Exploring the conceptualisations of intelligence among black South African students at the University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg campus.

Abstract

The concept of intelligence remains one of the most widely researched and controversial topics within the discipline of psychology since its introduction in the 1916’s. One of the main debates surrounding this concept is that it is a social construct, which means that what is considered an intelligent behaviour in one culture might not be viewed so in another. Thus, there is a need to understand the concept of intelligence from a cultural standpoint. Although studies focusing on the conceptualisation of intelligence among people of African descent have been conducted in some parts of Africa. However, within the South African context there have been very few studies that have focused on this area of research. Accordingly, Black South African conceptions of intelligence remain unexplored, and therefore unknown. This study is thus aimed at understanding how Black South African students conceptualise intelligence within their culture. A qualitative research design was adopted for this study. The study sample consisted of 4 males and 8 female Black South African students from the University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg Campus. The students were 21 years of age and above, and there were selected using a purposive sampling strategy. A thematic analysis was conducted to analyse data from the in-depth research interviews. Four themes relating to how the students conceptualise intelligence were identified, namely: conceptualizing intelligence, factors influencing conceptions of intelligence, determining intelligence and lastly the nature of intelligence. A close analysis of the research findings indicated that the student’s culture, family upbringing and educational background had influence on how they conceptualised intelligence. The overall findings of the study is that within Black South African cultures, intelligence is believed to be made up of several aspects. These aspects include knowledge about oneself and one’s culture, being a positive influence in society, being respectful to one’s elders, academic excellence and most importantly the ability to financially support one’s family. Factors such as Respect, family responsibility and academic excellence were identified as the main factors used to determine intelligence.