Intelligence, IQ and The Third World

Intelligence and IQ are among the most important concepts in Psychology, yet these are also the most complex, misunderstood and polemical issues. The traditional concept of IQ is closely bound with academic achievement, and it is a poor predictor of behaviour in areas other than scholastic achievement. The validity of the assumptions underlying the Western concept of intelligence and the present methods of assessment are even more limited for the Third World countries, where the majority of populations do not have any experience of schooling. Instead of translating and adapting the existing tests or attempting to devise culture-fair tests, intelligence should be viewed from the social and cultural context in which it is deemed to exist and is then measured, not through scholastic-type skills but by means of skills considered intelligent in that culture. This paper presents a model of assessment of IQ which takes into account culture-specific skills, their acquisition, comprehension and generalization of such skills.