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  1. Home
  2. Books
  3. The Cambridge Handbook of Intelligence
  • Cited by 113
Publisher:
Cambridge University Press
Online publication date:
June 2012
Print publication year:
2011
Online ISBN:
9780511977244
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511977244
Subjects:
Life Sciences, Personality Psychology and Individual Differences, Cognitive Psychology, Psychology, Psychology: General Interest
Series:
Cambridge Handbooks in Psychology
Collection:
Cambridge Handbooks of Psychology
Information

Book description

This volume provides the most comprehensive and up-to-date compendium of theory and research in the field of human intelligence. Each of the 42 chapters is written by world-renowned experts in their respective fields, and collectively, they cover the full range of topics of contemporary interest in the study of intelligence. The handbook is divided into nine parts: Part I covers intelligence and its measurement; Part II deals with the development of intelligence; Part III discusses intelligence and group differences; Part IV concerns the biology of intelligence; Part V is about intelligence and information processing; Part VI discusses different kinds of intelligence; Part VII covers intelligence and society; Part VIII concerns intelligence in relation to allied constructs; and Part IX is the concluding chapter, which reflects on where the field is currently and where it still needs to go.

Reviews

“Sternberg and Kaufman have assembled nearly all of the foremost intelligence researchers and theorists to produce an absolutely essential volume for anyone who wants to understand the nature – and nurture – of intelligence in its many forms. It is the most thorough, authoritative, and readable sourcebook on the science of intelligence that I have ever seen.”
– Joshua Aronson, New York University, editor of Improving Academic Achievement

“The Cambridge Handbook of Intelligence is an extraordinary achievement. Comprehensive, engaging, inspiring, and at times provocative, it leaves no stone unturned – no aspects of intelligence and its consequences unexplored. What is intelligence? Where does it come from? Can it be developed, and if so, how? If you are looking for answers to questions like these, there is no better place to find them than from the world-renowned experts in this remarkable volume.”
– Heidi Grant Halvorson, psychologist, author of Succeed: How We Can Reach Our Goals

"...Sternberg and Kaufman brought together a group of scholars and theorists with the expertise and knowledge to compile an important contribution to the field of intelligence studies. This volume consolidates decades of research and theory into an accessible volume.... well-organized and coherent.... offer an excellent resource.... This book would be an excellent addition to the collection of any scholar with an interest in intelligence and a must have for new scholars in the field. I will be recommending this text to our university library so that it may be a resource for my colleagues and our graduate students."
– Professor Christopher A. Was, Kent State University, PsycCRITIQUES

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Contents

Page 2 of 2

Contents
  • Chapter 19 - Basic Processes of Intelligence
    pp 371-393
  • View abstract

    Summary

    The field of intellectual disabilities (formerly referred to as mental retardation) has a long and complicated relationship to the field of intelligence. The three issues that dominate the history of intellectual disabilities vis-vis intelligence are: developmental difference controversy; undifferentiated versus differentiated approaches to intellectual disabilities; and motivation, different life experiences, and other nonintellectual concerns. Many issues relate to the intellectual profiles of persons with a specific cause, or etiology, of intellectual disabilities. Everyday adaptive functioning of persons with intellectual disabilities highlights the difficulties inherent in connecting intelligence with real-life functioning and problems. To many researchers, persons with intellectual disabilities simply display lower levels of intelligence and offer few ties to their specific fields. The fields of intelligence and intellectual disabilities continue to function somewhat independently, and only a handful of researchers interested in intelligence are also interested in intelligence as it pertains to persons with disabilities.
  • Chapter 20 - Working Memory and Intelligence
    pp 394-418
  • View abstract

    Summary

    Prodigies may be examples of extreme high intelligence, while savants may be examples of extreme low intelligence. There is relative consensus on how to define a savant but less agreement on the definition of a child prodigy. There have been a small number of more interpretive or theoretical efforts to comprehend and make sense of the prodigy phenomenon. With the availability of powerful imaging techniques like functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), positron emission tomography (PET), and others, prodigy cases shed light on some of the enduring issues in the study of intelligence. There have been advances in two areas that bear directly on savants and intelligence. One of these is of general interest and deals with all savants; this work shows that assumed constraints on IQ and other capabilities do not always hold for savants, that there is more diversity and greater plasticity in savant development than was previously believed.
  • Chapter 21 - Intelligence and Reasoning
    pp 419-441
  • View abstract

