Perceptions of Intelligence: The U.S. and The Buddhist Cultures

Perceptions of Intelligence: The U.S. and The Buddhist cultures

Amy Kelly

CPSY-6701

        The word “intelligence” is a word that has multiple meanings depending on who you ask and where that person comes from.  It is understood today that culture plays a major role on human development and human behavior. We know that what is acceptable in one culture may not be acceptable in another culture. The same goes when considering how intelligence is perceived across cultures. According to Sternberg and Grigorenko (2004), it is almost impossible to fully or even meaningfully understand intelligence outside of its cultural context. As with other aspects of culture, behavior that is considered intelligent in one culture may be considered unintelligent in another culture and people in different cultures may have different implicit theories of intelligence (Sternberg & Grigorenko, 2004). Sternberg and Grigorenko (2004) also point out that “the relationship between difference aspects of intelligence can vary across cultures, with correlations that are positive in one setting proving to be negative in another”. Two cultures that view intelligence in different ways are the American culture (USA) and the Buddhist culture. There are aspects of each culture that play into their perceptions of intelligence and measuring intelligence in each culture may be different.

        First, let’s look at the United States. A study was conduced in which three experiments were aimed at investigating experts' and laypersons' conceptions of intelligence (Sternberg, Conway, Ketron, & Bernstein, 1981). The study began by asking laypersons to take a survey/questionnaire with open-ended questions regarding their conceptions of intelligent behavior.  From the results questionnaire, the behaviors that the laypersons had listed were then separated into three different characteristics: intelligent, academically intelligent, and everyday intelligent (Sternberg, Conway, Ketron, & Bernstein, 1981). Experts where then asked to rate which behaviors listed under the three groups were characteristics of intelligence. The study found that verbal intelligence is important with behaviors such as “displaying a good vocabulary” and “is verbally fluent” as indicators of an intelligent person (Sternberg, Conway, Ketron, & Bernstein, 1981; Cocodia, 2014).  The study also found that problem solving abilities were important to the laypersons and experts that were defined by “able to apply knowledge to problem at hand”, “plans ahead”, and “makes good decisions” (Sternberg, Conway, Ketron, & Bernstein, 1981; Cocodia, 2014). Another study of American’s perceptions of intelligence found that adults in the United States consider practical aspects of intelligence along with general cognitive ability to be very important” (Berg & Sternberg, 1992; Cocodia, 2014). There have been a vast amount of studies in regards to western perceptions on intelligence which have found characteristics of intelligence include cognitive skills, decision-making, problem solving, and social skills (Cocodia, 2014). One cultural factor that may influence the United States’ view that cognitive ability is related intelligence is the fact that education is linked to higher intelligence. Generally in our society, the higher level of education means a higher intelligence. Also, our society also puts a lot of emphasis on perceived success (what it means to be successful) and an individual’s success could also be linked to the individual’s intelligence. Richard Nisbitt (2004) suggests that Western countries tend to view intelligence as a means for individuals to devise categories and to engage in rational debate.

        The Buddhist culture does not put as much emphasis on cognitive abilities as the United States. Buddhists consider a vast amount of behaviors that are characteristics of intelligence. These behaviors include: “waking up”, determination, noticing, mental effort, comprehending, knowledge, recognizing, understanding, decision-making, and feelings and opinions (Das, 1994). Unlike the United States, the Buddhist’s perception of intelligence is much more spiritual. Buddhist’s believe that true and pure knowledge is acquired through the five sense and the five motor organs and it is not egoistic or temperamental (Cocodia, 2014) Das explains that in the Buddhist culture, the individual must be unselfish and considerate in order to acquire knowledge and that the purest form of intelligence as occurring within the individual only when he/she has crossed the enlightenment stage which is characterized by concentration, wisdom, generosity, morality and vigor and he/she must be absent of negative emotions, prejudices, and unfavorable temperamental behavior (Das, 1994; Cocodia, 2014). They way that the Buddhist culture perceives intelligence could be influenced by a number of cultural factors. First, as I stated above, the behaviors that the Buddhist’s consider to be characteristics of intelligence are interwoven in their spiritual/philosophical and moral beliefs. For example, an individual’s temperament is an important part of knowledge acquisition and intelligence (Das, 1994; Cocodia, 2014). Another cultural factor that may influence Buddhist’s perception on intelligence is their concern with individual self-improvement. Das (1994) states that in Asian cultures, an individual is expected to continuously improve one’s self and that this may be linked to the continuous search for knowledge and individual self-fulfillment. Eastern cultures may view intelligence as an avenue “to recognize contradiction and complexity and to play their social roles successfully” (Nisbett, 2004). Lastly, intelligence is interwoven with morality in the Buddhist culture.

        When it comes to any psychological assessment, whether it is intelligence testing, personality testing, or behavioral testing, understanding an individual’s cultural background is vital. As I stated in my introduction, different cultures may view things differently than another culture. Cultural groups can differ when it comes to their cultural values, language, life and death, family roles, problem solving, attitudes towards education, mental health, and mental illnesses, and many other aspects (Gregory, 2013). Having a competent understanding of an individual’s cultural background is important in understanding the results of any assessment. This is also relevant when measuring intelligence. Depending on an individual’s culture, different measure of intelligence may need to be used. In the United States, an individual’s intelligence may be measured in many ways. Tests such as the Wechsler Scales, Stanford-Binet, Detroit Tests of Learning Aptitude, Cognitive Assessment System, and Kaufman Brief Intelligence Test are the most commonly used intelligence tests in the United States, accounting for 95% of the intellectual assessments that are conducted (Gregory, 2013). The most popular of the assessments is the Wechsler scales. The Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale is comprised 15 subsets of four domains (Verbal Comprehension, Perceptual Reasoning, Working Memory, and Processing Speed) that are used to obtain the traditional IQ score of the individual (Gregory, 2013). Since the Buddhist’s perceive intelligence differently than the United States, it is difficult to measure intelligence in the Buddhist culture. In terms of general intelligence, Cocodia (2014) proposes that Raven’s nonverbal intelligence tests are described as the best available measure of general intelligence and that assertions have been made that this test is culturally fairer than other tests. Raven’s tests are based on spatial analogies that require one to form relations among abstract items (Cocodia, 2014). Although I believe that Raven’s test would be suitable and helpful in determining general intelligence of an individual in this culture, Buddists believe that in order to gain the purest intelligence, one must go through the stages of enlightenment which characterized by concentration, wisdom, generosity, morality and vigor and he/she must be absent of negative emotions, prejudices, and unfavorable temperamental behavior (Das, 1994; Cocodia, 2014). How does one purpose measuring these aspects of intelligence that they consider to be important?