Question

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What abilities define our concept of an intelligent person in Saudi Arabia? What abilities do you think would define the concept of an intelligent person in both rural Africa and Tokyo Japan?

Answer 1

Serpell and others have found that people in some African communities--especially where Western schooling has not yet become common--tend to blur the Western distinction between intelligence and social competence. In rural Zambia, for instance, the concept of nzelu includes both cleverness (chenjela) and responsibility (tumikila). "When rural parents in Africa talk about the intelligence of children, they prefer not to separate the cognitive speed aspect of intelligence from the social responsibility aspect," says Serpell.

Sternberg and Grigorenko also have investigated concepts of intelligence in Africa. Among the Luo people in rural Kenya, Grigorenko and her collaborators have found that ideas about intelligence consist of four broad concepts: rieko, which largely corresponds to the Western idea of academic intelligence, but also includes specific skills; luoro, which includes social qualities like respect, responsibility and consideration; paro, or practical thinking; and winjo, or comprehension. Only one of the four--rieko--is correlated with traditional Western measures of intelligence.

The calculated IQ for the general population sample that represents students from public and private schools is just over 80, one of the lowest among Arab, Western, and Asian nations. When compared to the IQ of 93 for students from a Saudi private school known for its high educational standards, a statistically significant difference was found, indicating a likely effect of good schooling on IQ.