3000 words

Introduction

In the disciplines of psychology and psychometrics, intelligence has long been the subject of study, attempting to reduce intelligence to a number based on what a class-biased test spits out when an individual takes an IQ test. But what if intelligence resisted quantification, and we can’t state that IQ tests can put a number to one’s intelligence? The view I will present here will conceptualize intelligence as a psychological trait, and since it’s a psychological trait, it’s then resistant to being reduced to anything physical and it’s also resistant to quantification. I will draw on Vygotsky’s socio-cultural theory of learning and development and his emphasis on the role of culture, social interactions and cultural tools in shaping intelligence and then I will explain that Vygotsky’s theory supports the notion that intelligence is socially and contextually situated. I will then draw on Ken Richardson’s view that intelligence is a socially dynamic trait that’s irreducible, created by sociocultural tools.

All in all, the definition that I will propose here will be irrelevant to IQ. Although I do conceptualize psychological traits as irreducible, it is obvious that IQ tests are class-specific knowledge tests—that is they are biased against certain classes and so it follows that they are biased for certain classes. But the view that I will articulate here will suggest that intelligence is a complex and multifaceted construct that is deeply influenced by cultural and social factors and that it resists quantification because intentionality is inherent in it. And I don’t need to posit a specified measured object, object of measurement and measurement unit for my conception because I’m not claiming measurability.

Vygotsky’s view

Vygotsky is most well-known for his concepts of private speech, more knowledgeable others, and the zone of proximal development (ZPD). Intelligence involves the internalization of private speech, where individuals engage in a self-directed dialogue to solve problems and guide their actions. This internalized private speech then represents an essential aspect of one’s cognitive development, and reflects an individual’s ability to think and reason independently.

Intelligence is then nurtured through interactions with more knowledgeable others (MKOs) in a few ways. MKOs are individuals who possess a deeper understanding or expertise in specific domains. MKOs provide guidance, support, and scaffolding, helping individuals to reach higher levels of cognitive functioning and problem solving.

Along with MKOs, the ZPD is a crucial aspect in understanding intelligence. It represents a range of tasks that individuals can’t perform independently, but can achieve with guidance and support—it is the “zone” where learning and cognitive development take place. e. So intelligence isn’t only about what one can do alone, but also what one can achieve with the assistance of a MKO. Thus, in this context, intelligence is seen as a dynamic process of development where individuals continuously expand their ZPD through sociocultural interactions. So MKOs play a pivotal role in facilitating learning and cognitive development by providing the necessary help to individuals within their ZPD. The ZPD concept underscores the fact and idea that learning is most effective when it is in this zone, where the learner is neither too challenged or too comfortable, but is then guided by a MKO to reach higher levels of competence in what they’re learning.

So the takeaway from this discussion is this: Intelligence isn’t merely a product of individual cognitive abilities, but it is deeply influenced by cultural and social interactions. It encompasses the capacity for private speech which demonstrates an individual’s capacity to think and reason independently. It also involves learning and development ad facilitated by MKOs who contribute to an individual cognitive growth. And the ZPD underscores the importance of sociocultural guidance in shaping and expanding an individual’s intelligence, while reflecting the dynamic and collaborative nature of cognitive development within the sociocultural context. So intelligence, as understood here, is inseparable from Vygotsky’s concepts of private speech, more knowledgeable others and the ZPD and it highlights the dynamic interplay between individual cognitive processes and sociocultural interactions in the development of intelligence.

Davidson (1982) stated that “Neither an infant one week old nor a snail is a rational creature. If the infant survives long enough, he will probably become rational, while this is not true of the snail.” And on Vygotsky’s theory, the infant becomes rational—that is, intelligent—by interacting with MKOs, and internalizing private speech when they learn to talk and think in cultural contexts in their ZPD. Infants quite clearly have the capacity to become rational, and they begin to become rational through interactions with MKOs and caregivers who guide their cognitive growth within their ZPD. This perspective, then, highlights the role of social and cultural influences in the development of infant’s intelligence and their becoming rational creatures. Children are born into both cultural and linguistically-mediated environments, which is put well by Vasileva and Balyasnikova (2019):

Based on the conceptualization of cultural tools by Vygotsky (contrary to more traditional socio-cultural schools), it follows that a child can be enculturated from birth. Children are not only born in a human-created environment, but in a linguistically mediated environment that becomes internalized through development.

