Abstract
This article reviews four interrelated approaches to reducing an inequitable gap in cognitive and educational test scores between individuals of a dominant culture and individuals of other cultures or subcultures. These approaches include (a) use of broader measures, (b) performance- and project-based assessments, (c) direct measurement of knowledge and skills relevant to environmental adaptation, and (d) dynamic assessment. It is concluded that when appropriate assessment is done that recognizes students’ diverse cultural and social backgrounds, equity can increase, predictive validity of cognitive and educational tests can increase, and at the same time, racial/ethnic/culture differences can decrease.
Similar content being viewed by others
Change history
23 August 2018
The following parts of “Context-Sensitive Cognitive and Educational Testing” by R. J. Sternberg draws heavily from Sternberg, R. J. (2014), The development of adaptive competence. Developmental Review, 34, 208–224.
References
Abrams, L. S., & Terry, D. L. (2014). “You can run but you can’t hide”: How formerly incarcerated young men navigate neighborhood risks. Children and Youth Services Review, 47, 61–69.
Aronson, J., Fried, C. B., & Good, C. (2002). Reducing the effects of stereotype threat on African American college students by shaping theories of intelligence. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 38, 113–125.
Arteche, A., Chamorro-Premuzic, T., Ackerman, P., & Furnham, A. (2009). Typical intellectual engagement as a byproduct of openness, learning approaches, and self-assessed intelligence. Educational Psychology: An International Journal of Experimental Educational Psychology, 29, 357–367.
Berry, J. W. (1974). Radical cultural relativism and the concept of intelligence. In J. W. Berry & P. R. Dasen (Eds.), Culture and cognition: readings in cross-cultural psychology (pp. 225–229). London: Methuen.
Berry, J. W., & Irvine, S. H. (1986). Bricolage: savages do it daily. In R. J. Sternberg & R. K. Wagner (Eds.), Practical intelligence: nature and origins of competence in the everyday world (pp. 271–306). New York: Cambridge University Press.
Berry, J. W., Poortinga, Y. H., Segall, M. H., & Dasen, P. R. (1992). Cross-cultural psychology: research and applications. New York: Cambridge University Press.
Bourdieu, P. (1986). The forms of capital. In J. Richardson (Ed.), Handbook of theory and research for the sociology of education (pp. 46–58). Greenwich: Greenwood.
Byun, S., Schofer, E., & Kim, K. (2012). Revisiting the role of cultural capital in East Asian educational systems: the case of South Korea. Sociology of Education, 85(3), 219–239.
Cattell, R. (1949). Culture free intelligence test, scale 1, handbook. Champaign: Institute of Personality and Ability Testing.
Cattell, R. B., Krug, S. E., & Barton, K. (1973). Technical supplement for the culture fair intelligence tests, scales 2 and 3. Champaign: Institute for Personality and Ability Testing.
Ceci, S., & Roazzi, A. (1994). The effects of context on cognition: postcards from Brazil. In R. J. Sternberg & R. K. Wagner (Eds.), Mind in context: interactionist perspective on human intelligence (pp. 74–101). New York: Cambridge University Press.
Cole, M. (2017). Idiocultural design as a tool of cultural psychology. Perspectives on Psychological Science. http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/1745691617708623.
Cole, M., Gay, J., Glick, J. A., & Sharp, D. W. (1971). The cultural context of learning and thinking: an exploration in experimental anthropology. New York: Basic.
Cohen, G. L., Garcia, J., Apfel, N., & Master, A. (2006). Reducing the racial achievement gap: a social-psychological intervention. Science, 313(5791), 1307–1310.
Cronbach, L. J. (1957). The two disciplines of scientific psychology. American Psychologist, 12, 671–684.
Cronbach, L. J. (1990). Essentials of psychological testing (5th ed.). New York: Harpercollins.
Dai, D. Y., & Sternberg, R. J. (Eds.). (2004). Motivation, emotion, and cognition: integrative perspectives on intellectual functioning and development. Mahwah: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc. Publishers.
Davidson, J. E., & Sternberg, R. J. (Eds.). (2003). The psychology of problem solving. New York: Cambridge University Press.
