Japanese Psychological Research
Online ISSN : 1468-5884
Print ISSN : 0021-5368
Descriptors for an intelligent person
A Japanese study
HIROSHI AZUMAKEIKO KASHIWAGI
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JOURNAL FREE ACCESS

1987 Volume 29 Issue 1 Pages 17-26

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Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine the concept of intelligence among Japanese. Male and female college students, and mothers of female students were asked to think of an intelligent person, and to rate each of 67 descriptors according to whether it fits that person or not. It was found out that some of the descriptors were highly general regardless of the background of the person to be described, and that some were specific to the sex and other backgrounds of the person. As compared to the results of studies in the U.S., descriptors related to the receptive social competence tended to be associated with high intelligence, especially when the person to be described was a woman. The factor structure found in Japanese subjects which showed the predominant factor of social competence differed from that for Americans reported by Sternberg. Sex stereotyping in the concept of intelligence was also observed: Descriptors for a female target, compared those of a male target, were distributed more heavily in the domain of social competence and the reading and writing. Sex-role differentiation in concept was more pronounced in the responses of male students as compared to those of female subjects.

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