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What do we mean when we describe a person
as intelligent? The concept of intelligence wields a powerful
influence on research dealing with the brain and on how
individuals progress in society. Yet, remarkably, there
is no scientific consensus about the meaning of intelligence.
In The Making of Intelligence Ken Richardson looks
at how intelligence has been characterized and measured
in the past, explores current trends in our understanding
and uses of the concept, and predicts what form these trends
will take in the future.
He argues that intelligence is not solely
predetermined by such factors as genes and environment;
it is also created by self-organizing interactions within
evolved developmental systems. Considering the implications
for society of this dynamic-systems approach, Richardson
predicts that as our understanding of the relationship between
the mind and the brain improves, the notion of intelligence
as a single concept may disappear altogether.
Richardson takes particularly sharp aim
at IQ tests, exposing the reductionist, oversimplified,
and contradictory notions of intelligence that they presuppose
as well as the social repercussions of the widespread, unreflecting
acceptance of the IQ model in public consciousness.
From the writings of Charles Darwin and
Herbert Spencer on evolution and adaptation to the reflections
of Jean Piaget and Lev Vygotsky on logical reasoning; from
the formulation of early IQ tests by Francis Binet and Henri
Simon to their recent, provocative rebirth in the assertions
of The Bell Curve by Charles Murray and Richard Herrnstein,
The Making of Intelligence is a lucid, judicious,
critical analysis of this controversial and important subject.
Ken Richardson is Honorary Senior Research
Fellow in the Centre for Human Development and Learning
at the Open University, U.K. Before moving to the Open University,
he spent four years working on the National Child Development
Study. He is the author of Understanding Psychology,
Understanding Intelligence, Models of Cognitive
Development, and Origins of Human Potential.
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