DeYoung, C. G. (2011). Intelligence and personality. In R. J. Sternberg & S. B. Kaufman (Eds.), Cambridge handbook of intelligence (pp. 711–737). New York: Cambridge University Press.
Feuerstein, R. (1979). The dynamic assessment of retarded performers: the learning potential assessment device, theory, instruments, and technique. Baltimore: University Park Press.
Flynn, J. R. (1987). Massive IQ gains in 14 nations: what IQ tests really measure. Psychological Bulletin, 101(2), 171–191.
Flynn, J. R. (2016). Does your family make you smarter? Nature, nurture, and human autonomy. New York: Cambridge University Press.
Frey, M. C., & Detterman, D. K. (2004). Scholastic assessment or g? The relationship between the scholastic assessment test and general cognitive ability. Psychological Science, 15(6), 373–378.
Gardner, H. (2011). Frames of mind: the theory of multiple intelligences. New York: Basic Books.
Gardner, H., Krechevsky, M., Sternberg, R. J., & Okagaki, L. (1994). Intelligence in context: enhancing students’ practical intelligence for school. In K. McGilly (Ed.), Classroom lessons: integrating cognitive theory and classroom practice (pp. 105–127). Cambridge: MIT Press.
Gauvain, M. (2013). Sociocultural contexts of development. In P. D. Zelazo (Ed.), Oxford handbook of developmental psychology (Vol. 2. Self and other) (pp. 425–451). New York: Oxford University Press.
Gauvain, M., & Munroe, R. L. (2012). Cultural change, human activity, and cognitive development. Human Development, 55, 205–228.
Gauvain, M., & Munroe, R. L. (2013). Children’s questions in cross-cultural perspective: a four-culture study. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 44, s1148–s1165.
Gladwin, T. (1970). East is a big bird: navigation and logic on Puluwat Atoll. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
Goleman, D. (1995). Emotional intelligence. New York: Bantam.
Good, C., Aronson, J., & Inzlicht, M. (2003). Improving adolescents’ standardized test performance: an intervention to reduce the effects of stereotype threat. Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology, 24, 645–662.
Greenfield, P. M., Ward, L. M., & Jacobs, J. (1997). You can’t take it with you: why ability assessments don’t cross cultures. American Psychologist, 52, 1115–1124.
Grigorenko, E. L., Geissler, P. W., Prince, R., Okatcha, F., Nokes, C., Kenny, D. A., Bundy, D. A., & Sternberg, R. J. (2001). The organization of Luo conceptions of intelligence: a study of implicit theories in a Kenyan village. International Journal of Behavioral Development, 25(4), 367–378.
Grigorenko, E. L., Meier, E., Lipka, J., Mohatt, G., Yanez, E., & Sternberg, R. J. (2004). Academic and practical intelligence: a case study of the Yup’ik in Alaska. Learning and Individual Differences, 14, 183–207.
Grigorenko, E. L., & Sternberg, R. J. (1998). Dynamic testing. Psychological Bulletin, 124, 75–111.
Grigorenko, E. L., Sternberg, R. J., Jukes, M., Alcock, K., Lambo, J., Ngorosho, D., Nokes, C., & Bundy, D. A. (2006). Effects of antiparasitic treatment on dynamically and statically tested cognitive skills over time. Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology, 27(6), 499–526.
Hedlund, J., Wilt, J. M., Nebel, K. R., Ashford, S. J., & Sternberg, R. J. (2006). Assessing practical intelligence in business school admissions: a supplement to the graduate management admissions test. Learning and Individual Differences, 16, 101–127.
Hess, T. M., Auman, C., Colcombe, S. J., & Rahhal, T. A. (2003). The impact of stereotype threat on age differences in memory performance. The Journals of Gerontology: Series B, 58(1), 3–11.
Hunt, E. (2011). Human intelligence. New York: Cambridge University Press.
Hunt, E., & Carlson, J. (2007). Considerations relating to the study of group differences in intelligence. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 2, 194–213.
Jensen, A. R. (1998). The g factor. Westport: Praeger-Greenwood.
