PROMOTING POTENTIAL 319Th ese are crucial sources of individual diff erences that are usually ig-
nored. Th eir eff ects will not be reduced by simply “lift ing” people out of
poverty according to some con ve nient statistical criterion.
Most people acknowledge that the diseased, the hungry, and the home-
less are in a very poor position to seize or create opportunities, plan pro-
ductive activities, be self- reliant, and so on. But few scientists seem to
realize that much the same applies to those whose conceptions of their
own cognitive ability have been damaged by erroneous assumptions and
the criteria of ability that fl ow from them. Th ese essentially ideological
assumptions are serious issues of social justice. But they are also serious
impediments to other wise “good enough” intelligent systems, their de-
velopment, and their fullest social and demo cratic participation.
In spite of such conditions, it is worthwhile to point to some other in-
vestigations in this area, because they indicate the resilience of humans
under duress. In a report in 2010, Paul Piff and colleagues note that lower
social class is associated with fewer resources, greater exposure to threat,
and a reduced sense of personal control. Accordingly, they suggest, we
might expect lower- class individuals to engage in less prosocial be hav ior
and emphasize self- interest over the welfare of others. However, across
four studies, they found that lower- class individuals proved to be more
generous, charitable, trusting, and helpful, compared with their upper-
class counter parts. Further analyses showed that lower class individuals
acted in a more prosocial fashion because of a greater commitment to
egalitarian values and feelings of compassion.^50
In this chapter, I have considered some of the pos si ble factors creating
individual diff erences in potential in general, and cognitive intelligence in
par tic u lar. Th ey already suggest strategies for intervention and the promo-
tion of intelligence better than the piecemeal eff orts of the past. However,
those forces are played out more strongly at an institutionalized level in
education systems around the world. Th ere have been thousands of books
and papers on that subject. In the next chapter, I confi ne myself to a few
thoughts on education systems as they relate to the creation of individual
diff erences.
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