The testing of intelligence has a long and controversial history. Claims that it is a pseudo-science or a weapon of ideological warfare have been commonplace and there is not even a consensus as to whether intelligence exists and, if it does, whether it can be measured. As a result the debate about it has centred on the nurture versus nature controversy and especially on alleged racial differences and the heritability of intelligence - all of which have major policy implications. This book aims to penetrate the mists of controversy, ideology and prejudice by providing a clear non-mathematical framework for the definition and measurement of intelligence derived from modern factor analysis. Building on this framework and drawing on everyday ideas the author address key controversies in a clear and accessible style and explores some of the claims made by well known writers in the field such as Stephen Jay Gould and Michael Howe.

WJ III Clinical Use and Interpretation presents a wide variety of clinical applications of the WJ III from leading experts. Each chapter will provide the reader with insights into patterns of cluster and test scores from both the WJ III "Tests of Cognitive Abilities" and WJ III "Tests of Achievement" that can assist with interpretation and formulation of diagnostic hypotheses for clinical practice. WJ III Clinical Use and Interpretation provides expert guidance for using the WJ III with individuals with a broad array of learning and neuropsychological problems, including learning disabilities and Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder. New research included in this volume emphasizes the value of the WJ III for identification of gifted children and adolescents and young children with developmental delays.
* Written by the leading experts on the WJ III
* Coverage of both the "Tests of Cognitive Abilities" and "Tests of Achievement"
* Provides expert guidance on using the WJ III with a variety of clinical populations
* Includes new research and illustrative case studies
* Goes beyond interpretive material published in the Examiner's Manuals and other resource books

Presenting the major trends, theories, and practices in assessing culturally diverse clients, Advances in Cross-Cultural Assessment comprises chapters from some of the key leading authors in intelligence and intelligence testing. Author Ronald J. Samuda and associates contend that classic IQ tests and traditional standardized tests of cognitive ability are only appropriate for middle-class mainstream individuals, not for those of different cultural backgrounds. For those who grow up in deficient "environmental backgrounds" (inadequate rearing, serious economic stress), the traditional objective standardized tests are neither valid nor reliable in measuring intelligence. A number of scholars, some of whom are among the bookAEs contributing authors, have introduced alternative approaches to assessing cognitive ability in persons from such backgrounds. A groundbreaking volume that encourages professionals to treat individuals on an individual basis, Advances in Cross-Cultural Assessment will heighten the awareness of professionals and academics in clinical and counseling psychology, educational psychology, social work, psychology, public health, and ethnic studies.

Offering an alternative approach to the current models of assessing intelligence, this volume presents a comprehensive and informed understanding of the biological and cultural influences on intellectual behavior. In Assessing Intelligence, authors Eleanor Armour-Thomas and Sharon-Ann Gopaul-McNicol propose a "bio-cultural" model for intelligence assessment. This volume begins by examining the issues pertaining to intellectual assessment, the nature of intelligence, and the biological influences on cognition. It then explores a new model for assessing all childrenuThe Four-Tier Bio-Cultural Assessment System--and it presents an evaluation of that system. Finally, it offers training suggestions for teachers, parents, counselors, and psychologists for enhancing the intellectual potential of all children, and it presents implications for future research and clinical work as well as a vision for policymakers to ensure culturally sensitive assessment. Assessing Intelligence offers a diverse perspective from the fields of clinical psychology, school psychology, education, and education psychology. It will be a valuable resource for practitioners, researchers, and policymakers in the fields of general psychology, clinical psychology, education, social psychology, cross-cultural psychology, multicultural psychology, political science, and cultural studies.

Ideally a logic text should encourage not only criticism of thinking, but critical thinking itself. To its great credit, ard Thinking does both. -s Nicholas Rescher, University of Pittsburgh Mullen effectively combines logic, epistemology, and good old fashioned common sense. The dialogues and examples are telling; the explanations clear and to the point. The book articulates, defends, and exemplifies all the important features of 'hard thinking'. Many texts purport to aid in the teaching of thinking; this one will clearly succeed. -s Harvey Siegel, University of Miami Not only does Mullen's text challenge students to do some hard thinking, but it explains why they should and it shows them how....[T]he text includes strong chapters on both traditional and modern formal logic. As a result, this book should prove suitable for a wide variety of courses. -s Bruce Umbaugh, Webster University

