Cultural Perspectives of Intelligence

1. Cultural Perspectivesof Intelligence Lisa & Andrea

2. What Do You Think? Please take a moment to ponder your personal conception of intelligence… What behaviours constitute intelligence? To what extent is it fixed? By biology? By one’s environment? Throughout one’s life?

3. In the eye of the beholder… "Conceptions of intelligence … vary widely across societies and are influenced by the unique socio-cultural histories of those societies." ~ Elias Mpofu

4. Overview • video: human brain [10 min] • ‘general intelligence’ vs. multiple intelligences • Break - • other cultural perspectives • video: growth mindset [3 min]

5. Why Our Presentation Will Be More Interesting than Doing the Metro/ 24 Crossword… As teachers, we’ll have our own conceptions of intelligence that we’ll subconsciously convey to our students. It behooves us to examine them, now and regularly in our classes. We may then also recognize behaviour exhibited by our students based on their conceptions of intelligence and what it means for their learning.

6. What is Common… Conventional notions of intelligence built around a loosely consensual definition in terms of generalized adaptation to the environment.

7. Carl Sagan on the Human Brain

8. The psychometric approach 1860’s First theory of ‘general intelligence’: Intelligence is a… biologically-based mental faculty that can be studied by measuring a person’s reaction time to cognitive tasks. Sir Francis Galton

9. Doh!

10. IQ: Objectively Determined & Measured • Statistician, psychologist • g-factor Charles Spearman

11. Fluid & Crystal • Gf: fluid abilities to solve abstract reasoning problems • Gc:crystallized abilities to solve problems of vocab, general info. Raymond Cattell

12. The First IQ Test • 1905 • Basis of IQ Test Used Today • Initially created to identify students who needed special help in school • Binet: case studies more detailed/ helpful; IQ tests save time Alfred Binet (né Alfredo Binetti)

13. Binet’s Caveat! Test scores should not be interpreted literally, as intelligence is plastic. Also, there is a margin of error inherent to the test.

14. Stanford-Binet Sample Questions (1911 Version): An Aboriginal American who had come to town for the 1st time in his life saw a white man riding across the street. As the white man rode by, the Aboriginal said - “the white man is lazy; he walks sitting down. What was the white man riding on that caused the Aboriginal to say, “he walks sitting down”?

15. Stanford-Binet Test Sample My neighbor has been having strange visitors. First a doctor came into the house, then a lawyer, then a minister. What do you think happened there?

16. Stanford-Binet Sample Questions Age 4: Fills in missing word when asked, “brother is a boy; sister is a ___” Answers correctly when asked, “Why do we have houses?”

17. Stanford-Binet Sample Questions Age 9: Answers correctly when examiner says, “In an old graveyard in Spain they have discovered a skull which they believe to be that of Christopher Columbus when he was about 10 yrs old. What is foolish about that?” Examiner presents folded paper; child draws how it will look unfolded.

18. Stanford-Binet Sample Questions Age 12: Completes “The streams are dry … there has been little rain.” Tells what is foolish about statements such as “Bill Jones’s feet are so big that he has to put his trousers on over his head.”

19. Stanford-Binet Sample Questions Adult: Can describe the difference between misery and poverty; character and reputation; laziness and idleness. Explains how to measure 3 pints of water with a 5-pint and a 2-pint can.

20. Multiple Forms of Intelligence • Gardner 1983 • psychometric tests address only linguistic, logical, some spatial. • Yet to be conclusively demonstrated • Talents?

21. Successful Intelligence: Robert Sternberg "I define [intelligence] as your skill in achieving whatever it is you want to attain in your life within your sociocultural context... by capitalizing on your strengths & compensating for, or correcting, your weaknesses... through a balance of analytical, creative, & practical abilities to adapt to, shape, & select environments.” ~ Robert Sternberg

22. Know Thyself… Implicitly Metacognition - ability to understand & control oneself Implicit (tacit) vs. explicit intelligence

23. Sternberg’s Triarchic Theory • Metacomponents: plan what to do, monitor things as they are being done, & evaluate things after they are done. • Eg. recognizing existence of a problem, defining nature of a problem, deciding on a strategy for solving the problem, monitoring the solution of the problem, and evaluating solution after problem is solved.

