opinion 2

Kegan Jenkins March 18, 2015 Opinion Paper #2 !1

Everyone these days seems to have their own definition of intelligence or what it means

to be intelligent. This makes developing a test that can accurately represent what a persons

intelligence is very challenging. Besides the fact that most people cannot agree on what

intelligence actually is, there are many other problems that arise when trying to create a valid

test.

Standardizing an intelligence test is especially hard when you factor in the problem of

cultural differences. For the test to be truly valid, it must be culturally neutral. Meaning that any

person from any upbringing or environment can take the test and the outcome will not be

affected. Developing this kind of test has the struggle of many and is extremely difficult. Is

creating a culturally neutral intelligence test even possible? Many psychologists and scientists

are still trying to make it a reality.

One of the things that is most inconstant between cultures is language. All cultures, even

if they speak the same language, have their own unique ways of communicating and

connotations of words that would be uncommon to others. Because of this the only way to truly

make a test culturally neutral is to develop of test that uses language very little or not at all. Tests

without language that focus on testing an individuals problem solving skills have been

developed, but are they really testing intelligence? Is problem solving the most important kind

of intelligence? Some would say yes, but most would probably disagree with you.

Language is just the tip of the iceberg. The differences in our cultures go straight to the

core of a persons self-image. To make them completely forget about all of those things seems

like a very challenging requests. Many of our thought processes are also unconscious and we

have no control over our subconscious self. Our subconscious self is also greatly affected by our


culture and how we were raised. So if we dont even know how our brain is being affected how

can we become unaffected?

With that in mind, I do not think it is possible to develop a culturally neutral intelligence

test. Culture and how we are raised is imbedded deeper in who we are more than anything else.

I believe all parts of our brain and thought processes are affected by our culture in some way.

Trying to pinpoint our culture and how we think is impossible, because how we think is a direct

result of our culture. Since our intelligence is so heavily affected by our culture, why would it

make sense to try to develop a test that completely negates it? So we can have a standard way of

saying this person is smarter than that person? No matter how you develop a test, when it is

handed out, each individual is going to see it and interpret it differently. That is just human

nature and we all have different varieties of intelligence in different fields.

Of course, many people disagree with my thought process. They believe we need a test

that can accurately show a persons intelligence and can be valid for all cultures. To them, a test

could be developed if we are able to eliminate the disadvantages of some cultures and the

advantages of others and just test the how we use the processes of the brain. Although I think

this is an admiral goal, it also seems unreachable. You can develop a test that tests a person

intelligence, but part of that is going to be affected by their culture no matter what. I would not

even know where to start in developing such a test. Unless you hypnotized someone to forget

everything about themselves, I do not think it is possible.

Society has an obsession with being intelligent, even though most people cannot even

agree on what actually makes a person intelligent. They all want a test where we would be able

to compare people across the board solely on their intelligence. However, to pinpoint only


intelligence is impossible because our cultures have such a close relationship with how we think

that they cannot be separated. Now there can be tests where the culture aspect can be minimized

greatly, but to created a fully culturally neutral test is only a pipe dream.

opinion 2

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