Culture and Cognition Dr K A Korb University

Culture and Cognition Dr. K. A. Korb University Of Jos 22 May 2009

Outline • General Intelligence • Implicit Theories of Intelligence • Information Processing Dr. K. A. Korb University of Jos

General Intelligence • Intelligence: The capacity to understand the world, think with rationality, and to use resources effectively when faced with challenges (Wechsler) • General Intelligence (g): Based on findings that different cognitive abilities tend to have strong, positive correlations Dr. K. A. Korb University of Jos

General Intelligence • Racial differences in intelligence – The closer a test is to g, the larger the racial differences between Black and White Americans – When re-analyzing the data, socioeconomic (SES) factor accounted for the greater differences in intelligence then race (Humphreys, 1985) • The difference in intelligence between low and middle SES students was greater than the difference between Blacks and Whites Dr. K. A. Korb University of Jos

General Intelligence • National differences in intelligence – Positive correlation between a country’s Gross National products (GNP) and intelligence – Two explanations: • More affluent societies spend more money on education, raising the level of intelligence • The test content may be more familiar to students in more affluent societies, biasing the results Dr. K. A. Korb University of Jos

Testing Procedures • Administered Intelligence tests to 358 young Tanzanian school children (Sternberg et al. , 2002) 1. 2. Pre-Test: Traditional testing procedure Intervention: Feedback given during five minute training on the intelligence test tasks (Dynamic Testing) • 3. • • • Attempt to test the zone of proximal development Post-Test Children perform significantly better on the post-test Post-test scores were weakly correlated with pre-test scores Conclusion: Unfamiliarity with the testing procedures hindered test performance Dr. K. A. Korb University of Jos

General Intelligence • To interpret cultural differences in intelligence test scores, consider the following distinctions: – Intelligence A: Genetic contribution to intelligence – Intelligence B: Intelligence developed within the cultural context – Intelligence C: Performance on the intelligence test • Intelligence C may not accurately measure intelligence B – Due to: Test language, item content, test-taking motivation, speededness of the test • Conclusions from Intelligence C provide very little information about intelligence A. Dr. K. A. Korb University of Jos

General Intelligence • Performance on measures of cognitive abilities (intelligence tests) does not always reflect performance in real-life cognitive tasks – Brazilian street children – US house wives comparison shopping in the market Dr. K. A. Korb University of Jos

Test 2 • Fluid Intelligence: Reason abstractly on novel problems – What comes next in these series? 5 10 15 20 25 30 A. B. C. • Crystallized Intelligence: Accumulation of knowledge and skill in familiar domains – What is Piaget’s second stage of development? – What is the main ingredient in pap? Dr. K. A. Korb University of Jos

Intelligence • In villages, practical, indigenous knowledge: – Is not correlated to fluid intelligence – Is negatively correlated to formal Western crystallized intelligence • Learning in formal Western education appears to conflict with learning indigenous societal and occupational practices • General intelligence may be more related to abilities learned in Western schooling than representative of universal human abilities Dr. K. A. Korb University of Jos

Education and Intelligence • Western Schooling: Study many skills in a variety of domains with little direct teacher interaction • Traditional Schooling: Learn few skills through apprenticeships – Less likely to observe a general factor of intelligence with traditional schooling because students are only exposed to practices within their specific area of training Dr. K. A. Korb University of Jos

Sternberg’s Theory of Successful Intelligence (Sternberg, 2002) • Intelligence: The ability to achieve success at personal standards within one’s socio-cultural context. • Success is attained through a balance of the following abilities: – Analytic: How information is processed – Creative: Ability to handle new situations – Practical: Use environment advantageously Dr. K. A. Korb University of Jos

Implicit Theories of Intelligence • Implicit theories of intelligence: Individual belief of intelligence used as the basis for making judgments about intelligence behavior – Necessary for understanding an individual’s behavior and value system – Necessary for determining a formal theory of intelligence relevant to a community Dr. K. A. Korb University of Jos

Implicit Theories of Intelligence • Taiwan: Problem solving, social competence, emotional competence, intellectual assertion, intellectual selfeffacement • Kenya: – – – Rieko: Knowledge and skills Luoro: Respect and care for others Winjo: Wisdom in real-life problems Para: Creativity Only reiko is correlated with school achievement • Uganda and Zimbabwe: Social behavior that benefits the group Dr. K. A. Korb University of Jos

