelligence means.
Hambrick argues that although scores on tests of standardized tests of
intelligence meaningfully predict performance in complex real-world
tasks, research on intelligence has been conducted in a largely acontextual
fashion. He focuses on the interplay between intelligence, domain knowl-
edge, and the environment in complex task performance and sketches
out a contextual view of intelligence
Part V covers Social Issues and the Science of Human Intelligence. It con-
sists of three chapters: “Mindsets of Intelligence: Their Development,
Consequences, and Relation to Group-based Inequality,” by Lin Bian;
“Re-Envisioning Intelligence in Cultural Context,” by Lisa Suzuki,
Taymy Josefa Caso, and Aysegul Yucel; and “Challenges for Intelligence
Today: Combatting Misinformation and Fake News,” by Stephen J. Ceci
and Wendy M. Williams.
Bian provides a selective review of implicit theories of intelligence at
both the individual and the organizational levels. She discusses the acqui-
sition of these beliefs and their impacts in people’s behavior. She com-
ments on people’s stereotypes about intelligence based on gender or race,
and summarizes evidence showing how a fixed organizational mindset
detrimentally impacts individuals of negatively stereotyped groups.
Suzuki and collaborators propose that traditional definitions of intelli-
gence are limited in their cultural adaptability. The authors claim that
measures must be inclusive of various forms of intelligence, including
those advanced by theories of social, emotional, and cultural intelligences.
For the authors, intelligence can no longer be defined by a single score
but rather must be based on profiles of behavior and outcomes that takes
into consideration flexibility, adaptability, and survival. Ceci and Williams
discuss how intelligence today must address how people identify and
resist misinformation. They propose that current conceptions of intelli-
gence should incorporate how people reason in today’s information-rich
era, which requires us all to distinguish trustworthy information from
fake news. They indicate that the evidence points to the importance of
assuming an “openly active method of thinking” to identify and resist
misinformation. They conclude by discussing the relationship between
this mode of thinking and intelligence as it is usually defined.
x Preface
Part VI encompasses thoughts on The Future of the Science of Human
Intelligence and Its Implications for Society. It consists of two chapters:
“Human intelligence in the Time of the Anthropocene,” by David
D. Preiss, and “Time Bomb: How the Western Conception of Intelligence
Is Taking Down Humanity,” by Robert J. Sternberg.
Sternberg proposes that humans are on a species-suicidal course and
that the conventional notion of intelligence has led us to set a time bomb
for our own existence. He argues that serious problems in the world will
not be solved by conventional education or by selecting students with the
highest IQs. He proposes that we need a conception of intelligence in
instruction and assessment that considers the kinds of problems people
need to solve in order to ensure their survival and that of many other spe-
cies. This requires focusing on creative, practical, and wisdom-based abil-
ities. Preiss discusses how the transformations we have experienced during
the Anthropocene signal the need to more deeply consider the role of
context in our thinking of intelligence. Next, he discusses how the cul-
tural evolution of our symbolic abilities is key to understand the proper-
ties of modern-day human intelligence. Then, he comments on how the
invention of the theory of general intelligence was marked by a lack of
consideration of the role of context, notwithstanding the fact that the
British founders of the field were working in the midst of the great trans-
formation provoked by the Industrial Revolution. Finally, he concludes
by discussing how intelligence research should be conducted to address
the demands of the Anthropocene.
Finally, Part VII, Conclusion, involves just a single chapter: “Conclusion:
Intelligence Does Not Inhere within the Individual but Rather in Person
x Task x Situation Interactions,” by the editors.
As a whole, this book makes a compelling case for the integration of
contextual perspectives in human intelligence research. It includes chap-
ters dealing with the relation between intelligence and natural and cul-
tural evolution, the role of contextual variables in intelligence, the
evolution of the concept of intelligence across time, the status of human
intelligence in the Anthropocene, and contemporary social issues and
intelligence. The book is written for those in the field of intelligence, but
also for others who are interested in intelligence and thinking about it
beyond the narrow confines of IQ-based and other similar