Intelligence

This essay will describe my personal definition of intelligence and explain how my            cultural frame of reference influences my definition. I will compare my cultural frame of reference for intelligence with another culture’s frame of reference and, I will analyze the two online intelligence tests, identifying strengths and limitations of each of the tests. Last, I will explain why I believe socioeconomic and family have a great influence on intelligence.

I define intelligence as the ability to use knowledge in certain situations, in order to overcome obstacles and survive in a certain cultural context. Without a doubt, I believe people who show high IQ test scores, present a higher ability to learn and remember, have to be considered intelligent. However, “people live in different environments and acquire knowledge and skills necessary to pursue goals and adapt to different cultural settings.” (Shiraev & Levy, p.121).  I definitely believe  intelligence has different meaning in every culture and I depends on the environment the individual lives in. For instance, a boy living in the streets, learns different priorities and acquire the knowledge necessary to survive every day, whereas a girl who has a home and a stable family, is more concerned in learning math skills for her next test at school.

In my culture,  a person is considered intelligent when they have the best grades in school, which it also makes it important what school the child goes to. Public schools are considered to provide lower quality of education, while the best education is provided at private schools; this is the reason why people in my culture believe the children who attend private schools, are smarter and better prepared for college and life, than children who attend regular public schools. Consequently, the higher hierarchy of intelligent people in Argentina, are the college graduates with professions such as doctors, surgeons, and any other career who probes to be the most difficult to study and learn.

Although the definition of intelligence in Argentina is related to a high-level education, the natives living in the North part of the country have a different perspective. Isolated from the rest of the country, these children learn how to survive daily, applying their knowledge to obtain food and build homes. According to Shiraev & Levy (2010), “studies also reveal that children have advanced practical skills that are not recognized on academic tests.” (p.123). Conventional schooling and a college degree are far from reality for these children and are not necessary crucial for their cultural environment

After analyzing the two intelligence tests I found   limitations and  strengths. Both tests limit an accurate intelligence measure because only the culture of the Edward River Community in Far North Queensland and Australian and American societies. The test related to the Edward River Community in Far North Queensland, is an Australian test, however, not all citizens would know all the answers, since it is specific to the Edward River Community. The Australian/American test intelligence can be familiar for most European and Western people, but not the best intelligence test measure for Asia and Africa. For instance, question  6 in  American/Australian test requires “solution of this problem requires ability to count and sort some of concept of codes. “ (The American/Australian Test of Intelligence, 2003). Personally I am not familiar with these concepts and I believe some countries might not be trained to understand concept of codes either. The positive side of the American/Australian intelligence test is that the questions are familiar for most people in the European and Western area; the Original Australian Test of Intelligence is great to measure how knowledgeable Australians who are not from this community and people from the Edward River Community as well as a way to measure how much people from other parts of the world, have a great knowledge of other cultures.

I believe socioeconomic and family factors, have a great influence on intelligence development and high IQ scores. Even though, a great number of individuals have the same potential to learn and remember new things, it has been supported by studies, that those individuals raised in a middle or upper class, has a better chance to obtain higher IQ scores and be “smarter”, because the parents can provide a study environment and tools to succeed as a student. According to Shiraev & Levy (2010), It was found that a child’s IQ and the socioeconomic status of the child’s parents are positively correlated.” (p.130). Children from a lower socioeconomic status might be deprived of nutritional meals and text books required by the school, to develop their intelligence. In addition, some children have to work to help their parents support their families and survive every day.

Family factors also have a great influence on the child’s intellectual potential and in fact, middle-class parents, “are likely to be educated and subsequently have general understanding of the importance of education.” (P.131). On the contrary, poor families have fewer resources and might not have time to stimulate the child’s intellectual potential, but teach them how to secure their food and a home, a priority in their lives.

In conclusion, intelligence is not only how much you remember and the schooling you can have, but the ability to use the knowledge acquired through the years, and adapt them to difficult situations. My cultural frame of reference for intelligence is not the same as other cultural frame of reference because, each environmental context requires different applications of intelligence. The Australian/American and Original Australian test of intelligence can only be applied to the specified cultures for the reason that these “general knowledge” questions might not be so familiar to people in different cultural context. Last, socioeconomic and family factors have been proven to have a great influence on a child’s intellectual potential and development having more resources and access to learning tools and proper schooling.