Koenig, K. A., Frey, M. C., & Detterman, D. K. (2008). ACT and general cognitive ability. Intelligence, 36, 153–160.
Krechevsky, M. (1998). Project spectrum: preschool assessment handbook (project zero frameworks for early childhood education, Vol. 3). New York: Teachers College Press.
Laboratory of Comparative Human Cognition (1982). Culture and intelligence. In R. J. Sternberg (Ed.), Handbook of human intelligence (pp. 642–719).
Lave, J. (1988). Cognitive in practice: mind, mathematics, and culture in everyday life. New York: Cambridge University Press.
Lesser, G. S., Fifer, G., & Clark, D. H. (1965). Mental abilities of children from different social class and cultural groups. Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Development, 30.
Lubart, T. I., & Sternberg, R. J. (1995). An investment approach to creativity: theory and data. In S. M. Smith, T. B. Ward, & R. A. Finke (Eds.), The creative cognition approach (pp. 269–302). Cambridge: MIT Press.
Luria, A. R. (1976). Cognitive development: its cultural and social foundations. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
Mackintosh, N. J. (2011). IQ and human intelligence. New York: Oxford University Press.
Mayer, J. D., & Salovey, P. (1993). The intelligence of emotional intelligence. Intelligence, 17, 433–442.
Mayer, J. D., Salovey, P., & Caruso, D. R. (2004). Emotional intelligence: theory, findings, and implications. Psychological Inquiry, 15, 197–215.
Mayer, J. D., Salovey, P., Caruso, D. R., & Cherkasskiy, L. (2011). Emotional intelligence. In R. J. Sternberg & S. B. Kaufman (Eds.), Cambridge handbook of intelligence (pp. 528–549). New York: Cambridge University Press.
Mayer, J. D., Salovey, P., Caruso, D. R., & Sitarenios, G. (2003). Measuring emotional intelligence with the MSCEIT V2.0. Emotion, 3, 97–105.
Nisbett, R. E. (2004). The geography of thought: how Asians and Westerners thinking differently…and why. New York: Free Press.
“No Swots please, we’re Masai” (2002). The Economist, http://www.economist.com/node/1048686.
Nuñes, T., Carraher, D. W., & Schliemann, A. D. (1993). Street mathematics and school mathematics. New York: Cambridge University Press.
Ogbu, J. U. (2003). Black American students in an affluent suburb: a study of academic disengagement. New York: Routledge.
Ogbu, J. U. (2008). Minority status, oppositional culture, and schooling. New York: Rutledge.
Okagaki, L., & Sternberg, R. J. (1993). Parental beliefs and children’s school performance. Child Development, 64(1), 36–56.
Prince, R. J., Geissler, P. W., Nokes, K., Maende, J. O., Okatcha, F., Grigorenko, E. L., & Sternberg, R. J. (2001). Knowledge of herbal and pharmaceutical medicines among Luo children in western Kenya. Anthropology & Medicine, 8(2/3), 211–235.
Raven, J., Raven, J. C., & Court, J.H. (2003) updated 2004. Manual for Raven’s Progressive Matrices and Vocabulary Scales. San Antonio: Harcourt Assessment.
Rogoff, B. (1991). Apprenticeship in thinking: cognitive development in social context. New York: Oxford University Press.
Rogoff, B. (2003). The cultural nature of human development. New York: Oxford University Press.
Rogoff, B., Coppens, A. D., Alcala, L., Aceves-Azuara, I., Ruvalcaba, O., Lopez, A., & Dayton, A. (2017). Noticing learners’ strengths through cultural research. Perspectives on Psychological Science, http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/1745691617718355 .
Sarason, S. B., & Doris, J. (1979). Educational handicap, public policy, and social history. New York: Free Press.
Saxe, G. B. (1991). Culture and cognitive development: studies in mathematical understanding. Hillsdale: Erlbaum.
Saxe, G. B. (2012). Cultural development of mathematical ideas: Papua New Guinea studies. New York: Cambridge University Press.
Schaler, J. A. (2006). Howard Gardner under fire: the rebel psychologist faces his critics. Chicago: Open Court.
