A case study of intelligence as a public field: On culture, biology, intelligence, and its network of representations

This study uses the theory of social representations to study intelligence and the public debates on intelligence. The role of culture and biology as separate representations that frame the overall meaning of intelligence is explored at two levels. Culture-Biology ratings for items within definitions of intelligence indicate that a culture rating is applied to external items and that a biology rating is applied to internal items within a definition, therefore verifying the internal-external dimension associated with the CB dichotomy and intelligence. However, our results indicate that both social intelligence and general intelligence are weakly associated with biology. No relationship in either the culture or biology direction was found for practical intelligence. When culture and biology were explored as representations that anchor the meaning of intelligence, CB ratings for all items across definitions of intelligence indicate that the culture group recognizes cultural and biological elements to intelligence. For the biology group, all items are seen as biological. These results indicate that the culture and biology groups give a different organization to the meaning of intelligence. The relationship between stereotyping and intelligence was explored at two levels. At the level of definitions of intelligence, the results indicate that there is no relationship between either social intelligence or general intelligence and the stereotyping of White Americans, Asian Americans and African Americans. There was also no relationship between culture and biology as anchoring representations and stereotyping of the three target groups. Overall, the results of the study indicate that the representation of intelligence exists within a broader network of representations that frame the meaning of intelligence. The role of culture and biology as representations is placed within the broader socio-cultural context of the history of the public debates on intelligence and of the more recent multicultural trends in American society.