Conceptions of intelligence as social representations

Abstract

The aim of the study was to investigate the theory put forward by Mugny and Carugati that social representations of intelligence are organised both by social identity and by experiences of unfamiliarity. Parents', teachers' and students' conceptions of intelligence were examined in two separate questionnaire-based studies, the first one (N=196) dealing with views on the development of intelligence, and the second one (N=222) with views on the definitions of intelligence. It was found that social identity ("fostererhood" and teacherhood) tends to organise the conceptions in terms of the "theory of natural inequalities", as suggested by Mugny and Carugati. However, the experienced unfamiliarity of intelligence had a clear effect only on the conceptions of development, and there were no general associations between social identity and experienced unfamiliarity. We suggest that the social representations of intelligence might be organised in terms of several basic themes, with one dealing with the puzzle of development, another with the definition of intelligence, and a third, more general one, treating the whole concept of intelligence with suspicion and apprehension. © 1995 Instituto Superior de Psicologia Aplicada, Lisbon, Portugal/ Springer Netherlands.