Social Responsibility as a Dimension of Intelligence, and as an Educational Goal: Insights From Programmatic Research in an African Society

Abstract

Abstract— This article examines the implications that 4 decades of multimethod research in Zambia have for psychological assessment, parent–teacher communication, educational policy, and research methodology. Its primary focus is a cultural study of indigenous ideas in a rural Chewa community in eastern Zambia that concluded that, within this culture, children’s intelligence was construed as an amalgam of cognitive alacrity and social responsibility. But in Zambia, as elsewhere, the curriculum of institutionalized public basic schooling is almost exclusively addressed to the cultivation of knowledge and cognitive skills. The article outlines the approach to education taken by Child-to-Child, one that resonates with indigenous African values and practices. It also describes a case study of the application of this approach at a public primary school in northern Zambia that documented sustained increases in social responsibility alongside strong academic outcomes. Connections with research and policy in other societies are also discussed.