The history of testing mental abilities has seen the dominance of two contrasting approaches, psychometrics and neuropsychology. These two traditions have different theories and methodologies, but overlap considerably in the tests they use. Historically, psychometrics has emphasized the primacy of a general factor, while neuropsychology has emphasized specific abilities that are dissociable. This issue about the nature of human mental abilities is important for many practical concerns. Questions such as gender, ethnic, and age-related differences in mental abilities are relatively easy to address if they are due to a single dominant trait. Presumably such a trait can be measured with any collection of complex cognitive tests. If there are many specific mental abilities, these would be much harder to measure and associated social issues would be more difficult to resolve. The relative importance of general and specific abilities also has implications for educational practices. This book includes the diverse opinions of experts from several fields including psychometrics, neuropsychology, speech language and hearing, and applied psychology.
However, Jensen does not draw back from its most controversial conclusions - that the average differences in IQ and other abilities found between sexes and racial groups have a substantial hereditary component, and that these differences have important societal consequences.
This engaging and thought-provoking text introduces the main techniques, theories, research and debates in personnel selection, helping students and practitioners to identify the major predictors of job performance as well as the most suitable methods for assessing them. Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic and Adrian Furnham provide a comprehensive, critical and up-to-date review of the constructs we use in assessing people – intelligence, personality, creativity, leadership and talent – and explore how these help us to predict differences in individuals' performance. Covering selection techniques such as interviews, references, biographical data, judgement tests and academic performance, The Psychology of Personnel Selection provides a lively discussion of both the theory behind the use of such techniques and the evidence for their usefulness and validity. The Psychology of Personnel Selection is essential reading for students of psychology, business studies, management and human resources, as well as for anyone involved in selection and assessment at work.
The definitive refutation to the argument of The Bell Curve. When published in 1981, The Mismeasure of Man was immediately hailed as a masterwork, the ringing answer to those who would classify people, rank them according to their supposed genetic gifts and limits. And yet the idea of innate limits—of biology as destiny—dies hard, as witness the attention devoted to The Bell Curve, whose arguments are here so effectively anticipated and thoroughly undermined by Stephen Jay Gould. In this edition Dr. Gould has written a substantial new introduction telling how and why he wrote the book and tracing the subsequent history of the controversy on innateness right through The Bell Curve. Further, he has added five essays on questions of The Bell Curve in particular and on race, racism, and biological determinism in general. These additions strengthen the book's claim to be, as Leo J. Kamin of Princeton University has said, "a major contribution toward deflating pseudo-biological 'explanations' of our present social woes."
This handbook provides research guidelines to study roles of the genes and other factors involved in a variety of complex behaviors. Utilizing methodologies and theories commonly used in behavior genetics, each chapter features an overview of the selected topic, current issues, as well as current and future research.
Book takes a refreshing approach on a classic topic of intelligence, inviting proponents of opposite viewpoints to debate pros & cons of the general factor of intelligence. For graduate & professionl level scholars in cog psy, educatn & indiv differences
Psychology: The Science of Mind and Behaviour is here with a new, fully updated and revised third edition. Bringing new developments in the field and its renowned pedagogical design, the third edition offers an exciting and engaging introduction to the study of psychology.This book’s scientific approach, which brings together international research, practical application and the levels of analysis framework, encourages critical thinking about psychology and its impact on our daily lives. Key features: Fully updated research and data throughout the book as well as increased cross cultural referencesRestructured Chapter 3 on Genes, Environment and Behaviour, which now starts with a discussion of Darwinian theory before moving on to Mendelian geneticsCore subject updates such as DSM-5 for psychological disorders and imaging techniques on the brain are fully integratedRevised and updated Research Close Up boxesCurrent Issues and hot topics such as, the study of happiness and schizophrenia, intelligence testing, the influence of the media and conflict and terrorism are discussed to prompt debates and questions facing psychologists todayNew to this edition is Recommended Reading of both classic and contemporary studies at the end of chapters Connect™ Psychology: a digital teaching and learning environment that improves performance over a variety of critical outcomes; easy to use and proven effective. LearnSmart™: the most widely used and intelligent adaptive learning resource that is proven to strengthen memory recall, improve course retention and boost grades. SmartBook™: Fuelled by LearnSmart, SmartBook is the first and only adaptive reading experience available today.
