Intelligence

There are numerous theories of intelligence, both implicit and explicit. Implicit are the informal ideas that exist in people's minds regarding what it means to be intelligent: smart, quick, clear, focused (Sternberg, 1985). Explicit theories worked out by expert researchers sometimes include these ideas, particularly the association of speed with intelligence. It will be argued in this paper that implicit theories, especially those of the population at large, play an important role in how intelligence is to be viewed, precisely because conceptions of intelligence vary across cultures. Furthermore, this variance arises from the fact that "intelligence" is a term created by society to describe the capacity needed to function within society.

Intelligence is, in the broadest sense, problem-solving ability. When all of the myriad challenges and circumstances in life are

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there possibly be one single substrate for intelligence? Clearly, one's culture or subculture will determine whether one is judged intelligent, to a certain extent. Wober (1974) investigated conceptions of intelligence among members of different tribes in Uganda as well as within different subgroups of the tribes. Wober found differences in conceptions of intelligence both within and between tribes. The Baganda, for example, tended to associate intelligence with mental order, whereas the Batoro associated it with some degree of metal turmoil. In terms of semantic-differential scales, Baganda tribespeople thought of intelligence as persistent, hard, and obdurate, whereas the Batoro thought of it as soft, obedient, and yielding (Sternberg, 1985, 34). If intelligence is defined as "problem-solving ability," and problems vary across cultural and geographical contexts, then a sensible representation of intelligence must take into account varying contexts as well. Sternberg's triarchic theory of intelligence is exceedingly thorough in its consideration of all possible components of intelligence. The triarchic theory of human intelligence seeks to understand intelligence in terms of three subtheories: a contextual subtheory that relat
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Approximate Word count = 2332
Approximate Pages = 9 (250 words per page)

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