Implicit Theories of Intelligence • Village adults were asked to nominate children who were superior at typical village tasks and asked reasons why (Serpell, 1991) – – Nzelu: Wisdom Chenjela: Aptitude Tumilika: Responsibility Khulupilika: Trustworthy • Performance in these domains were uncorrelated with school performance Dr. K. A. Korb University of Jos

Implicit Theories of Intelligence • Examined parent theories of intelligence among different ethnic groups in the US (Okagaki & Stenberg, 1993) – Closer the parent’s conceptions of intelligence were to the teachers’ conceptions of intelligence, the better their children performance in school Dr. K. A. Korb University of Jos

Implicit Theories of Intelligence • Cognitive value among traditional societies are different from that of formal education – Western education may be incompatible with activities valued by traditional societies • Intelligence is related to schooling in highly literate societies – Greater exposure to formal education likely shifts cognitive value toward the activities of schooling Dr. K. A. Korb University of Jos

Flynn Effect: Average IQ over time in US Dr. K. A. Korb University of Jos

Information Processing • Cognitive tasks can be separated into single elementary-processing components – Response Time – Memory – Metacognition Dr. K. A. Korb University of Jos

Reaction Time • Simple reaction times with a single stimulus have similar response time between schooled and unschooled cultures – Similar basic cognitive processing for simple tasks • Complex reaction times show cross-cultural differences – As the reaction time tasks increase in complexity, differences between schooled unschooled population increase • Potential Confound: Familiarity with tasks – Timed children when sorting models and photographs of cars and animals – Zambian children were slower at sorting photographs but not models – Difficult to make cross-cultural comparisons by score levels because of familiarity with the stimuli Dr. K. A. Korb University of Jos

Memory • Working memory capacity is not affected by culture • Working memory control processing are affected by culture – Primary Effect: Items presented early in a list are remembered better – Unschooled Liberians do not demonstrate the primary effect or cluster like-objects (Cole et al. , 1971) • The primary effect did not occur until children had been in school for many years – Differences between memory controls processes memory may be limited stimuli • Unschooled Guatemalan children did not lower performance on a memory task that was embedded into their cultural context Dr. K. A. Korb University of Jos

Metacognition • Very little research has examined differences in metacognitive processes between cultures • Research has found socioeconomic and ethnic differences in metacognitive knowledge of school tasks – Linked to the frequency of reading at home • Australian Aborigines demonstrate metacognitive knowledge of storytelling, but metacognitive knowledge rarely transfers to school tasks (Davidson & Freebody, 1988) Dr. K. A. Korb University of Jos

Contextualized Cognition • Contextualized Cognition: Focus on specific cognitive performances as related to particular features of the cultural context – People are good at doing things that are important to them and that they do often – Cultural differences in cognition are due to the fact that cultures differ in the situations in which particular cognitive processes are applied • As opposed to the presence of one process in one cultural group and absence in another • Vygotsky’s Sociocultural Theory of Development is a theory of contextualized cognition – Examines cognitive development within the domains of a cultural activity – Proposed that increasing cognitive competence is the result of interactions between people within a society Dr. K. A. Korb University of Jos

Cotextualized Cognition • Conclusion of Cole and colleagues based on data collected with the Kpelle of Liberia (1971) – Much cognitive behavior is context-bound – It is not possible to generalize cognitive performances from one context to a different context Dr. K. A. Korb University of Jos

Literacy and Intelligence • Original hypothesis: Literacy enables an individual to perform abstract cognitive operations – Compared individuals in Liberia: Illiterates, Read local Via language, or Read English on performance on general cognitive tasks (Scribner & Cole, 1981) – Results: Individuals who could read local Via performed similarly to illiterates. Those who could read English performed significantly better – Not many people use the Vai script; it is only used for familiar topics – Conclusion: Literacy leads to abstract cognition only when a person is able to learn about topics outside of one’s direct experiences Dr. K. A. Korb University of Jos

Conclusion • Universalist Perspective: Basic cognitive processes are shared across all cultures. However, culture influences the development, content, and use of cognitive processes • Cognition is adapted to the environment in which a person is situated. Dr. K. A. Korb University of Jos

Revision • What groups differ in performance on general intelligence tests? What are some possible explanations that have been proposed that might cause the differences in performance? • Describe various cultures’ implicit thories of intelligence. • What cultural similarities and differences have been found on information processing tasks? • Describe the relationship between western formal education and traditional village life. Dr. K. A. Korb University of Jos