Richardson’s view

Ken Richardson has been a critic of IQ testing since the 1970s being one editor of the edited volume Race and Intelligence: The Fallacies Behind the Race-IQ Controversy. He has published numerous books critiquing the concept of IQ, most recently Understanding Intelligence (Richardson, 2022). (In fact, Richardson’s book was what cured me of my IQ-ist delusions and set me on the path to DST.) Nonetheless,

Richardson (2017: 273) writes:

Again, these dynamics would not be possible without the co- evolution of interdependencies across levels: between social, cognitive, and aff active interactions on the one hand and physiological and epigenetic processes on the other. As already mentioned, the burgeoning research areas of social neuroscience and social epigenetics are revealing ways in which social/cultural experiences ripple through, and recruit, those processes.

For example, different cognitive states can have different physiological, epigenetic, and immune-system consequences, depending on social context. Importantly, a distinction has been made between a eudaimonic sense of well-being, based on social meaning and involvement, and hedonic well-being, based on individual plea sure or pain. These different states are associated with different epigenetic processes, as seen in the recruitment of different transcription factors (and therefore genes) and even immune system responses.18 All this is part of the human intelligence system.

In that way human evolution became human history. Collaboration among brains and the emergent social cognition provided the conceptual breakout from individual limits. It resulted in the rapid progress seen in human history from original hunter-gatherers to the modern, global, technologiocal society—all on the basis of the same biological system with the same genes.

So intelligence emerges from the specific activities, experiences, and resources that individuals encounter throughout their development. Richardson’s view, too, is a Vygotskian one. And like Vygotsky, he emphasizes the significant cultural and social aspects in shaping human intelligence. He rejects the claim that human intelligence is reducible to a number (on IQ tests), genes, brain physiology etc.

Human intelligence cannot be divorced from the sociocultural context in which it is embedded and operates in. So in this view, intelligence is not “fixed” as the genetic reductionist IQ-ists would like you to believe, but instead it can evolve and adapt over time in response to learning, the environment, and experiences. Indeed, this is the basis for his argument on the intelligent developmental system. Indeed, Richardson (2012) even argues that “IQ scores might be more an index of individuals’ distance from the cultural tools making up the test than performance on a singular strength variable.” And due to what we know about the inherent bias in the items on IQ tests (how they’re basically middle-class cultural knowledge tests), it seems that Richardson is right here. Richardson (1991; cf 2001) even showed that when Raven’s progressive matrices items were couched in familiar contexts, the children were able to complete them, even when the same exact rules were there between Richardson’s re-built items and the abstract Raven’s items. This shows that couching items in cultural context even with the same rules as the Raven shows that cultural context matters for these kinds of items.

Returning the concept of cultural tools that Richardson brought up in the previous quote (which is derived from Vygotsky’s theory), cultural tools encompass language, knowledge, and problem solving abilities which are culturally-specific and influenced by that culture. These tools are embedded in IQ tests, influencing the problems presented and the types of questions. Thus, it follows that if one is exposed to different psychological and cultural tools (basically, if one is exposed to different knowledge bases of the test), then they will score lower on a test compared to another person whom is exposed to the item content and structure of the test. So individuals who are more familiar with the cultural references, language patterns, and knowledge will score better than those that don’t. Of course, there is still room here for differences in individual experiences, and these differences influence how individuals approach problem solving on the tests. Thus, Richardson’s view highlights that IQ scores can be influenced by how closely aligned an individual’s experiences are with the cultural tools that are embedded on the test. He has also argued that non-cognitive, cultural, and affective factors explain why individuals score differently on IQ tests, with IQ not measuring the ability for complex cognition (Richardson, 2002; Richardson and Norgate, 2014, 2015).