Serpell, R. (2000). Intelligence and culture. In R. J. Sternberg (Ed.), Handbook of intelligence (pp. 549–577). New York: Cambridge University Press.
Serpell, R. (in press). Cultural research insights for cognitive, educational and social psychology. Perspectives on Psychological Science.
Shearer, C. B. (2004). Multiple intelligences theory after 20 years. Teachers College Record, 106(1), 147–162.
Spearman, C. (1927). The abilities of man. New York: Macmillan.
Steele, C. M. (1997). A threat in the air: how stereotypes shape intellectual identity and performance. American Psychologist, 52, 613–629.
Steele, C. M., & Aronson, J. (1995). Stereotype threat and the intellectual test performance of African Americans. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 69, 797–811.
Stemler, S. E., Grigorenko, E. L., Jarvin, L., & Sternberg, R. J. (2006). Using the theory of successful intelligence as a basis for augmenting AP exams in psychology and statistics. Contemporary Educational Psychology, 31(2), 344–376.
Stemler, S., Sternberg, R. J., Grigorenko, E. L., Jarvin, L., & Sharpes, D. K. (2009). Using the theory of successful intelligence as a framework for developing assessments in AP physics. Contemporary Educational Psychology, 34, 195–209.
Sternberg, R. J. (1983). Components of human intelligence. Cognition, 15, 1–48.
Sternberg, R. J. (1984). What should intelligence tests test? Implications of a triarchic theory of intelligence for intelligence testing. Educational Researcher, 13, 5–15.
Sternberg, R. J. (1985a). Beyond IQ: a triarchic theory of human intelligence. New York: Cambridge University Press.
Sternberg, R. J. (Ed.). (1985b). Human abilities: an information-processing approach. San Francisco: Freeman.
Sternberg, R. J. (1985c). Teaching critical thinking, part 1: are we making critical mistakes? Phi Delta Kappan, 67, 194–198.
Sternberg, R. J. (Ed.). (1988a). Advances in the psychology of human intelligence (Vol. 4). Hillsdale: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
Sternberg, R. J. (1988b). The triarchic mind: a new theory of intelligence. New York: Viking.
Sternberg, R. J. (1990). Metaphors of mind. New York: Cambridge University Press.
Sternberg, R. J. (1993). Sternberg triarchic abilities test. Unpublished test.
Sternberg, R. J. (1997a). Successful intelligence. New York: Plume.
Sternberg, R. J. (1997b). The triarchic theory of intelligence. In D. P. Flanagan, J. L. Genshaft, & P. L. Harrison (Eds.), Contemporary intellectual assessment: theories, tests, and issues (pp. 92–104). New York: Guilford Press.
Sternberg, R. J. (1998). Abilities are forms of developing expertise. Educational Researcher, 27(3), 11–20.
Sternberg, R. J. (2003). Wisdom, intelligence, and creativity synthesized. New York: Cambridge University Press.
Sternberg, R. J. (2004). Culture and intelligence. American Psychologist, 59(5), 325–338.
Sternberg, R. J. (2007). Intelligence and culture. In S. Kitayama & D. Cohen (Eds.), Handbook of cultural psychology (pp. 547–568). New York: Guilford Press.
Sternberg, R. J. (2009). The rainbow and kaleidoscope projects: a new psychological approach to undergraduate admissions. European Psychologist, 14, 279–287.
Sternberg, R. J. (2010). College admissions for the 21st century. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
Sternberg, R. J. (2015a). Multiple intelligences in the new age of thinking. In S. Goldstein, D. Princiotta, & J. Naglieri (Eds.), Handbook of intelligence: evolutionary theory, historical perspective, and current concepts (pp. 229–242). New York: Springer.
Sternberg, R. J. (2015b). The rainbow project and beyond: using a psychological theory of intelligence to improve the college admissions process. In M. A. Gernsbacher, R. W. Pew, L. M. Hough, & J. R. Pomerantz (Eds.), Psychology and the real world (2nd ed., pp. 139–146). New York: Worth.