    Summary

    Despite broad diversity several common themes about intellectual giftedness and the conditions for its development exist. This chapter provides a review of the research related to intellectual giftedness with a discussion of different themes, summarizing about research on intellectual giftedness in the United States, including the seminal work of Lewis Terman, and presenting an overview of some interesting and potentially important American theories to date. It outlines some interesting research-based trends related to new ideas in defining and developing academic gifts and talents. There is no agreed-upon consensus about who are gifted and no final answers about evolving understandings of how intellectual giftedness develops and the characteristics that help to identify and nurture intellectual gifts and talents. To introduce the challenge associated with both defining and identifying giftedness in students, four brief case studies are discussed in the chapter.
  • Chapter 22 - Intelligence and the Cognitive Unconscious
    pp 442-467
  • View abstract

    Summary

    This chapter explores the ways in which the sexes are similar and different in their cognitive abilities. It presents a balanced overview of the current findings in the research literature on sex differences in intelligence. The chapter discusses sex differences with regard to evolutionary perspectives, biological perspectives and sociocultural perspectives. A biopsychosocial model based on the inextricable links between the biological bases of intelligence and environmental events is an alternative to the nature-nurture dichotomy. The truth about sex differences in intelligence depends on the nature of the cognitive task being assessed, the range of ability that is tested, the age and education of the participants, and numerous other modifying variables. Data showing differences between men and women in intelligence do not support the notion of a smarter sex, nor do they imply that the differences are immutable.
  • Chapter 23 - Artificial Intelligence
    pp 468-482
  • View abstract

    Summary

    The relationship between culture and intelligence is complex and characterized by a lack of consensus regarding the definition and operationalization of each construct. Due to limited or non-existent health care, particular racial and ethnic groups are at greater risk for sensory loss and other health problems that may lower their performance on intelligence measures, for example, higher blood lead levels leading to cognitive deficits. This chapter discusses the measures of intelligence that include g factor, test bias, cultural loading, and test fairness. A number of alternative assessment practices have emerged in recent years in part to address criticisms of the usage of intelligence tests with members of racial and ethnic minority groups. It should be noted that the IQ difference between Black and White 12- year-olds has dropped 5.5 points. Asians and Asian Americans have often obtained the highest group averages on standardized intelligence tests.
  • Chapter 24 - The Theory of Multiple Intelligences
    pp 485-503
  • View abstract

    Summary

    The concept of race itself is intensely debated in the social and behavioral sciences, with some subscribing to the notion that it represents a biological fact. As with race, there is no universally accepted definition of intelligence. Admittedly, intelligence testing has come a long way in the past 100 years. Developers of modern tests of cognitive ability have attempted to achieve culture neutrality and tap a broader spectrum of underlying skills, and IQ has become a far more psychometrically sophisticated concept. The relationship between IQ and socioeconomic status (SES) is only one argument challenging hereditarian assumptions about the largely genetic nature of intelligence. Continued research on race and intelligence is important, particularly with regard to the etiology of differences in IQ scores. In conducting studies of this nature, however, investigators must be objective, comprehensive, and cautious, given the potential for divisiveness and far-reaching sociopolitical implications.
  • Chapter 26 - Emotional Intelligence
    pp 528-549
  • View abstract

    Summary

    Discussions of animal intelligence often assume, inappropriately, that intelligence is inherently good. In this case, it has turned out to be generally true. This chapter reviews absolute versus relational learning by suggesting that animals are capable of using either the absolute or relative properties of a stimulus in making discriminations. The ability of animals to develop emergent stimulus classes involving arbitrary stimuli has important implications for human language learning. The task most often used to study memory in animals is delayed matching-to-sample, in which following acquisition of matching-to-sample, a delay is inserted between the offset of the sample and the onset of the comparison stimuli. The accurate assessment of animal intelligence will require vigilance, on the one hand, to evaluate cognitive functioning against simpler accounts and, on the other hand, to determine the conditions that maximally elicit the animal's cognitive capacity.
  • Chapter 27 - Practical Intelligence
    pp 550-563
  • View abstract