So contrary to how IQ-ists want to conceptualize intelligence (as something static, fixed, and genetic), Richardson’s view is more dynamic, and looks to the cultural and social context of the individual.

Culture, class, and intelligence

Since I have conceptualized intelligence as a socially embedded and culturally-influenced and dynamic trait, class and culture are deeply intertwined in my conception of intelligence. My definition recognizes that intelligence is culturally-influenced by cultural contexts. Culture provides different tools (cultural and psychological) which then develop and individual’s cognitive abilities. Language is a critical cultural (also psychological) tool which shapes how individuals think and communicate. So intelligence, in my conception and definition, encompasses the ability to effectively use these cultural tools. Furthermore, individuals from different cultures may developm unique problem solving strategies which are embedded in their cultural experiences.

Social class influences access to educational and cultural resources. Higher social classes often have greater access to quality education, books, and cultural experiences and this can then influence and impact an individual’s cognitive development and intelligence. My definition also highlights the limitations of reductionist approaches like IQ tests. It has been well-documented that IQ tests have class-specific knowledge and skills on them, and they also include knowledge and scenarios which are more familiar to individuals from certain social and cultural backgrounds. This bias, then, leads to disparities in IQ scores due to the nature of IQ tests and how the tests are constructed.

A definition of intelligence

Intelligence: Noun

Intelligence, as a noun, refers to the dynamic cognitive capacity—characterized by intentionality—possessed by individuals. It is characterized by a connection to one’s social and cultural context. This capacity includes a wide range of cognitive abilities and skills, reflecting the multifaceted nature of human cognition. This, then, shows that only humans are intelligent since intentionality is a human-specific ability which is due to the fact that we humans are minded beings and minds give rise and allow intentional action.

A fundamental aspect of intelligence is intentionality, which signifies that cognitive processes are directed towards single goals, problem solving, or understanding within the individual’s social and cultural context. So intelligence is deeply rooted in one’s cultural and social context, making it socially embedded. It’s influenced by cultural practices, social interactions, and the utilization of cultural tools for learning and problem solving. So this dynamic trait evolves over time as individuals engage with their environment and integrate new cultural and social experiences into their cognitive processes.

Intelligence is the dynamic capacity of individuals to engage effectively with their sociocultural environment, utilizing a diverse range of cognitive abilities (psychological tools), cultural tools, and social interactions. Richardson’s perspective emphasizes that intelligence is multifaceted and not reducible to a single numerical score, acknowledging the limits of IQ testing. Vygotsky’s socio-cultural theory underscores that intelligence is deeply shaped by cultural context, social interactions, and the use of cultural tools for problem solving and learning. So a comprehensive definition of intelligence in my view—informed by Richardson and Vygotsky—is that of a socially embedded cognitive capacity—characterized by intentionality—that encompasses diverse abilities and is continually shaped by an individual’s cultural and social interactions.

In essence, within this philosophical framework, intelligence is an intentional multifaceted cognitive capacity that is intricately connected to one’s cultural and social life and surroundings. It reflects the dynamic interplay of intentionality, cognition and socio-cultural influences. Thus is closely related to the concept of cognition in philosophy, which is concerned with how individuals process information, make sense of the world, acquire knowledge and engage in thought processes.

What IQ-ist conceptions of intelligence miss

The two concepts I’ll discuss are the two most oft-cited concepts that hereditarian IQ-ists talk about—that of Gottfredson’s “definition” of intelligence and Jensen’s attempt at relating g (the so-called general factor of intelligence) to PC1.

Gottfredson’s “definition” is the most-commonly cited one in the psychometric IQ-ist literature:

Intelligence is a very general mental capability that, among other things, involves the ability to reason, plan, solve problems, think abstractly, comprehend complex ideas, learn quickly and learn from experience. It is not merely book learning, a narrow academic skill, or test-taking smarts. Rather, it reflects a broader and deeper capability for comprehending our surroundings-“catching on,” “ making sense” of things, or “figuring out” what to do.