24. Sternberg’s Triarchic Theory • Performance Components: execute instructions of metacomponents. • Eg. Inference used to decide who two stimuli are related, and application used to to apply what one has inferred. • Eg. comparison of two stimuli, justification of a given response as adequate although not ideal, actually making a response

25. Sternberg’s Triarchic Theory Knowledge-acquisition Components: used to learn how to solve problems or simply acquire factual knowledge • 1. Selective encoding: involves sifting out relevant from irrelevant information (for one's own purpose) • 2. Selective combination: involves combining selectively encoded information in a way as to form an integrated, plausible whole. • 3. Selective comparison: involves relating newly acquired info to info acquired in past. Encoding/ combination of new knowledge guided by retrieval of old info. New info will be useless if cannot somehow be related to old knowledge to form externally connected whole

26. Sternberg’s Triarchic Theory 3 Fundamental Aspects of Intelligence: • Analytic (academic) • Creative • Practical (eg. white & black rock anecdote) Only analytic measured by mainstream tests.

27. Sternberg: Perspectives on intelligence are contextual Skills needed for reading, for example, (pattern perception, articulatory ability, and comparison ability that can be developed but that exist in some amount in individuals whether or not they receive formal schooling), will be much less important in a preliterate society than in a literate one. In contrast, coordination skills that may be essential to life in a preliterate society (i.e. those motor skills required for shooting a bow and arrow) may be all but irrelevant to intelligent behaviour for most people in a literate and more "developed" society.

28. Sternberg: Intelligence is Purposive It is directed toward goals, however vague or subconscious those goals may be. These goals need not be the attainment of the maxima of the goods most valued by society, for example, money, fame, or power. Rather, one may be willing to strive for less of one commodity in the hope of attaining more of another.

29. Sternberg: Intelligence involves shaping the environment • Environmental shaping is used when one's attempts to adapt to the given environment fail. One then attempts to reshape it to increase one's fit with it. • a highly individual process • people who master their environment have the ability to capitalize on strengths and to compensate for weaknesses. (Cronbach & Snow, 1977). • the individuals who do this are often described as having street smarts

30. Wechsler "The global capacity of a person to act purposefully, to think rationally, and to deal effectively with his/her environment.” ~David Wechsler (1939) David Wechsler

31. When I say go, draw a line through each red square and yellow triangle...

32. Which 3 of these pieces go together to make this puzzle?

33. Which one of these goes here to balance these scales?

34. If intelligence is contextual... "It does not make sense to impose one culture's test on another culture...The within-culture validity of the test needs to be demonstrated independently for the two cultures. Such sameness is probably a rare event.” "This argument applies as well to multiple subcultures within a single culture.” Even if a test could be found where all individuals were tested on just those skills common to the adaptive requirements of all their cultures, we would still have to take into account the weighting afforded to those skills.

35. Why the differences? Perspectives on intelligence have been linked to: • Cultural beliefs about human abilities • Availability & Accessibility of formal education to the general public • Social & economic goals • Level of industrialization/development and values underpinning achieved/aspired status • Availability of human and material resources available for study of intelligence.

36. Cultural Perspectives: Japan • Emphasis is on hard work • Much personal responsibilty taken • Not much room for mobility within culture

37. Cultural Perspectives: Scandinavia • Foundation in psychometric testing • Great deal of research • Malmo study 1540 children born in 1928 • Much support for positive effect of education on IQ; also found occupation could be cause (as well as effect) of IQ

38. Cultural Perspectives: France & french-speaking Switzerland Beginning of 20th c. conflict between: • Binet: global, oriented to higher processes • Toulouse & Piéron: analytical, oriented to elementary processes André Rey: capacity to learn v. knowledge base Piaget: flexible, critical method of interviewing child; interested in epistemology, rather than indiv differences; 1st dvlpmtl theory of intell. Sociocognitive influences: child’s cognitive abilities not depend soley on child or teacher, but a social co-construction

39. Piaget’s Theory of Cognitive Development • Operative Intelligence: Understanding world and its dynamics via Assimilation & Accomodation. Parsing = recognizing + distinguishing • Figurative intelligence: Understanding of static world; perception, imitation, mental imagery, drawing, language. These intelligences go through 4 stages: Sensorimotor, Preoperational, Concrete operational, & Formal operational.

