The main topic of the book is a reconstruction of the evolution of nervous systems and brains as well as of mental-cognitive abilities, in short "intelligence" from simplest organisms to humans. It investigates to which extent the two are correlated. One central topic is the alleged uniqueness of the human brain and human intelligence and mind. It is discussed which neural features make certain animals and humans intelligent and creative: Is it absolute or relative brain size or the size of "intelligence centers" inside the brains, the number of nerve cells inside the brain in total or in such "intelligence centers" decisive for the degree of intelligence, of mind and eventually consciousness? And which are the driving forces behind these processes? Finally, it is asked what all this means for the classical problem of mind-brain relationship and for a naturalistic theory of mind.

What effect does creativity have on individuals, groups and societies, and on the fundamental values on which they base their actions and institutions? What constitutes good and evil, right and wrong, and how does creativity disrupt these beliefs? 'The Ethics of Creativity' brings together an impressive collaboration of thinkers from several countries and disciplines to illuminate the thorny issues that arise when novel ideas and products brought forth by creativity collide with the rules and norms of what we believe to be right or good.

Repression receives little attention in philosophical literature. This study of cases of repression that inhibit an agent's deliberative access to his reasons argues that an agent cannot correctly deliberate about a reason to overcome repression as if he did so, he would already have overcome repression and so would have no reason to do so.

The Bell Tolls. The Demand for and Assessment of Mental Ability: The Supply of and Demand for Intelligence. The Juxtaposition of Individual and Institutional Assessment. Mapping Social Policy against a Theoretical Backdrop: Academic Merit versus Fair Representation: A Case Study of Undergraduate Admissions Policy at the University of California at Berkeley. Mapping Admissions and Other Social Policy against a Philosophical Backdrop. Intelligence versus Higher Education as a Determinant of Worldly Success: The Sociopolitical Perspective. Academic Aptitude versus Achievement: Scientific Interpretations of Intelligence. Rationalist versus Empiricist Views: The Philosophical Backdrop on the Learnability of Intelligence. The Illusory Faces of Implicit Intelligence Policy. The Impact of Implicit Intelligence Policy on Explicit Policy: The Potential Value of Impact Analysis on Intelligence Policy. The Impact of Implicit Intelligence Policy on Explicit University Admissions Policy. Recommendations and Conclusions: Toward a Coherent and Explicit Intelligence Policy. From Here to a Coherent and Explicit Intelligence Policy. Appendixes. Index.

How did we get from unconscious material forces to the dazzling intricacy of the human mind? Standard evolutionary theory has not provided us with a continuous picture of that long emergence. In consequence, psychological theories remain highly fragmented, without deeper roots or foundations, while the general public either remain confused, or invoke miracles or the hand of an intelligent designer. This book provides new concepts from dynamic systems theory, and the new evolutionary synthesis, to present a comprehensive overview of the evolution of cognition. It combines ideas about complexity and environmental structure to highlight the emergence of intelligent systems very early in evolution. Intelligent systems came to dominate evolution through increasing complexity, including cell signalling, epigenetics, developmental systems, behaviour, brain and cognitive systems, to culminate in the human cognitive and other mental systems. This volume has fundamental implications for psychological theory and our understanding of humanity.

The Intelligent Mind conceives the psychological reality of thought and language, explaining how intelligence develops from intuition to representation and then to linguistic interaction and thinking. Overcoming the prevailing dogmas regarding how discursive reason emerges, this book secures the psychological possibility of the philosophy of mind.

Originally published in 1969, Intelligence and Cultural Environment looks at the concept of intelligence and the factors influencing the mental development of children, including health and nutrition, as well as child-rearing practices. It goes on to discuss the application of intelligence tests in non-Western countries and includes both British and cross-cultural studies to illustrate this. Inevitably a product of the time in which it was written, this book nonetheless makes a valuable contribution to intelligence theory as we know it today.

Insecurity is an inevitable part of being human. Although life is insecure for every organism, humans alone are burdened by knowing that this is so. This ground-breaking volume features contributions by leading international researchers exploring the social psychology of insecurity, and how existential, metaphysical and social uncertainty influence human social behaviour. Chapters in the book investigate the psychological origins of insecurity, evolutionary theorizing about the functions of insecurity, the motivational strategies people adopt to manage insecurity, self-regulation strategies, the role of insecurity in the formation and maintenance of social relationships, and the influence of insecurity and uncertainty on the organization of larger social systems and public affairs. The chapters also discuss how insecurity influences many areas of contemporary social life, highlighting the applied implications of this line of research. Topics covered include the role of insecurity in social communication, social judgments, decision making, group identification, morality, interpersonal behaviour, relationships, attitudes and many applied aspects of social life and politics where understanding the psychology of insecurity is of critical importance. This accessible and engaging book will be of interest to students, researchers and practitioners as a textbook or reference book in behavioral and social science fields, as well as to a broad spectrum of intelligent lay audience seeking to understand one of the most intriguing issues that shapes human social life.

