Intelligence, Race, and Psychological Testing

Alfano, Mark; Holden, LaTasha R; Conway, Andrew R. A.

doi:10.1093/oxfordhb/9780190236953.013.2

Cited by 4 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 30 publications

(27 reference statements)

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“…This remains one of the most highly replicated findings in psychology and psychometric literature (Spearman 1904;Conway and Kovacs 2015). Although Spearman defined intelligence in terms of a single psychometric factor g, modern work defines intelligence as the emergent interaction of a variety of domain specific and domain general cognitive processes (see Alfano et al 2016;Van der Maas et al 2006;Thomson 1916), deemed Process Overlap Theory (Kovacs and Conway 2016). Here, we focus on this modern definition of intelligence with the formative g approach supplied by Process Overlap Theory.…”

Section: Defining Our Modern Notion Of Intelligencementioning

confidence: 95%

Intelligence Can Be Used to Make a More Equitable Society but Only When Properly Defined and Applied

Holden

Hart

2021

J. Intell.

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In the US, undeniable evidence shows that socioeconomic inequities explain a high proportion of individual differences in school achievement. Although not all countries show this same effect due to socioeconomic status, it is consistently found that social inequities lead to achievement gaps. These achievement gaps then manifest into trajectories that set some individuals on a path of lower incomes, poorer health and higher mortality, lower wellbeing, and other poor adult outcomes. Like James Flynn so handily reminded the scientific literature that achievement gaps are explainable by environmental factors, the inequities we see around the world are based on environments some children are exposed to. In his work, Flynn stated his belief that the suppression of scientific work on intelligence would continue to lead to social inequities. We wish to take this idea and move it forward. We believe that the scientific construct of intelligence plays a key role in helping create a more equitable society through science. We also believe that the poor perception of intelligence, rooted in historical realities, means that it will continue to be misunderstood, feared, and misused, limiting how effective it could be in helping to close gaps in achievement and in creating a more equitable society.

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Section: Defining Our Modern Notion Of Intelligencementioning

confidence: 95%

Intelligence Can Be Used to Make a More Equitable Society but Only When Properly Defined and Applied

Holden

Hart

2021

J. Intell.

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“…Since the early days of intelligence research, Spearman and others noted that many mental ability tests were positively correlated with one another (i.e., a positive manifold; Protzko and Colom 2021), suggesting the existence of an underlying general intelligence factor, referred to as g (Spearman 1904). The g factor theory has been refined and hotly debated over the years, in part because of cultural and socioeconomic biases inherent in testing and racist overtones in how the work has been used (Alfano et al 2016;Helms 2012). It is beyond the scope of this paper to review all theories of intelligence; rather, we focus on the relationship between knowledge, memory, and intelligence and on lay or implicit theories.…”

Section: Lay Definitions Of Intelligence Knowledge and Memory: Inter-...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Lay Definitions of Intelligence, Knowledge, and Memory: Inter- and Independence of Constructs

et al. 2023

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The present study examined how lay participants define the following concepts used widely in psychology: being intelligent, knowing, and remembering. In the scientific community, knowledge overlaps with the contents of semantic memory, crystallized intelligence reflects the accumulation of knowledge, knowledge and event memory interact, and fluid intelligence and working memory correlate. Naturally, the lay public has implicit theories of these constructs. These theories mainly distinguish between intelligent and unintelligent behaviors and tend to include characteristics outside psychometric studies of intelligence, such as emotional intelligence. Here, we asked lay participants from the online platform Prolific to explain “what does being intelligent mean to you?” as well as “knowing” and “remembering” to understand their degree of alignment with theoretical conceptualizations in the research community. Qualitative coding of participant definitions showed that intelligence and knowledge are closely related, but asymmetrically—when defining what it means to be intelligent, participants reference knowledge, but intelligence is not considered in explaining knowing. Although participants note that intelligence is multi-faceted and related to problem-solving, there is an emphasis (in terms of frequency of mentions) on the crystallized side of intelligence (i.e., knowledge). A deeper understanding of lay participants’ mental models of these constructs (i.e., their metacognitions) is essential for bridging gaps between experts and the general public.

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Mind who’s testing: Turing tests and the post-colonial imposition of their implicit conceptions of intelligence

Fischbach,

Vandemeulebroucke,

van Wynsberghe

2023

AI & Soc

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This paper aims to show that dominant conceptions of intelligence used in artificial intelligence (AI) are biased by normative assumptions that originate from the Global North, making it questionable if AI can be uncritically applied elsewhere without risking serious harm to vulnerable people. After the introduction in Sect. 1 we shortly present the history of IQ testing in Sect. 2, focusing on its multiple discriminatory biases. To determine how these biases came into existence, we define intelligence ontologically and underline its constructed and culturally variable character. Turning to AI, specifically the Turing Test (TT), in Sect. 3, we critically examine its underlying intelligence conceptions. The test has been of central influence in AI research and remains an important point of orientation. We argue that both the test itself and how it is used in practice risk promoting a limited conception of intelligence which solely originated in the Global North. Hence, this conception should be critically assessed in relation to the different global contexts in which AI technologies are and will be used. In Sect. 4, we highlight how unequal power relations in AI research are a real threat, rather than just philosophical sophistry while considering the history of IQ testing and the TT’s practical biases. In the last section, we examine the limits of our account and identify fields for further investigation. Tracing colonial continuities in AI intelligence research, this paper points to a more diverse and historically aware approach to the design, development, and use of AI.

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Intelligence, Race, and Psychological Testing

Cited by 4 publications

References 30 publications

Intelligence Can Be Used to Make a More Equitable Society but Only When Properly Defined and Applied

Intelligence Can Be Used to Make a More Equitable Society but Only When Properly Defined and Applied

Lay Definitions of Intelligence, Knowledge, and Memory: Inter- and Independence of Constructs

Mind who’s testing: Turing tests and the post-colonial imposition of their implicit conceptions of intelligence

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