Intelligence & Culture

To define culture, we can point at a group of people who have mutual understandings, experiences, and beliefs. Culture shapes our way of living, and contributes in building our standards in life. The interaction between different cultures highlights major differences and similarities as well. Some people find it difficult to cross their cultural zone and prefer to maintain a formal interaction between alienated cultures. However, Some people have the ability to adapt to outsiders and interpret their gestures and attitude just the way they do with their compatriots. This is called ‘Cultural intelligence’.



It requires for a person with cultural intelligence to use his senses to understand that the people he’s interacting with are different from his compatriots. After conducting, the person can easily anticipate what the reaction of the people will be and his inferences will be stereotype-free. People who are socially efficacious among their colleagues, are the ones who end up being accepted by alienated cultures. Also, those who are detached from their culture are able to interact and adapt with other cultures. However, those who are attached to the norms of their society are mostly considered as alienated people and they have a difficult time adapting to strangers. Interaction is the most important step that a person should carry out in order to advance her or his perceptions of various cultures. People with cultural intelligence will not relay on taking training programs and learning about a cultures’ customs, but will use their own learning strategies to understand the mutuality between the alien culture and their own. Also, the study of foreigners’ body language is one way to win their trust and openness. Through that, we can make ourselves understand how to interact with other cultures and adopt with them through logical strategies and respect. We have to observe the surroundings of unfamiliar cultures and focus on what is common with our own.



What many people are not aware of is that intelligence tests and especially the IQ test rooted based on racial and cultural bigotry. The creators of the modern testing field have advocated eugenics. “Eugenics is a movement concerned with the selective breeding of human beings” (Robert Sternberg). The initial aim for eugenics is to have humans with certain traits mate together and have their offspring inherit these traits. Therefore, a better human race is formed. IQ tests that have been taken by people from different ethnic backgrounds have indicated dissimilar average scores. A study used to measure a group of students’ intelligences has demonstrated that white students with privileged backgrounds were identified for their high-analytic intelligence, and those with high scores in practical and creative skills were racially and economically diverse. Within racial groups, genetics have their influence on some factors of intelligence. However, the IQ test is not able to indicate these factors that caused differences in the results of racial groups. When a society is highly diverse, creating a closed system by concentrating one certain type of students will result in neglecting the achievements of other types of students. Thus, The society is unintentionally neglecting what other groups have to offer.



Cultural intelligence is only one segment of many intelligences out there. There are many factors that influence intelligence and individuals perceive different factors on their culture and environment. Success is our initial goal in life; intelligence can contribute in playing a big role in achieving our goals. Our thoughts that we have in mind are applied through our actions and intelligence helps us develop them to a sophisticated and more organized level.