This volume is a state-of-the-art survey of the psychology of reasoning, based around, and in tribute to, one of the field's most eminent figures: Jonathan St B.T. Evans. In this collection of cutting edge research, Evans' collaborators and colleagues review a wide range of important and developing areas of inquiry. These include biases in thinking, probabilistic and causal reasoning, people's use of 'if' sentences in arguments, the dual-process theory of thought, and the nature of human rationality. These foundational issues are examined from various angles and finally integrated in a concluding panoramic chapter written by Evans himself. The eighteen chapters, all written by leading international researchers, combine state-of the-art research with investigation into the most fundamental questions surrounding human mental life, such as: What is the architecture of the human mind? Are humans rational, and what is the nature of this rationality? How do we think hypothetically? The Science of Reason offers a unique combination of breadth, depth and integrative vision, making it an indispensable resource for researchers and students of human reason.

How is one to understand the nature of intelligence? One approach is through psychometric testing, but such an approach often puts the "cart before the horse"--the test before the theory. Another approach is to use evolutionary theory. This criterion has been suggested by a number of individuals in the past, from Charles Darwin in the more distant past to Howard Gardner, Stephen Gould, Steven Pinker, Carl Sagan, David Stenhouse, and many others. The chapters in this book address three major questions: 1. Does evolutionary theory help us understand the nature of human intelligence? 2. If so, what does it tell us about the nature of human intelligence? 3. And if so, how has intelligence evolved? The goal of this book is to present diverse points of view on the evolution of intelligence as offered by leading experts in the field. In particular, it may be possible to better understand the nature and societal implications of intelligence by understanding how and why it has evolved as it has. This book is unique in offering a diversity of points of view on the topic of the evolution of human intelligence.

Experimental philosophy is one of the most recent and controversial developments in philosophy. Its basic idea is rather simple: to test philosophical thought experiments and philosophers' intuitions about them with scientific methods, mostly taken from psychology and the social sciences. The ensuing experimental results, such as the cultural relativity of certain philosophical intuitions, has engaged - and at times infuriated - many more traditionally minded "armchair" philosophers since then. In this volume, the metaphilosophical reflection on experimental philosophy is brought yet another step forward by engaging some of its most renowned proponents and critics in a lively and controversial debate. In addition to that, the volume also contains original experimental research on personal identity and philosophical temperament, as well as state-of-the-art essays on central metaphilosophical issues, like thought experiments, the nature of intuitions, or the status of philosophical expertise. This book was originally published as a special issue of Philosophical Psychology.

Simulations are often used in the military and other performance-critical fields (e.g., law enforcement, aviation, emergency management) to assess readiness, to support training, management, and decision making. and to conduct mission rehearsal. This volume documents the state of the art and presents a state of the possible in individual and small unit human performance research and simulation. Distinguished scientists from within the military, academe, government and private industry consider how best to gather and relate human performance data, and offer specific recommendations to advance the development of models and simulations of individual and small unit behavior. The result is a uniquely interdisciplinary volume that draws upon the knowledge and experience of recognized experts whose insights converge upon problems of common interest and relevance to researchers, analysts, and developers.

This fully updated, comprehensive text examines the assessment of intellectual abilities in children and adults. Chapters emphasize the rationale and techniques for measuring intellectual function in educational, clinical, and other organizational settings. The author includes detailed descriptions of the most widely used procedures for administering, scoring, and interpreting individual and group intelligence tests. This second edition features additional material on testing the handicapped, individual and group differences in mental abilities, theories and issues in the assessment of mental abilities, and new tests for measuring intelligence and related abilities.

This book provides an introductory overview of the rapid growth in interdisciplinary research into Thinking with Diagrams. Diagrammatic representations are becoming more common in everyday human experience, yet they offer unique challenges to cognitive science research. Neither linguistic nor perceptual theories are sufficient to completely explain their advantages and applications. These research challenges may be part of the reason why so many diagrams are badly designed or badly used. This is ironic when the user interfaces of computer software and the worldwide web are becoming so completely dominated by graphical and diagrammatic representations. This book includes chapters commissioned from leading researchers in the major disciplines involved in diagrams research. They review the philosophical status of diagrams, the cognitive processes involved in their application, and a range of specialist fields in which diagrams are central, including education, architectural design and visual programming languages. The result is immediately relevant to researchers in cognitive science and artificial intelligence, as well as in applied technology areas such as human-computer interaction and information design.