    Summary

    Many methods are used to assess intelligence and its evolution. These include behavioral measures, which may involve naturalistic observation or analyzing responses in laboratory experiments; artifactual measures, which involve analysis of tools, art, and so forth; and anatomical/neurological measures. This chapter discusses intelligence in our closest relatives that include the great Apes such as chimpanzees, bonobos, gorillas, and orangutans. It also addresses the question of why human intelligence evolved, and whether it is still evolving. Sexual selection, group selection, and the Baldwin effect have also been implicated as playing a role in shaping intelligence. Another possibility derives from the theory that culture constitutes a second form of evolution. By understanding the evolutionary origins of human intelligence, we gain perspective on pressing issues of today and are in a better position to use our intelligence to direct the future course of our species and our planet.
  • Chapter 28 - Social Intelligence
    pp 564-581
  • View abstract

    Summary

    The biological basis for electroencephalogram (EEG)/average evoked potential (AEP) correlations to intelligence measures is not yet clear. Neural transmission speed (often measured as nerve conduction velocity) and the degree of myelination surrounding neurons have been proposed as potentially important variables for individual differences in intelligence. This chapter discusses neuroimaging studies that include positron emission tomography (PET), magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), and parieto-frontal integration theory (P-FIT) model of intelligence to emphasize the importance of information flow. Structural neuroimaging studies with large samples continue to relate intelligence to brain development. A number of new functional imaging studies use sophisticated experimental designs to examine cognitive and psychometric components of intelligence. The combination of neuroimaging and genetic research is one of the most powerful new approaches to understanding the neural basis of intelligence. Studies show that regional gray matter and white matter are largely under genetic control and share common genes with intelligence.
  • Chapter 30 - Mating Intelligence
    pp 603-620
  • View abstract

    Summary

    Different terms have described quick responding, processing speed, cognitive speed, psychometric speed, and perceptual speed. Methodology derived from speeded tasks assumes that cognitive processes intervening between stimulus and response can at least be relatively isolated by appropriate manipulation of experimental conditions. The most comprehensive body of data assembled to test the theory that processes responsible for speed on elementary cognitive tasks (ECTs) are the same as those responsible for complex intelligent actions from Jensen's studies of simple and choice reaction times (RTs). Although the extent to which inspection time (IT) and RT measure the same or different processes is still an open question, there is compelling evidence that correlation between IQ and processing speed estimated by IT or choice RT reflects shared genetic influences. There is considerable evidence that white matter lesions are associated with slower processing speed and poorer performance on tests of attention and memory.
  • Chapter 31 - Intelligence in Worldwide Perspective
    pp 623-646
  • View abstract

    Summary

    Baddeley and Hitch proposed a more complex construct, working memory (WM), that could maintain information in a readily accessible state, consistent with the short-term store (STS), but could also engage in concurrent processing, as well as maintain access to more information than the limited capacity STS could purportedly maintain. Delineating the exact characteristics of WM and accounting for variation in working memory capacity (WMC) continues to be an extremely active area of research. Various measures of WMC have been shown to correlate quite strongly with measures of intelligence, accounting for at least half the variance in fluid intelligence (gf). The multi-mechanism view of the relationship between WMC and gf also has implications for research on WM training and for cognitive therapy for the elderly and patients with neural damage or disease. WMC is strongly correlated with gf.
  • Chapter 32 - Secular Changes in Intelligence
    pp 647-665
  • View abstract

