Culture-Fair Intelligence Tests

Dr. Russell T. Warne

Sep 10, 2023

Because intelligence testing was invented by Europeans and developed further by Americans, some people have suggested that traditional intelligence tests are not fair to people who belong to other cultures. This led to the development of “culture-fair intelligence tests” (also called “culture-reduced intelligence tests”) that were designed to reduce the impact of cultural knowledge on examinees’ IQ scores. The most famous culture-fair IQ test is the Raven’s Standard Progressive Matrices, but other tests have been created over the years. What these tests have in common is that they rely on simple geometric pictures and lack pictures of culturally-specific images (e.g., automobiles, telephones, baseball games) or questions about culturally-specific knowledge (e.g., word meanings, information about a country’s history).

Are Culture-Fair Tests Really Fair?

The premise of culture-fair tests was promising, but they have not lived up to that promise. Culture-fair tests do not eliminate the average IQ score differences across groups. In fact, they sometimes have larger average IQ differences than traditional IQ tests. Additionally, there is strong evidence that these tests do not function well in economically developing countries with poor school systems and little experience in testing. Even though the cultural component is not obvious, it is still there. Familiarity with the underlying concepts of culture-fair tests, such as geometric shapes, patterns, and even the concept of a multiple-choice test itself, is needed to understand and respond to so-called “culture-fair IQ tests.”

Are Culture-Fair IQ Tests Biased?

Because there are average differences in IQ scores, some people have wondered if culture-fair IQ tests are biased. The answer is no. Score differences are not, by themselves, evidence of test bias. Instead, bias occurs in IQ tests when a group has a systematic advantage over others for reasons unrelated to IQ. Bias is a complicated issue, but it is possible to have average group differences on an unbiased test. Indeed, it happens on every professionally developed IQ test.

A Place for Culture-Fair IQ Tests

While culture-fair IQ tests still have cultural content on them (and they do not eliminate average IQ score differences across groups), they still serve a valuable purpose. Often, they are the only test available for testing an examinee who belongs to a linguistic minority group in a country. After all, an imperfect test is almost always better than no test. Also, they can still often be used to compare individuals within a group to one another. Finally, many IQ test batteries (such as the Reasoning and Intelligence Online Test) include subtests that resemble culture-fair IQ tests as part of an assessment process to ensure that all aspects of intelligence are represented in an IQ score.

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