The problem with the way the safety industry functions is three-fold: (1) the dysfunctional relationship between business and safety leaders, (2) the practice of Results-Based Safety, and (3) the creation of a false reality. This book presents an insightful and practical approach to how you can move your safety program from Results-Based to Behavior-Based Safety. The move involves understanding what motivates behavior, utilization of consequences, practicing the seven steps of performance coaching, creating accurate safety campaigns, and defining evidence of a healthy Behavior-Based Safety program-this is the other side of safety.. The text: Defines the four major motivations, explains how they work, and how safety leaders can use the right motivation for the right person to help them practice safe behavior Explains how to maximize the impact of reinforcement consequences and minimize punitive consequences in a way that is alingned with an individual's motivation Implements the seven steps of performance coaching conversations, how safety and business leaders can model fluency and frequency to shape behavior to habit strength Provides clearly defined evidence of a healthy Behavior-Based safety program by measuring outcome like locus of control, self-esteem, self-efficacy, and self-actualization Highlights the distinction between Results-Based Safety (RBS) anecdotal practices from the science of Behavior-Based Safety (BBS) methodology Showcases how the distinct difference between a mechanistic and organic culture, and how the four phenomena can be utilized to drive safety culture on purpose Discusses the importance of expanding from lagging indicators to leading indicators for robust metrics and predictability Addresses how the significant negative impact of "telling people what to do" and re-focuses on coaching people on "what to think" The book provides definitions, examples, and applications that focus on how safety and business leaders can influence the behavior of people, impact their culture, and support healthy relationships. It will serve as an ideal text for students, professionals, and researchers in the fields of ergonomics, human factors, human-computer interaction, industrial-organizational psychology, and computer engineering.

Written by one of the most eminent scholars in the field, Ethnographies of Reason is a unique book in terms of the studies it presents, the perspective it develops and the research techniques it illustrates. Using concrete case study materials throughout, Eric Livingston offers a fundamentally different, ethnographic approach to the study of skill and reasoning. At the same time, he addresses a much neglected topic in the literature, illustrating practical techniques of ethnomethodological research and showing how such studies are actually conducted. The book is a major contribution to ethnomethodology, to social science methodology and to the study of skill and reasoning more generally.

The notion that intelligence is somehow related to race is a notoriously tenacious issue in America. Anthropologist Alexander Alland provides the most comprehensive overview of the recent history of research on race and IQ, offering critiques of the biological determinism of Carlton Coon, Arthur Jensen, Cyril Burt, Robert Ardrey, Konrad Lorenz, William Shockley, Michael Levin, and others. This reasoned, authoritative history also explains the basis of evolutionary genetics for the general reader, concluding that biologically, “race” cannot explain human variation. Written in a lively, conversational style, Alland imparts real, substantive scientific arguments, cuts through the ideological posturing and jargon that so often characterizes discussions about race, and shows us a more nuanced and scientifically valid way to understand the diversity that is the human condition.

This unique textbook explores core cognitive psychology topics from an innovative new perspective, focusing on key real-world issues to show how we understand and experience the world. The book examines compelling topics such as creativity, problem-solving, reasoning, rationality and language, all within the context of modern 21st century life. Each chapter demonstrates how this vibrant and constantly evolving discipline is at the heart of some of the biggest issues facing us all today. The last chapter discusses the future of cognitive psychology, which includes guidance on conducting rigorous, replicable research and how to use skills from cognitive psychology to be an effective student. Packed with pedagogical features, each chapter includes boxed examples of cognitive psychology in the real world and engaging ‘try it yourself’ features. Each chapter also includes objectives, a range of illustrative figures, chapter summaries, key readings and a glossary for ease of use. The book is fully supported by original online resources for students and instructors. Offering a new model for the study of cognitive psychology that brings the subject alive, the book is essential reading for all students studying psychology and related disciplines.

This book analyzes important criticisms of the current research on Emotional Intelligence (EI), a topic of growing interest in the behavioral and social sciences. It looks at emotional intelligence research and EI interventions from a scientific and measurement perspective and identifies ways of improving the often shaky foundations of our current conceptions of emotional intelligence. With a balanced viewpoint, "A Critique of Emotional Intelligence" includes contributions from leading critics of EI research and practice (e.g., Frank Landy, Mark Schmit, Chockalingam Viswesvaran), proponents of EI (e.g., Neal Ashkanasy, Catherine Daus), as well as a broad range of well-informed authors.
Proponents claim that EI is more important in life than academic intelligence, while opponents claim that there is no such thing as emotional intelligence. Three key criticisms that have been leveled at emotional intelligence include: (1) EI is poorly defined and poorly measured; (2) EI is a new name for familiar constructs that have been studied for decades; and (3) claims about EI are overblown. While the book presents these criticisms, the final section proposes ways of improving EI research and practice with EI theories, tests, and applications.

