Cultural Perceptions of Intelligence in Japanese and American Indian Societies

The field of psychology has continuously endeavored to find an appropriate method in evaluating intelligence. The Stanford-Binet intelligence test is one of pioneering tests created to measure facets of intelligence, and it is still being utilized today (Anastasi & Urbina, 1997). Weschler created several intelligence tests focusing on age range in relation to intelligence (Anastasi & Urbina, 1997). While these tests are staples in the psychological testing community, there are many criticisms of intelligence testing. One such criticism is the absence of race and culture as influential factors of intelligence (Carroll, 2010).

The definition of intelligence can be personalized to one’s culture. While some studies look to examine intelligence in an age bracket, an important feature that is not taken into account is how culture influences intelligence and development (Sternberg & Grigorenko, 2004). Stereotypes of race state Asians are proficient in mathematical areas, African-Americans are musical and artistic, and European-Americans are skillful in scientific areas. While these stereotypes may hold a small level of truth, they box each culture into a small section of intelligence while leaving out the cultural focus. Our daily behavior has influence over our intelligence, and our daily behavior is based around the culture in which we are raised (Sternberg & Grigorenko, 2004). This is the beauty of the cultural context. It allows culture to be incorporated as a major influence in intellectual development (Sternberg & Grigorenko, 2004 pp. 369).

The idea of cultural context allows perspective to be placed on the subject of intelligence. We now can say that each culture puts its emphasis on a specific point in the scheme of intelligenc...

... middle of paper ...

...addle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.

Carroll, J. B. (2012). Intellectual abilities and aptitudes. In Lesgold, A. M., & Glaser, R. (Eds.). Foundations for a psychology of education. Routledge.

Furnham, A., & Fukumoto, S. (2008). Japanese parents’ estimates of their own and their children's multiple intelligences: Cultural modesty and moderate differentiation. Japanese Psychological Research, 50(2), 63–76.

Smith, M. K. (2008). Howard Gardner and multiple intelligences. Retrieved from http://www.infed.org/thinkers/gardner.htm

Sternberg, R. J., & Grigorenko, E. L. (2004). Why we need to explore development in its cultural context Merrill-Palmer Quarterly, 50(3), 369–386.

Tsethlikai, M. (2011). An exploratory analysis of American Indian children's cultural engagement, fluid cognitive skills, and standardized verbal IQ scores. Developmental Psychology, 47(1), 192–202.