    Summary

    Reasoning, problem solving, and decision-making represent different but overlapping aspects of human intelligence. The researchers following the cognitive psychological approach to the study of reasoning study the responses of a small number of participants to logical tasks such as syllogisms or formal logic tasks. The theories dominating psychological theorizing about reasoning are: mental rules and mental models. Both theories were first applied to the study of deductive reasoning tasks such as syllogisms and then applied to a broader range of reasoning tasks. Human reasoning occurs at different levels of awareness. Most cognitive scientists distinguish between tacit and intentional (or explicit) reasoning processes. One of the important controversies about reasoning abilities is the extent to which individual differences in reasoning abilities overlap with individual differences in working memory capacity. Traditionally, tests such as the Cognitive Abilities Test (CogAT) or the SAT have been used to provide a measure of cognitive development.
  • Chapter 33 - Society and Intelligence
    pp 666-682
  • View abstract

    Summary

    This chapter presents evidence that mechanisms relating to the cognitive unconscious: mental structures, processes, and states that can influence experience, thought, and actions outside phenomenal awareness and voluntary control make an important contribution to intelligent behavior. There have been some recent studies that look at individual differences in the cognitive unconscious. The chapter focuses on individual differences and reviews recent empirical work on relations among the cognitive processes underlying psychometric intelligence and the cognitive processes underlying the cognitive unconscious, attempting to bridge two major research programs that, until recently, have traveled on separate but parallel paths. The dual-process theory of human intelligence aims to integrate modern dual-process theories of cognition with research on intelligence. By fostering collaborations across the various areas of psychology and related disciplines, and incorporating dual-process theory into thinking, one should be able to come to a fuller, more complete understanding of human intelligence.
  • Chapter 34 - Intelligence as a Predictor of Health, Illness, and Death
    pp 683-708
  • View abstract

    Summary

    This chapter reviews the history of artificial intelligence (AI) and its major subfields, and illustrates AI as a science and as a technology. Critics of AI from psychology sometimes view AI programs as being psychologically implausible. The chapter explains some dimensions in designing AI agents as well as describes some issues in putting multiple capabilities into an AI agent. It discusses the problems of the measurement of intelligence in AIs. When measuring the intelligence of human beings, the test need not have questions representing every kind of intelligent thing a person could do. Rather, the test result measures the general intelligence of the test taker. A lesson from the history of AI is that cognitive tasks that seem difficult for humans to solve are relatively easy to make programs solve, and those cognitive tasks that are apparently easy for humans to address are extraordinarily difficult to make computers solve.
  • Chapter 36 - Intelligence and Achievement
    pp 738-747
  • View abstract

    Summary

    Multiple intelligence (MI) theory has drawn considerable attention primarily from psychologists and educators. Some critics of MI theory argue that it is not grounded in empirical research and cannot, therefore, be proved or disproved on the basis of new empirical findings. The understanding that intelligences operate on specific content can also help to distinguish them from sensory systems. From a neuropsychological point of view, the critical test for MI theory will be the ways in which intellectual strengths map onto neural structures and connections. Uses of MI ideas within and outside formal educational settings hold great promise. In particular, new digital media and virtual realities offer numerous ways in which learners can master required knowledge and skills. MI ideas are likely to endure within the worlds of education, business, and daily practice, like the terms emotional intelligence and social intelligence, they are already becoming part of the conventional wisdom.
  • Chapter 37 - Intelligence and Motivation
    pp 748-770
  • View abstract

    Summary

    Successful intelligence involves a broader range of abilities than is typically measured by tests of intellectual and academic skills. Most of these tests measure primarily or exclusively memory and analytical abilities. With regard to memory, they assess the abilities to recall and recognize information. With regard to analytical abilities, they measure the skills involved when one analyzes, compares and contrasts, evaluates, critiques, and judges. Several separate factor-analytic studies support the internal validity of the theory of successful intelligence. The theory of successful intelligence is valid as a whole. Moreover, the theory can make a difference not only in laboratory tests but in school classrooms and even the everyday life of adults as well. The educational system in the United States, as in many other countries, places great emphasis on instruction and assessments that tap into two important skills: memory and analysis.
  • Chapter 38 - Intelligence and Creativity
    pp 771-783
  • View abstract

