Cultural Biases in Intelligence Testing

Intelligence testing can be a useful means of measuring certain skills. However, intelligence tests are highly contextualized and also have the potential to be culturally biased. Although intelligence tests are “here to stay,” they can be administered, adapted, and used in ways that fairer and more representative of a diverse population (Ford, 2005). One of the ways intelligence testing can be culturally biased is that there are different types of intelligence, and some cultures favor some types more than others. According to Benson (2003), Western cultures—namely those located in North America and Western Europe—tend to favor categorization and rational debate over synthesis, collaboration, and complexity. Likewise, most non-Western cultures including those in Africa and Asia value social skills intelligence and also practical intelligence far more than Western societies (Benson, 2003). Cultural bias may also be evident in the ways children from families with high cultural capital may have access to the cognitive frameworks needed to perform better on intelligence testing. Therefore, the substantive content of the intelligence test may be culturally constrained.
Another issue with cultural bias in intelligence testing has to do with context and test administration. Some of the types of intelligence tests administered in American schools are abstract, but “people who are unable to solve complex problems in the abstract can often solve them when they are presented in a familiar context,” (Benson, 2003). Contextualizing questions or administering the test using different tools or environmental cues can be helpful. For example, Young (2013) found that test takers perform “better in the medium to which they were more accustomed,” such as pencil and paper versus oral tests. Cultural bias may also be an issue when it is considered alongside socio-economic class and privilege. Test takers who have been exposed to methods of learning and practice in their home and neighborhood environments may be predisposed to high performance on intelligence tests versus their counterparts from disadvantaged families or communities. Finally, intelligence testing could be culturally biased in terms of how the results are used. Most intelligence tests can be considered “high stakes,” in that performance on a single test early in life may guarantee placement in a gifted program (Ford, 2005). Tracking students using intelligence tests can therefore lead to systematic bias throughout the school system.
Warne, Yoon, & Price (2014) point out that cultural bias manifests in different ways. For example, if there is a score gap between two or more cultural groups, it will be easier to reinforce stereotypes about those groups and thereby perpetuate inequality (p. 571). Rather than point ot the intelligence tests as the problem, some educators have assumed that score gaps indicate relative superiority or inferiority of specific groups (Warne, Yoon & Price, 2014). Another problem with cultural bias in intelligence testing is the inability of the tests to accurately predict future success or performance on different types of real world tasks. Moreover, Warne, Yoon, & Price (2014) note that factors other than culture such as gender might also lead to test bias, while Young (2013) discusses research on test bias in favor of neurotypical individuals. Many tests used to measure intelligence favor verbal skills, while others weight visual thinking more. Neither verbal nor visual tests can be fully accurate or unbiased. Ironically, “nonverbal tests or visual tests are the most culture-bound of all...less fair than verbal tests,” (Benson, 2003, p. 56).
Intelligence testing biases might also be related to a complex array of contextual variables impacting performance. For example, if socially disadvantaged students are experiencing high levels of stress, it could lead to poor performance on intelligence tests. Linguistics research shows how language shapes cognitive schemas and thought processes, which could impact scoring not just on verbal but also on visual and other non-verbal intelligence tests (Ford, 2005). Cultural conditioning and attitudes toward education, testing, and authority might also come into play to impact performance on intelligence tests. Motivation and other psychological variables including performance anxiety might also be linked with culture and test performance (Ford, 2005).
Therefore, the best way to design and administer intelligence tests is to diversify their content, the way they are administered, and the way they are used to track or place children. Intelligence tests do not need to be eliminated altogether to promote fairness in education. Rather, the tests do need to be administered, designed, and interpreted more fairly. The test designers should ideally come from a wide range of cultural, linguistic, economic, and other backgrounds and represent different genders and sexual orientations. Some intelligence tests should be devised for measuring additional types of skills or intelligence such as social proficiency, which can be a tremendous predictor of success. The more diverse the tests, the more accurately they can measure multiple types of intelligence. Cultural bias comes from making assumptions about specific ways of knowing or biasing some types of creative or critical thinking skills.
To decrease cultural biases in intelligence testing, the results of tests should never be misinterpreted or exhaustive. Schools should use different means of placing students in gifted programs other than test scores alone, including factors like overall performance, social skills, and special skills noted by teachers or counselors. When possible, students and parents should be offered opportunities for preparation, which would improve performance by reducing anxiety and also increasing familiarity with the core concepts being measured on the test. Intelligence testing can be administered in ways that reduce bias and acknowledge cultural and cognitive diversity.








References

Benson, E. (2003). Intelligence across cultures. Monitor in Psychology 34(2): 56.
Ford, D.Y. (2005). Intelligence testing and cultural diversity. The National Research Center on the Gifted and Talented, Retrieved online: http://nrcgt.uconn.edu/newsletters/winter052/
Warne, R.T., Yoon, M. & Price, C.J. (2014). Exploring the various interpretations of test bias. Cultural Diversity and Ethnic Minority Psychology 20(4): 570-582.
Young, E. (2013). Intelligence testing: Accurate or extremely biased? Retrieved online: http://www.theneuroethicsblog.com/2013/09/intelligence-testing-accurate-or.html