I have pointed out the nonsense that is her “definition” since she says it’s “not merely book learning, a narrow academic skill or test-taking smarts“, yet supposedly, IQ tests “measure” this, and it’s based on… Book learning, is an academic skill and knowledge of the items on the test. That this “definition” is cited as something that is related to IQ tests is laughable. A research paper from OpenAI even cited this “definition” in their paper Sparks of Artifical Intelligence: Early Experiments with GPT4” (Bubeck et al, 2023), but the reference was seemingly removed. Strange…

Spearman “discovered” g in 1903, but his g theory was refuted mere years later. (Nevermind the fact that Spearman saw what he wanted to see in his data; Schlinger, 2003.) In fact, Spearman’s g falsified in 1947 by Thurstone and then again in 1992 by Guttman (Heene, 2008). Then Jensen came along trying to revive the concept, and he likened it to PC1. Here are the steps that show the circularity in Jensen’s conception:

(1) If there is a general intelligence factor “g,” then it explains why people perform well on various cognitive tests.

(2) If “g” exists and explains test performance, the absence of “g” would mean that people do not perform well on these tests.

(3) We observe that people do perform well on various cognitive tests (i.e., test performance is generally positive).

(4) Therefore, since “g” would explain this positive test performance, we conclude that “g” exists.

Nonetheless, Jensen’s g is an unfalsifiable tautology—it’s circular. These are the “best” conceptions of intelligence the IQ-ists have and they’re either self-contradictory nonsense (Gottfredson’s), already falsified (Spearman’s) or unfalsifiable circular tautology (Jensen’s). What makes Spearman’s g even more nonsensical was that he posited g as a mental energy (Jensen, 1999), and more recently it has been proposed that this mental energy can be found in mitochondrial cells (Geary, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021). Though I have also shown how this is nonsense.

Conclusion

In this article, I have conceptualized intelligence as a socially embedded and culturally-influenced cognitive capacity characterized by intentionality. It is a dynamic trait which encompasses diverse abilities and is continually shaped by an individual’s cultural and social context and social interactions. I explained Vygotsky’s theory and also explained how his three main concepts relate to the definition I have provided. I then discussed Richardson’s view of intelligence (which is also Vygotskian), and showed how IQ tests are merely an index of one’s distance from the cultural tools that are embedded on the IQ test.

In discussing my conception of intelligence, I then contrasted it with the two “best” most oft-cited conceptions of “intelligence” in the psychological/psychometric literature (Gottfredson’s and Spearman’s/Jensen’s). I then showed how they fail. My conception of intelligence isn’t reductionist like the IQ-ists (they try to reduce intelligence/IQ to genes or physiology or brain structure), but it is inherently holistic in recognizing how intelligence develops over the course of the lifespan, from birth to death. My definition recognizes intelligence as a dynamic, changing trait that’s not fixed like the hereditarians claim it is, and in my conception there is no use for IQ tests. At best, IQ tests merely show what kind of knowledge and experiences one was exposed to in their lives due to the cultural tools inherent on the test. So my inherently Vygotskian view shows how intelligence can be conceptualized and then developed during the course of the human lifespan.

Intelligence, as I have conceived of it, is a dynamic and constantly-developing trait, which evolved through our experiences, cultural backgrounds, and how we interact with the world. It is a multifaceted, context-sensitive capacity. Note that I am not claiming that this is measurable, it cannot be reduced to a single quantifiable measure. And since intentionality is inherent in the definition, this further underscores how it resists quantification and measurability.

In sum, the discussions here show that the IQ-ist concept is lacking—it’s empty. And how we should understand intelligence is that of an irreducible, socially and culturally-influenced, dynamic and constantly-developing trait, which is completely at-ends with the hereditarian conception. Thus, I have argued for intelligence without IQ, since IQ “theory” is empty and it doesn’t do what they claim it does (Nash, 1990). I have been arguing for the massive limitations in IQ for years, and my definition here presents a multidimensional view, highlights the cultural and contextual influence, and emphasizes it’s dynamic nature. The same cannot be said for reductionist hereditarian conceptions.