IQ and human intelligence / N.J. Mackintosh.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Mackintosh, N. J. (Nicholas John), 1935-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Intellect.

Intelligence levels.

Intelligence tests.

Physical Description:

ix, 419 pages : illustrations ; 26 cm

Other Title:

Intelligence quotient and human intelligence

Place of Publication:

Oxford ; New York : Oxford University Press, 1998.

Summary:

The study and measurement of human intelligence is one of the most controversial subjects in psychology. For much of its history, the focus has been on differences between people, what it means for one individual to be more intelligent than the other, and how such differences might have arisen. With the emphasis on these issues, the efforts to understand the general nature of intelligence have been obscured. The author provides clear, comprehensive, and extremely readable introduction to this difficult subject. In addition to a discussion of the traditional topics raised by IQ tests, this book attempts to bring the theory and data of cognitive psychology and cognitive neuroscience to bear on some of these other, equally important scientific questions.

Contents:

1 The early development and uses of IQ tests 1

The origins of IQ testing 7

Uses and abuses of IQ tests 17

2 Psychometric theories of intelligence 27

The variety of IQ tests: one intelligence or many? 28

What do IQ tests measure? Test validity 41

What do IQ tests measure? Test reliability and the stability of IQ 55

3 The heritability of IQ 65

The meaning of heritability 65

The measurement of heritability 69

Analysis of kinship correlations 71

Quantitative estimates of heritability 85

The mechanism of heritability 94

4 Environmental effects on IQ 103

Secular changes in IQ 104

Environmental correlations and environmental causes 110

Social class and IQ 113

Physical environment 119

Demography: family size and birth order 124

Parental behaviour and family environment 127

Education and IQ 131

5 Group differences 143

Social class 144

Ethnic groups 148

Sex differences 182

6 Factor analysis and the structure of human abilities 200

The factor analytic approach 202

The interpretation of the general factor 222

7 The search for general intelligence: simple behavioural and neurological correlates of IQ 231

Neurological correlates of IQ 234

Behavioural measures of speed of information processing 242

Correlations with g or with group factors? 252

8 The search for cognitive operations underlying specific components of IQ: verbal and spatial abilities 266

Crystallized ability (Gc) 267

Spatial ability (Gv) 282

9 Fluid intelligence, reasoning, and problem solving 297

Analyses of reasoning and problem solving 299

Working memory 310

The central executive and executive control 317

The search for g concluded 324

10 Theories of intelligence 331

Ability and achievement 333

General intelligence or domain-specific expertise? 344

Beyond IQ? 360

Social intelligence 367.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages [381]-408) and indexes.

ISBN:

0198523688

019852367X

OCLC:

38862595