Intelligence in Cultural, Social and Educational Context

Abstract

Abstract This article reviews recent research on human intelligence and intellectual development and the effects of culture and other social factors on both. It also capitalizes on recent literature on how intellectual development may be strengthened by education. Contrary to a common depiction of human intelligence as a unitary trait that is invariant across time, space, and cultural context, this article argues, with Sternberg (2004), that “Intelligence cannot be fully or even meaningfully understood outside its cultural context.”