Perception Of Intelligence Research Papers Examples

Intelligence is a concept that is very difficult to discuss in one sitting as it is not limited to academics or school grades. Depending on culture, we perceive intelligence as something that adds value or wow factor to a person. In most culture, people with high academic standing are considered intelligent. Our view of human intellect has been one sided until a psychologist named Howard Gardner proposed the concept of multiple intelligence. Intelligence, according to Gardner, exists in variety of forms and is not confined to usual intellect we see in schools. There are nine types of intelligence and a summary of each type are in the table below.
Naturalistic intelligence is mostly biological as it is the discrimination of the living world. Naturalistic intelligence comprises disciplines such as Biology, Chemistry and Physics. It can also include Medical, Culinary, and the Cosmetics field. Musical intelligence is focused on the person’s ability to discern various musical qualities such as tone, pitch, timbre and rhythm. This intelligence is the reason why not everyone can be a good musician. Logical-Mathematical intelligence is focused on numbers, equations and logic and reasoning. It is one of the most critical trait that high level scientist needs as without it, it would be very hard to understand ideas and numerical figures. Existential intelligence is a zen-like approach to intelligence. It focuses on the deeper aspects of life such as its meaning, purpose, life after death and how we exist in the first place. Interpersonal intelligence is all about our social skills in understanding verbal and non-verbal cues in communication. Person with high interpersonal intelligence are successful in the field of sales and marketing as they understand and communicate well with customers. Linguistics is a spoken and literal intelligence that is strongly bound to the command of language whether oral or written. Poets and writers are highly intelligent in this particular field. Intrapersonal intelligence is all about understanding of self and how our mind works. It is a field where most psychologists are good at. Lastly, spatial intelligence is the mastery of space and the three dimentional space. Spatial intelligence is evident in pilots, drivers, sailors, artists, and illusionists.
As we can see from Table 1, intelligence is not merely about naturalistic, logical-mathematical and linguistic skills which we normally see in schools and universities, but rather a combination of the nine. In various cultures around the world, people view intelligence in a different way depending on which country. Americans are mostly focused on academic (naturalistic, logical-mathematical, and linguistic) intelligence, while some culture such as the native Aboriginals might favor existential, intra-personal, and spatial intelligence.
Haitians and Brazilians are two distinct cultures that are different in their perception of human intelligence. Before we can pinpoint what intelligence each country prioritizes, we first need to view their cultural identity and history. Brazil used to be a colony of Portugal (from 15th to 18th century) hence its official language is Portuguese. Brazil is composed of a mixture of European, African and Native Indian ethnicities with diverse cultural values with majority of Brazilian origin. Brazilians are known for their literature, dance and art. Samba, a famous dance originated from Brazil is still considered classic among Brazilians. Brazilians are also known for being highly physical, social, and liberal, as evidenced by the advent of Brazilian rise jeans, Brazilian waxing, Brazilian bikini, etc. If we are to select which intelligences are valued by Brazilians based on its culture, we could somehow say Naturalistic, Musical, Interpersonal, Bodily-kinesthetic, and Spatial.
Haiti is a country west of Dominican Republic in Hispaniola, the second largest island in Caribbean. Haiti has been a French colony but modern day language is Creole. The French language is only spoken by the elites and is considered as a secondary language among Haitians. After the independence in 1804, Haiti developed its own identity in cuisine, music, dance, rituals and religion. The country, however, remained poor since its economy is based mainly on agriculture on 40% of its total land area. Haitians also practice voodoo in healing and appeasing the Loa and have various rituals for such. The creole proverbs are also full of matters pertaining to existence and importance of knowledge in all forms of life. If we are to select which intelligences are valued by Haitians, it could be Existential, Linguistic, Intrapersonal and Spatial.
A country’s perception of intelligence is mostly governed by various cultural factors such as history, family, religion, art, music, and social norms. Depending on how the nation started and which cultures have been introduced through colonization or immigration, perception of intelligence varies. Brazil is a country where almost 100% of the people speak Portuguese. With this fact, linguistic intelligence therefore is not of very significant importance to them as it is common. The situation in Haiti on the other hand puts value in linguistic intelligence as the French language is a tongue spoken by elites.

References

Martins, L. (2015). Brazil: cultural life. Encyclopedia Brittanica. Retrieved from http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/78101/Brazil/25112/Cultural-life
Schwartz, T.T.(2015). Countries and Their Culture: Haiti. Retrieved from http://www.everyculture.com/Ge-It/Haiti.html
Spears, A.K., Berotte Joseph, C.M., Valdman, A. (2012). The Haitian Creole Language: History, Structure, Use and Education. Lexington books. Retrieved from https://books.google.com.ph/books?id=4xbGzLuBvWwC&pg=PA257&lpg=PA257&dq=haitian+culture+and+intelligence&source=bl&ots=-CMH7t47ip&sig=ZWzmVUxH804y_ljQL7KT-Ne9reM&hl=en&sa=X&ei=xB0JVb6ZAqHGmQWh_4CgBQ&ved=0CDMQ6AEwBg#v=onepage&q=haitian%20culture%20and%20intelligence&f=false
The Nine Types of Intelligence by Howard Gardner. (n.d.). Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development and Thomas Armstrong.com. retrieved from http://skyview.vansd.org/lschmidt/Projects/The%20Nine%20Types%20of%20Intelligenc e.htm