Introduction
Culture is a unique phenomenon impacting the life of every person. It can be determined as specific behavior patterns, beliefs, and views that are transmitted within a certain group (Cohen et al., 2022). For this reason, it influences all aspects of people’s functioning and abilities. Thus, when measuring individuals’ intelligence, it is also vital to consider culture. First, specific cultural groups might have various access to educational opportunities, influencing the overall knowledge and development of specific competencies and skills (Alifuddin & Widodo, 2022). Second, the factor of culture might make the IQ tests biased and less effective because they were created in a specific environment characterized by unique features (Alifuddin & Widodo, 2022). Under these conditions, culture plays a vital role in intelligence development and should be considered when designing and using methods to measure it.
Discussion
Furthermore, culture might be linked to the aspects essential for testing and its success. For instance, the lack of interest and motivation in the testing situation might result from the attitudes cultivated within a group with several cultural disadvantages (Kranzler & Floyd, 2020). Moreover, the impairment or inability to understand written and oral instructions can also be viewed as a result of lower intelligence because of the lack of educational efforts peculiar to some cultures (Cohen et al., 2022). Under these conditions, most IQ tests should be adapted to the unique needs of a testee to ensure that relevant and credible information is acquired (Kranzler & Floyd, 2020). For instance, the Binet-Simon intelligence test was designed to evaluate natural intelligence and create a culture-free intelligence test (Cohen et al., 2022). However, the attempt failed because of the impossibility of separating culture and a person’s abilities.
Conclusion
Furthermore, personality traits might be linked to cultural background. It means that they influence intelligence measurement and should be viewed as an essential factor vital for assessing the abilities of a person (Gonthier, 2022). Under these conditions, it is possible to conclude that culture is one of the major factors affecting individuals and their unique characteristics. For this reason, it should also be considered when introducing a particular test and measuring specific capabilities. Otherwise, there is a high risk of acquiring irrelevant information and making wrong assumptions.
References
Alifuddin, M., & Widodo, W. (2022). How is cultural intelligence related to human behavior? Journal of Intelligence, 10(1), 3. Web.
Cohen, R.J., Schneider, J.W. & Tobin, R. (2022). Psychological testing and assessment: An introduction to tests and measurement (10th ed.). McGraw-Hill.
Gonthier, C. (2022). Cross-cultural differences in visuo-spatial processing and the culture-fairness of visuo-spatial intelligence tests: an integrative review and a model for matrices tasks. Cognitive Research: Principles and Implications, 7, 11. Web.
Kranzler, J., & Floyd, R. (2020). Assessing intelligence in children and adolescents (2nd ed.). Rowman & Littlefield.