40. Cultural Perspectives: Spain • History of philosophical inquiry 16th c. • Early 20th c., intelligence studied for practical applications in education, business • 1984, new law deleted study of individual differences in intelligence from university curricula; cognitive psychology new paradigm • Much more recent research, incl study finding that nerve conduction velocity related to fluid intelligence but not to crystallized intelligence • Genes are not on the research agenda, however learning potential, philosophy for children, Sternberg, & emotional intelligence

41. Cultural Perspectives: German-speaking countries • Intellectual development considered a dynamic lifelong process • Continuous interplay between individual’s biological and sociocultural inheritances. • Focus more on processes & function of intelligent behaviour rather than measuring /predicting intelligence

42. Cultural Perspectives: Israel • Heterogeneous population • Severely deficient in natural resources, therefore, development of human intellectural resources vital to economic survival. • Great efforts to improve school-based intelligence; and standards/ function of education • Test Anxiety recognized

43. Cultural Perspectives: Russia Vygotsky (1978) argued that all intellectual abilities are social in origin. Language & thought 1st appear with parents, develop with teachers. The level of performance a child might reach with appropriate help, “zone of proximal development” ignored by standard tests. Dynamic - cooperative perspective on intelligence

44. Cultural Perspectives: India Laypeople’s conception: • Cognitive competence • Social competence • Competence in action • Emotional competence Buddha, discipline, concentration, …

45. Cultural Perspectives: India “If a man keeps dwelling on sense-objects, attachment to them arises; from attachment, desire flares up; from desire, anger is born; from anger, confusion follows; from confusion, weakness of memory; weak memory - weak understanding weak understanding - ruin.”

46. Cultural Perspectives: Latin America • Study by Kaplan (1997): teachers in Buenos Aires differ greatly in conceptions: innatist, environmental, & (a little) interactionist • General ability & compound of special abilities. • Young children: intelligence viewed in relation to discipline & good work habits; interest in learning; cognitive speed, reasoning, ability; creative; and certain social/family charcteristics (well-nourished, coming from well-constituted homes). • “His head is not fitted for studying” concept very popular in Latin America

47. Cultural Perspectives In a study conducted in California, Okagaki and Sternberg (1993) asked immigrant parents from Cambodia, Mexico, the Philippines & Vietnam, as well as native-born Angle-Americans and Mexican-Americans, about their conceptions of child-rearing, appropriate teaching, & children's intelligence. Parents from all groups except Angle-Americans indicated such characteristics as motivation, social skills, & practical school skills were as or more important than cognitive characteristics for their conceptions of an intelligent 1st-gr child.

48. Cultural Perspectives: Canada • Craik & Lockhart (1972) importance of depth of processing for full command of material vs. speed of processing • Processing shallow (appearance, sound) or deep (semantic) --> affects memory recall • To enhance deep understanding, re-work, link, & use imagery • Contrast American stress processing speed

49. Cultural Perspectives Heath (1983) found different ethnic groups in N. Carolina have different conceptions of intelligence. To be considered intelligent or adaptive, one must excel in skills valued by one's own group. One particularly interesting contrast was importance ascribed to verbal vs. nonverbal communication skills--to saying things explicitly as opposed to using & understanding gestures & facial expressions. Note that while both forms of communicative skill have their uses, they are not equally well represented in psychometric tests.

50. Fixed trait vs. what we do with it Carol Dweck