ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the indigenous notions of cognitive competence. It shows that the question of qualitative variation in cognitive competence has been posed once again; with the help of psychologists socialized in a variety of cultural systems. If psychology is to become a science of all human behaviour, capable of understanding it is functioning in all cultures, then concepts which have been developed largely in the West must surely come under close scrutiny. The ethnocentrism inherent in our discipline has become obvious as we have attempted to generalize our concepts and laws to behaviour in other cultural settings. A gradualist approach to making the modifications necessary for behavioural comparisons across cultures has been advanced. However, the concept of intelligence has had such great impact internationally, yet has such firm roots in psychological science, that it may be appropriate to wipe the conceptual slate clean and to adopt a position of radical cultural relativism with respect to this concept.