This book provides a critical overview of significant developments in research and theory on counterfactual thinking that have emerged in recent years and spotlights exciting new directions for future research in this area. Key issues considered include the relations between counterfactual and casual reasoning, the functional bases of counterfactual thinking, the role of counterfactual thinking in the experience of emotion and the importance of counterfactual thinking in the context of crime and justice.

Using topics of critical and creative thinking, Critical Thinking, Idea Innovation, and Creativity discusses methods of solving complex problems, demonstrates the benefits of using the methods of imaginative thinking, identifies ways to overcome problems and inhibitors such as a lack of confidence, provides guidelines for assessing creative experiences, and encourages the application of the methods to leadership, research, and decision making. It allows readers to turn their unidimensional technical knowledge into a multi-dimensional knowledge framework that will provide a broader and more realistic framework for the solution of complex problems. Emphasis is placed on the fundamental concepts of critical and creative thinking and idea innovation, and each chapter presents numerous activities to accompany the knowledge-based educational material provided. Features: Provides educational material on creativity in a format that stresses application. An array of creative thinking tools will enable the reader to develop imaginative ideas Emphasizes ways that critical thinking, idea innovation, and creativity can enhance a reader's ability to solve problems related to leadership, the conduct of research, making decisions, and solving complex problems Focuses on ways to improve the reader's thinking skills, which will enhance the likelihood of developing novel solutions to complex problems; this skill set includes skills like curiosity, questioning, and skepticism, which are central to efficiently solving complex problems and meeting the requirements of effective leadership Includes numerous activities in each chapter that will enable readers to apply the methods and develop actual experience at critical and creative thinking; these activities are appropriate for use either by individuals or by small groups

This unique book explores how the conceptual framework of science and technology studies can be applied to creativity and problem-solving research, drawing from and building on the work of Bruno Latour. Using an interdisciplinary approach, the book outlines new research practices to capture the origin of ideas through the work of Bruno Latour. Latour enjoins researchers to adopt a resolutely ethnographic methodology to trace the process by which a creative product, be it a technological innovation or a work of art, is constructed, or instaured. Creativity is explained in terms of the micro-processes that guide and constrain the development of a new idea. These micro-processes operate on and are triggered by material objects, be they maquettes, models, drafts or data representations. The resulting perspective is systemic, casting creativity as emerging from the interaction among heterogenous elements and actants. The book provides critical reflections on problem solving research and stresses the importance of William James's radical empiricism and the primary role of experience. The book redefines the concept of insight as an outcome rather than the cause of a new idea. The book uses the work of Latour to cast a new light on the field of creative cognition and will be an essential read for researchers and students of creativity and cognition. It will also be relevant for anyone interested in understanding origin of creativity, ideas and thoughts.

Cognitive Illusions explores a wide range of fascinating psychological effects in the way we think, judge and remember in our everyday lives. In this volume, Rudiger F. Pohl brings together leading international researchers to define what cognitive illusions are and discuss their theoretical status: are such illusions proof of a faulty human information-processing system, or do they only represent by-products of otherwise adaptive cognitive mechanisms? The book describes and discusses 26 different cognitive illusions, with each chapter giving a profound overview of the respective empirical research including potential explanations, individual differences, and relevant applied perspectives. This edition has been thoroughly updated throughout, featuring new chapters on negativity bias, metacognition, and how we respond to fake news, along with detailed descriptions of experiments that can be used as classroom demonstration in every chapter. Demonstrating just how diverse cognitive illusions can be, it is a must read for all students and researchers of cognitive illusions, specifically, those focusing on thinking, reasoning, decision-making, and memory.

You could be a genius . . . In The Genius Within, award-winning science writer David Adam reveals how frontier neuroscience can enhance your intelligence - making you smarter, sharper and brighter than you ever thought you could be. What if you have more intelligence than you realize? What if there is a genius inside you, just waiting to be released? And what if the route to better brain power is not hard work or thousands of hours of practice but to simply swallow a pill? Sunday Times bestseller Dr David Adam, author of The Man Who Couldn't Stop, explores the ground-breaking neuroscience of cognitive enhancement that is changing the way the brain and the mind works - to make it better, sharper, more focused and, yes, more intelligent. Sharing his own experiments with revolutionary smart drugs and electrical brain stimulation, he delves into the sinister history of intelligence tests, meets savants and brain hackers and reveals how he boosted his own IQ to cheat his way into Mensa. Going to the heart of how we consider, measure and judge mental ability, The Genius Within asks difficult questions about the science that could rank and define us, and inevitably shape our future. 'Witty, sharp and enlightening . . . This book will make you smarter' Adam Rutherford, science writer and presenter of BBC Radio 4's Inside Science.