Sternberg, R. J. (2016). What universities can be: a new model for preparing students for active concerned citizenship and ethical leadership. Ithaca: Cornell University Press.
Sternberg, R. J. (2017). ACCEL: a new model for identifying the gifted. Roeper Review, 39(3), 139–152.
Sternberg, R. J., Bonney, C. R., Gabora, L., & Merrifield, M. (2012). WICS: a model for college and university admissions. Educational Psychologist, 47(1), 30–41.
Sternberg, R. J., & Coffin, L. A. (2010). Kaleidoscope: admitting and developing “new leaders for a changing world”. New England Journal of Higher Education, Winter, 24, 12–13.
Sternberg, R. J., Forsythe, G. B., Hedlund, J., Horvath, J., Snook, S., Williams, W. M., Wagner, R. K., & Grigorenko, E. L. (2000). Practical intelligence in everyday life. New York: Cambridge University Press.
Sternberg, R. J., & Gastel, J. (1989a). Coping with novelty in human intelligence: an empirical investigation. Intelligence, 13, 187–197.
Sternberg, R. J., & Gastel, J. (1989b). If dancers ate their shoes: inductive reasoning with factual and counterfactual premises. Memory and Cognition, 17, 1–10.
Sternberg, R. J., & Grigorenko, E. L. (2001). All testing is dynamic testing. Issues in Education, 7(2), 137–170.
Sternberg, R. J., & Grigorenko, E. L. (2002). Dynamic testing. New York: Cambridge University Press.
Sternberg, R. J., & Grigorenko, E. L. (Eds.). (2004a). Culture and competence. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.
Sternberg, R. J., & Grigorenko, E. L. (2004b). Successful intelligence in the classroom. Theory Into Practice, 43, 274–280.
Sternberg, R. J., Grigorenko, E. L., & Kidd, K. K. (2005). Intelligence, race, and genetics. American Psychologist, 60, 46–59.
Sternberg, R. J., Grigorenko, E. L., Ngorosho, D., Tantufuye, E., Mbise, A., Nokes, C., Jukes, M., & Bundy, D. A. (2002). Assessing intellectual potential in rural Tanzanian school children. Intelligence, 30, 141–162.
Sternberg, R. J., & Hedlund, J. (2002). Practical intelligence, g, and work psychology. Human Performance, 15(1/2), 143–160.
Sternberg, R. J., & Kaufman, S. B. (Eds.). (2011). Cambridge handbook of intelligence. New York: Cambridge University Press.
Sternberg, R. J., Lipka, J., Newman, T., Wildfeuer, S., & Grigorenko, E. L. (2007). Triarchically-based instruction and assessment of sixth-grade mathematics in a Yup’ik cultural setting in Alaska. International Journal of Giftedness and Creativity, 21(2), 6–19.
Sternberg, R. J., Nokes, K., Geissler, P. W., Prince, R., Okatcha, F., Bundy, D. A., & Grigorenko, E. L. (2001). The relationship between academic and practical intelligence: a case study in Kenya. Intelligence, 29, 401–418.
Sternberg, R. J., & The Rainbow Project Collaborators. (2006). The rainbow project: enhancing the SAT through assessments of analytical, practical and creative skills. Intelligence, 34(4), 321–350.
Sternberg, R. J., & Suben, J. (1986). The socialization of intelligence. In M. Perlmutter (Ed.), Perspectives on intellectual development: vol. 19, Minnesota symposia on child psychology (pp. 201–235). Hillsdale: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
Visser, B. A., Ashton, M. C., & Vernon, P. A. (2006). Beyond g: putting multiple intelligences theory to the test. Intelligence, 34, 487–502.
Vygotsky, L. (1980). Mind in society: the development of higher psychological processes. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
Walton, G. M., & Cohen, G. L. (2003). Stereotype lift. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 39, 456–467.
Yang, S., & Sternberg, R. J. (1997). Taiwanese Chinese people’s conceptions of intelligence. Intelligence, 25, 21–36.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Sternberg, R.J. Context-Sensitive Cognitive and Educational Testing. Educ Psychol Rev 30, 857–884 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10648-017-9428-0
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10648-017-9428-0