The Human Intelligence Podcast Executive function, intelligence, and cross-cultural research with Ivan Kroupin
Sep 8, 2025
Ivan Kroupin, a cross-cultural cognitive scientist from the Max Planck Institute, shares insights from his fieldwork in Namibia, Angola, and Bolivia. He delves into how environmental factors shape executive function and challenges the notion of universal intelligence tests. Discover how children's real-world skills often outshine standardized measures. Kroupin emphasizes the importance of understanding cultural contexts in cognitive research, revealing that traditional tests may reflect schooling rather than true cognitive abilities.
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Cross-Cultural Journey Into Fieldwork
- Ivan Kroupin grew up as a third-culture kid in a Russian household in Minnesota and later trained in philosophy and developmental psychology.
- He moved through Harvard to LSE and now co-directs a field site on the Namibia–Angola border, blending academic and field experience.
Fieldwork Teaches Practical Skills
- Managing a field site forced Ivan to learn practical skills like logistics, water transport, and makeshift bridge repair.
- He emphasizes living in tents and working within communities to see cognition "in the wild."
Tests May Measure School Skills, Not Universals
- Standard executive function tests may conflate universal cognitive capacities with skills shaped by formal schooling.
- Ivan argues we must test whether widely used measures actually capture schooling-specific experiences.