    Summary

    The first portion of this chapter reviews the concept of emotional intelligence. Some attention is paid to what is meant by the terms emotion, intelligence, and emotional intelligence. A distinction is drawn between models of emotional intelligence that focus on mental abilities and alternative models that, increasingly, are recognized as speaking more generally of personality. Measures of emotional intelligence are examined in the chapter's second section. Findings concerning what emotional intelligence predicts are the topic of the chapter's third section. There is an increasing call to weed out those conceptualizations that do not make sense to be called emotional intelligence. Alternatively, they can be transplanted in the soil of personality psychology, where they better belong. Current research suggests that mental ability models of emotional intelligence can be described as a standard intelligence, and they empirically meet the criteria for a standard intelligence.
  • Chapter 39 - Intelligence and Rationality
    pp 784-826
  • View abstract

    Summary

    Cross-cultural studies from a large number of societies provide examples of practical intelligence manifested as practical know-how. A particular form of practical know-how that figures prominently in research on practical intelligence is tacit knowledge. Tacit knowledge is practical knowledge that usually is not openly expressed or taught directly. Although practical intelligence is related to performance in a variety of domains, studies in which both practical intelligence, primarily various measures of tacit knowledge, and IQ have been measured demonstrate that practical intelligence is distinct from fluid and crystallized intelligence. Sternberg has been the most forceful proponent of the concept of practical intelligence as one of three, distinct form of intelligence. Horn and Masunaga provide an account of the merging of a theory of intelligence with a theory of expertise. The increasingly influential alternative is embodied or grounded cognition.
  • Chapter 40 - Intelligence and Wisdom
    pp 827-846
  • View abstract

    Summary

    Defining social intelligence seems easy enough, especially by analogy to abstract intelligence. After an initial burst of interest in the George Washington Social Intelligence Test (GWSIT), work on the assessment and correlates of social intelligence fell off sharply until the 1960s, when this line of research was revived within the context of Guilford's Structure of Intellect model of intelligence. Social intelligence played little role in Sternberg's early componential view of human intelligence. Social intelligence has always played a role in the assessment of mental retardation, autistic spectrum disorders, and moral reasoning. Although the social intelligence view of personality diverges from the psychometric approach to social intelligence on the matter of assessment, it agrees with some contemporary psychometric views that intelligence is context-specific. Social intelligence is part of a larger repertoire of knowledge by which the person attempts to solve the practical problems encountered in the physical and social world.
  • Chapter 41 - Intelligence and Expertise
    pp 847-860
  • View abstract

    Summary

    This chapter provides an overview of research on cultural intelligence (CQ), the nomological network of CQ, and future directions for research on CQ. It helps readers to think more deeply about their own CQ capabilities. Earley and Ang built on the increasing consensus that intelligence should go beyond mere cognitive abilities. They described CQ as a complex, multifactor individual attribute that is composed of metacognitive, cognitive, motivational, and behavioral factors. The chapter stimulates additional theorizing, empirical research, and practical application in diverse countries and cultures across the globe. To date, most of the empirical research on CQ has used the CQ Scale (CQS). CQ resonates with researchers and practitioners who are concerned with adaptation to and effectiveness in multicultural settings. Education researchers are calling for increased awareness of cultural differences in learning styles and for development of CQ in teachers and students.
  • Chapter 42 - Where Are We? Where Are We Going? Reflections on the Current and Future State of Research on Intelligence
    pp 863-886
  • View abstract

    Summary

    The unification of the fields of mating and intelligence, implied in the mating intelligence (MI) construct, provides such a new angle on many areas of the behavioral sciences. The cognitive mating mechanisms of MI include both species-typical and individual-differences features. While evolutionary psychology has tended to focus mainly on behavioral displays of physical qualities such as strength, virility, and athleticism, the MI construct focuses on psychological qualities (mental fitness indicators) such as confidence, kindness, creativity, intelligence, resourcefulness, status, humor, and mental health. Awareness of MI in the larger society should increase our appreciation of psychological and mental qualities in a potential mate in addition to purely physical qualities. Further, sex education in the schools can be improved by being informed by the MI framework. MI construct can allow us to come toward a more complete understanding of human intelligence.

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