Abstract

Since the beginning of the 20th century, intelligence has been conceptualized
as a qualitatively unique faculty (or faculties) with a relatively fixed
quantity that individuals possess and that can be tested by conventional
intelligence tests. Despite the logical errors of reification and circular
reasoning involved in this essentialistic conceptualization, this view
of intelligence has persisted until the present, with psychologists still
debating how many and what types of intelligence there are. This paper
argues that a concept of intelligence as anything more than a label for
various behaviors in their contexts is a myth and that a truly scientific
understanding of the behaviors said to reflect intelligence can come only
from a functional analysis of those behaviors in the contexts in which
they are observed. A functional approach can lead to more productive methods
for measuring and teaching intelligent behavior.
Copyright Psychological Record Winter 2003

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One need only watch national television to witness the ramifications of hate. The “terrorist” attacks on the United States have resulted in many reactions. One of those reactions is a resurgence of National Pride. National pride is a powerful force but, sometimes, it blinds us to the perceptions that others have of us. Recent research has shown that strong national pride (coined natio-centrism) can bias how one processes information about other nations and cultures.

I teach a course on the Politics and Psychology of Hate over the Internet with a colleague at Indiana University East. Many of the students in this course were mortified by media footage showing some individuals (including children) celebrating in response to these recent attacks. In the end, the primary catalyst for their concern was “how could anyone hate me when they don’t even know me?” Yet we make judgments every day about others that we do not know. We make those judgments often based on obvious characteristics such as gender or ethnicity. For one of the first times in many American’s lives, we are confronting the reality that someone can “hate” us simply because of our country of origin. For those of us that have not traditionally been the targets of hate, this is a humbling reality.

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