Why do three out of four professional football players go bankrupt? How can illiterate jungle dwellers pass a test that tricks Harvard philosophers? And why do billionaires work so hard--only to give their hard-earned money away?
When it comes to making decisions, the classic view is that humans are eminently rational. But growing evidence suggests instead that our choices are often irrational, biased, and occasionally even moronic. Which view is right--or is there another possibility?
In this animated tour of the inner workings of the mind, psychologist Douglas T. Kenrick and business professor Vladas Griskevicius challenge the prevailing views of decision making, and present a new alternative grounded in evolutionary science. By connecting our modern behaviors to their ancestral roots, they reveal that underneath our seemingly foolish tendencies is an exceptionally wise system of decision making.
From investing money to choosing a job, from buying a car to choosing a romantic partner, our choices are driven by deep-seated evolutionary goals. Because each of us has multiple evolutionary goals, though, new research reveals something radical--there's more than one you making decisions. Although it feels as if there is just one single self inside your head, your mind actually contains several different subselves, each one steering you in a different direction when it takes its turn at the controls.
The Rational Animal will transform the way you think about decision making. And along the way, you'll discover the intimate connections between ovulating strippers, Wall Street financiers, testosterone-crazed skateboarders, Steve Jobs, Elvis Presley, and you.

The Logical Reasoning with Diagrams and Sentences courseware package teaches the principles of analytical reasoning and proof construction using a carefully crafted combination of textbook, desktop, and online materials. This package is sure to be an essential resource in a range of courses incorporating logical reasoning, including formal linguistics, philosophy, mathematics, and computer science. Unlike traditional formal treatments of reasoning, this package uses both graphical and sentential representations to reflect common situations in everyday reasoning where information is expressed in many forms, such as finding your way to a location using a map and an address. It also teaches students how to construct and check the logical validity of a variety of proofs of consequence and non-consequence, consistency and inconsistency, and independence using an intuitive proof system which extends standard proof treatments with sentential, graphical, and heterogeneous inference rules, allowing students to focus on proof content rather than syntactic structure. Building upon the widely used Tarski's World and Language, Proof and Logic courseware packages, Logical Reasoning with Diagrams and Sentences contains more than three hundred exercises, most of which can be assessed by the Grade Grinder online assessment service; is supported by an extensive website through which students and instructors can access online video lectures by the authors; and allows instructors to create their own exercises and assess their students' work.Logical Reasoning with Diagrams and Sentences is an expanded revision of the Hyperproof courseware package.

New essays by leading philosophers and cognitive scientists that present recent findings and theoretical developments in the study of concepts. The study of concepts has advanced dramatically in recent years, with exciting new findings and theoretical developments. Core concepts have been investigated in greater depth and new lines of inquiry have blossomed, with researchers from an ever broader range of disciplines making important contributions. In this volume, leading philosophers and cognitive scientists offer original essays that present the state-of-the-art in the study of concepts. These essays, all commissioned for this book, do not merely present the usual surveys and overviews; rather, they offer the latest work on concepts by a diverse group of theorists as well as discussions of the ideas that should guide research over the next decade. The book is an essential companion volume to the earlier Concepts: Core Readings, the definitive source for classic texts on the nature of concepts. The essays cover concepts as they relate to animal cognition, the brain, evolution, perception, and language, concepts across cultures, concept acquisition and conceptual change, concepts and normativity, concepts in context, and conceptual individuation. The contributors include such prominent scholars as Susan Carey, Nicola Clayton, Jerry Fodor, Douglas Medin, Joshua Tenenbaum, and Anna Wierzbicka. Contributors Aurore Avargues-Weber, Eef Ameel, Megan Bang, H. Clark Barrett, Pascal Boyer, Elisabeth Camp, Susan Carey, Daniel Casasanto, Nicola S. Clayton, Dorothy L. Cheney, Vyvyan Evans, Jerry A. Fodor, Silvia Gennari, Tobias Gerstenberg, Martin Giurfa, Noah D. Goodman, J. Kiley Hamlin, James A. Hampton, Mutsumi Imai, Charles W. Kalish, Frank Keil, Jonathan Kominsky, Stephen Laurence, Gary Lupyan, Edouard Machery, Bradford Z. Mahon, Asifa Majid, Barbara C. Malt, Eric Margolis, Douglas Medin, Nancy J. Nersessian, bethany ojalehto, Anna Papafragou, Joshua M. Plotnik, Noburo Saji, Robert M. Seyfarth, Joshua B. Tenenbaum, Sandra Waxman, Daniel A. Weiskopf, Anna Wierzbicka

