Personal conceptions of intelligence: Cross-cultural comparisons between Portuguese and Italian students

Abstract

This article presents some results of an intercultural study on personal conceptions of intelligence. The sample includes 1,540 students, 811 Italians and 729 Portuguese, from both sexes and of different socioeconomic statuses, of secondary Grades 10 and 12 and of the 1st grade of several university courses in both countries. The instrument used was The Personal Conceptions of Intelligence Scale (Faria, 2003), with 26 items, translated and adapted to Portuguese and Italian. The level of education and the cultural context appear as the only variables with either principal and interaction effects on the differentiation of personal conceptions of intelligence, which are analyzed according to the particularities of Italian and Portuguese school systems.