The fifth edition of Psychology: The Science of Mind and Behaviour continues to build on its strong biopsychosocial approach and balancing of classical and contemporary theory. The celebrated pedagogical design has been reinforced with additional pedagogical features and real world issues to offer an exciting and engaging introduction to the study of psychology. The fifth edition has been fully updated to reflect new developments in the field and the scientific approach brings together international research and practical application to encourage critical thinking about psychology and its impact on our societies and daily lives. Key features: •Brand New! The Bigger Picture takes a step back and reflects on how a subject can be interpreted from different angles. Replacing the Levels of Analysis feature, the Bigger Picture explores not only the biological, psychological and environmental levels, but also cultural and developmental aspects as well. •Brand New! Learning Goals and Review Questions encourage students to consider the core learnings of each chapter and critically assess their real world implications. •New and Updated! Psychology at Work interviews from Psychologists in the field are now included in every chapter. They provide a glimpse into their day-to-day work and the career path they have taken since completing a psychology degree. •Research Close Ups reflect new research and literature as well as updated critical thinking questions to encourage analysis and evaluation of the findings. •Current issues and hot topics such as, Covid-19, fake news, workplace psychology, social media, prosociality and critical perspectives of positive psychology prompt debates on the questions facing psychologists today. Nigel Holt is Head of Department of Psychology at Aberystwyth University, Wales Andy Bremner is Professor of Developmental Psychology and Head of Education at the University of Birmingham, UK Michael Vliek is an affiliate of the University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands and lectures at the University of Leiden, The Netherlands Ed Sutherland is an Associate Professor in Psychology and Director of Learning and Teaching at the University of Leeds, UK Michael W. Passer is an Associate Teaching Professor at the University of Washington, USA Ronald E. Smith is Professor Emeritus of Psychology at the University of Washington, USA
Over the past century, educational psychologists and researchers have posited many theories to explain how individuals learn, i.e. how they acquire, organize and deploy knowledge and skills. The 20th century can be considered the century of psychology on learning and related fields of interest (such as motivation, cognition, metacognition etc.) and it is fascinating to see the various mainstreams of learning, remembered and forgotten over the 20th century and note that basic assumptions of early theories survived several paradigm shifts of psychology and epistemology. Beyond folk psychology and its naïve theories of learning, psychological learning theories can be grouped into some basic categories, such as behaviorist learning theories, connectionist learning theories, cognitive learning theories, constructivist learning theories, and social learning theories. Learning theories are not limited to psychology and related fields of interest but rather we can find the topic of learning in various disciplines, such as philosophy and epistemology, education, information science, biology, and – as a result of the emergence of computer technologies – especially also in the field of computer sciences and artificial intelligence. As a consequence, machine learning struck a chord in the 1980s and became an important field of the learning sciences in general. As the learning sciences became more specialized and complex, the various fields of interest were widely spread and separated from each other; as a consequence, even presently, there is no comprehensive overview of the sciences of learning or the central theoretical concepts and vocabulary on which researchers rely. The Encyclopedia of the Sciences of Learning provides an up-to-date, broad and authoritative coverage of the specific terms mostly used in the sciences of learning and its related fields, including relevant areas of instruction, pedagogy, cognitive sciences, and especially machine learning and knowledge engineering. This modern compendium will be an indispensable source of information for scientists, educators, engineers, and technical staff active in all fields of learning. More specifically, the Encyclopedia provides fast access to the most relevant theoretical terms provides up-to-date, broad and authoritative coverage of the most important theories within the various fields of the learning sciences and adjacent sciences and communication technologies; supplies clear and precise explanations of the theoretical terms, cross-references to related entries and up-to-date references to important research and publications. The Encyclopedia also contains biographical entries of individuals who have substantially contributed to the sciences of learning; the entries are written by a distinguished panel of researchers in the various fields of the learning sciences.
