Dear Singrayar Arockiam,

 Thank you for your interesting question.Your sincere concern over the utility of Stanford- Bennet for Asian and African cultures has been of great interest to a number of scholars such as Anna  Wierzbicka. Her notion of Anglocentricism , in point of fact, broaches up the issue you have introduced. She has a particularist rather than a universalist view of languages stating that we should be wary of the efficacy of the theories or scientific instruments advocated by western scholars. In other words, What is prescribed in Moscow might not be effective in Baghdad. On this basis, the application of a psychology test meant to be used in independent cultures may not provide the same useful information in interdependent cultures. This provides a rich research context for scholars to examine whether indiscriminate use of such instruments is valid or not.

Best regards,

R. Biria

Dear Singrayar Arockiam,

I am Portuguese and, hence, from a Western country and society. Before answer to your question, let me say that in this global world it is likely that nowadays all cultures are interdependent. I accept, however, your idea that Western countries and societies are, say, predominantly independent, and that Asian and African cultures are predominantly interdependent.

May be you have already heard of the big three of morality: autonomy, which predominates in Western cultures; community, which predominates in Eastern cultures; and divinity, which predominates in highly religious countries. This means that what is moral or just in a culture, may be unjust or immoral in a different culture. In the same vein, a given intelligent behavior is not so in all cultures. If this were not the case, there were universal psychological truths such as there are physical universal truths. Obviously, this is not the case.  

One has to be very cautious while using the Standford-Binnet intelligence scale in non-Western societies or countries. I concur with Reza Biria's idea that the application of a psychology test meant to be used in, say, independent cultures may not provide the same useful information in interdependent cultures. So, I think that when a researcher of a non-Western wants to use the above mentioned scale s/he has to adapt it to the respective culture. It is alleged that Piagetian developmental tasks are more content free than well-known mental tests such as WIAS, WISC, Stanford-Binnet, and so on. Ideally, Asian and African cultures should have their own tests.

Best regards, Orlando

The Stanford-Binet (not Standford Binnet - it was a version of the French psychologist' Alfred Binet's first intelligence test developed at Stanford University) is probably far too out-dated now to be sensibly used by anyone.  The notion of using it in Asia is not new - e.g. C.H.Rice (1929) 'A Hindustani Binet-Performance Scale'.  The problem with using any psychological test outside its culture of origin is that it is impossible fully to eliminate culturally loaded items, plus the paradox that if differences are found between culture of origin performance and those elsewhere you cannot tell whether this reflects a real difference or cultural bias. See my book 'Race', Racism and Psychology (2012 2nd ed)  for more on this whole issue. Orlando is right I think in hisfuller  previous comments.

The Stanford-Binet is not outdated. The fifth edition was published in 2003 with norms based on 4,800 test-takers. It is intended primarily for use with American populations, naturally enough - just as the original Binet-Simon scales were intended for French students. Ideally, an adaptation for another nation would be more than just a translation; verbal subtests in particular need to be revised quite a bit, and so do some pictorial images. But unless there is a large population to be tested and a healthy number of local psychologists, often the best one can hope for is a translation - maybe of an earlier edition. There must be a Spanish version out there somewhere (as is true of the Wechsler scales), but there may not be a Tagalog version!

Although cultures may well influence us to utilize different cognitive strategies, as far as I know the predictive validity of IQ scores holds up worldwide. However, don't expect the norms to be the same! If you must use norms from a different nation, do so only to ensure that your scores are on a proper interval-type scale.

http://www.wpspublish.com/store/p/2951/stanford-binet-intelligence-scales-fifth-edition-sb-5

'predictive' of what exactly Stephen?