Cultural Differences and Human Intelligence

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Cultural background is one of the most significant factors affecting worldview and perception of life. Even though time passes by and a new trend towards homogenous culture is being established, there are people, who still desire to preserve their uniqueness and cultural roots. They do not forget about their origins including religion, language, and accepted vision of the world around them. Cultural differences have a robust impact on understanding family life, building social relationships, and even seeing oneself as well as self-development. The apprehension of intelligence is not an exception to the general rule mentioned above.

Broadly speaking, there are two opinions on viewing the influence of culture on measuring intelligence. The first perspective is relativism. It implies that culture has a direct effect on defining the elements and dimensions of intelligence. That said, every cultural minority will have a separate standpoint when it comes to intelligence. In addition to it, what some people see as a sign of an intelligent person, will make no sense to the representatives of other cultural minorities. The second perspective is universalism.

It centers on recognizing a universal set of abilities determining intelligence. It means that all people have enough knowledge and experience to solve problems and equal chances to become intelligent. The role of culture is either to motivate a person to develop these abilities and use them to the maximum possible extent or discourage them (Cocodia, 2014). So, the difference between the two viewpoints mentioned above is the fact that relativism rests on the existence of different sets of abilities defining intelligence while universalism points to the homogeneity of talents.

This paper will represent the universalistic theory. It will investigate differences in the perception of intelligence across Western and Asian cultures. The primary assumption is that everyone is born with equal abilities to become intelligent, but it is the cultural environment that determines whether an individual will develop them. It means that intelligence cannot be perceived outside the cultural context (Sternberg & Grigorenko, 2004).

The primary feature of Asian culture is the existence of numerous languages and traditions over the Eastern region. This culture is the combination of Confucian, Taoist, Hindu, and Buddhist conceptions affecting the perception of life. Still, there are some characteristics, which are common to all countries of the region. That said, most Asians believe that they should make efforts to act in the right manner.

This belief extends to the understanding of intelligence. It means that an intelligent person will work diligently to obtain new knowledge, enjoy learning, and develop copious vocabulary. In addition to it, intelligent people are those, who adapt to new circumstances either they require new knowledge and skills or actions and know-how to apply theory to practice. Finally, Asian culture promotes intelligence as being creative, insightful, and reasoning logically (Cocodia, 2014).

As for Western culture, the promoted perception of intelligence has changed over time. As people invented new technologies and introduced them to everyday lives, the ability to use them quickly and effectively has become one of the key determinants of intelligence. Moreover, it is believed that critical thinking, rapid adaptation, abstract reasoning, and practical skills are those features, which identify intelligence. Some other characteristics include the ability to sound debates, classification, and academic intelligence (Benson, 2003).

That said, the Western perception of intelligence is more adaptive if compared to one recognized in Asia. Even though Asians are also requested to adapt to new circumstances, no emphasis is made on the necessity to have rich knowledge in using technologies. Instead, the focus is made on openness and willingness to absorb new knowledge and finding ways to apply it to real life.

There are numerous cultural factors, which might influence how intelligence is understood in these cultures. Some of them are the role of religion in culture, attitude to the inner self and personal needs, and habits. For example, there is one primary difference between Asian and Western cultures. It goes down to the role of religion and philosophy in culture.

While Asians pay significant attention to religion and philosophy, people belonging to the Western culture do not. In fact, obtaining new knowledge is also a kind of philosophy in Asian culture because it is based on a set of postulates such as openness to new knowledge, readiness to adapt, etc. On the other hand, Western culture does not have a holistic approach to knowledge and intelligence viewing it from a more pragmatic standpoint.

Attitude to one’s inner self and personal needs might be considered as a cultural factor influencing the perception of intelligence because it determines how people see the knowledge. That said, Asian culture promotes education and intelligence because as a part of self-development. Both cultures are similar if viewed from this perspective.

However, the role of knowledge is a bit underestimated in Western culture. The motivation for taking this standpoint is the fact that life experience is rarely referred to as knowledge in Western civilization because preference is given to practical and technical attainments. Finally, habits are one of the most significant factors affecting the perception of intelligence. It is almost identical in both cultures promoting readiness to adapt.

Cultural factors and primary features characterizing perception of intelligence might be used as the methods for measuring intelligence in each culture. Of course, there is a unique method, which might be deployed for both cultures (IQ test), but I believe that it might not be useful for representing factual information because it centers on the ability to solve problems and think logically ignoring life experience and personal philosophy. I think that I would choose openness to obtain new knowledge and finding ways to apply it to practice as the best tool for measuring intelligence.

The rationale for choosing it is the fact that it is unique for both Asian and Western cultures and can be used for estimating the intelligence of every person regardless of the level of academic knowledge and social position in life. What I want to say is that intelligence should be measured without making the stress on academic performance because there are real-world examples of people, who have loads of academic knowledge, but cannot apply it to life because it is out-of-date. On the other hand, there are those people, who do not have degrees in sciences but instead possess the ability to absorb knowledge quickly and explain it easily.

So, the central conclusion of the paper is that intelligence cannot be perceived outside of the cultural context. However, there are some common features, which might be used for understanding it throughout different cultures. They include readiness to adapt to new circumstances, critical thinking, and openness to new knowledge.

References

Benson, E. (2003). Intelligence across cultures. American Association of Psychology Monitor on Intelligence, 34(2), 56.

Cocodia, E. A. (2014). Cultural perceptions of human intelligence. Journal of Intelligence, 2(1), 180-196. doi: 10.3390/jintelligence2040180

Sternberg, R. J., & Grigorenko, E. L. (2004). Intelligence and culture: How culture shapes what intelligence means, and the implications for a science of well-being. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London, 359(1449), 1427-1434.

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Cultural Differences and Human Intelligence

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