Critical Reasoning & Philosophy has been praised as an innovative and clearly written handbook that teaches new philosophy students how to read, evaluate, and write in a critical manner. Concise, accessible language and ample use of examples and study modules help students gain the basic knowledge necessary to succeed in undergraduate philosophy courses, and to apply that knowledge to achieve success in other disciplines as well. With a reorganized presentation, fresh modules, new examples and illustrations, the second edition is even more clear and accessible to students.

"The Mental Models Theory of Reasoning" presents theoretical and empirical research on an area of growing interest, the status of mental models in deductive reasoning. As research in the framework of the mental models theory flourishes, this book answers a need to assess the contribution of the notion of training and content. It covers the central issues of propositional, relational, causal and probabilistic reasoning, and argumentation and development. In addition, this work presents data regarding strategies, argumentation, and the development of reasoning.
 
Special features of this text include:
*sharp theoretical analyses as well as important new empirical data offered by theorists who work in the framework of the mental models theory;
*a critical and empirically driven account of content effects in conditional and linear reasoning; and
*an original account on the influence of pragmatics on reasoning.
 
"The Mental Models Theory of Reasoning "will be of interest to researchers and advanced students of cognitive psychology, and will be valuable to individuals working in Artificial Intelligence, as it highlights theoretical and empirical data on how humans use mental models when tackling deductive puzzles.

Cutting edge scientific research has shown that exposure to the right kind of environment during the first years of life actually affects the physical structure of a child's brain, vastly increasing the number of neuron branches--the "magic trees of the mind"--that help us to learn, think, and remember. At each stage of development, the brain's ability to gain new skills and process information is refined. As a leading researcher at the University of California at Berkeley, Marion Diamond has been a pioneer in this field of research. Now, Diamond and award-winning science writer Janet Hopson present a comprehensive enrichment program designed to help parents prepare their children for a lifetime of learning.

`In this remarkably economical, clear and informed book, Mike Howe... sets about unravelling the formidable semantic, logical and empirical knots into which IQ testers and their supporters have tied themselves.... Howe suggests that we have, for decades, been asking the wrong kinds of questions. He points to the number of alternative, theoretically richer, views of human intelligence that don't reduce all to a single dimension... this is rendered with an easy, readable style which assumes no previous technical knowledge' - British Journal of Educational Psychology In this provocative and accessible book, Michael Howe exposes serious flaws in our most widely accepted beliefs about intelligence. He shows that crucial assumptions are simply wrong and have had destructive social consequences. IQ is real enough, but the common idea that a quality of intelligence is the underlying cause of people's differing abilities is based on poor science as well as faulty reasoning. Offering a powerful case for a better understanding of human intelligence, IQ in Question contradicts erroneous and destructive claims such as: IQ tests provide a measure of inherent mental capacities; intelligence and `race' are linked; IQ measures are good predictors of a person's success; intelligence cannot be changed; there is a `gene for intelligence'; and low IQ always means restricted capabilities.

Ceci argues that traditional conceptions of intelligence ignore the role of society in shaping intelligence and underestimate the intelligence of non-Western societies. He puts forth a "bio-ecological" framework of individual differences in intellectual development that is intended to address some of the major deficiencies of extant theories of intelligence. The focus is on alternative interpretations of phenomena that emerge when implicit assumptions of intelligence researchers are challenged.

Since the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on United States soil, the intelligence community has been scrutinized on how it performs its functions. Consequently, the 9/11 Commission made several recommendations on how to improve the quality of intelligence analysis. Those charges and the United States' involvement in a war in Iraq have spawned additional charges of the politicization of intelligence. All this is being played out as the Intelligence Community has reformed and reconfigured itself with newly created departments supported by an expanded and inexperienced workforce that was never envisioned when the intelligence community was formally established in 1947. First published in the 1970s, the classic book An Introduction to Intelligence Research and Analysis was used by intelligence analysts to track and monitor the Communist threat. Although today's environment has changed considerably since the Cold War, intelligence analysts still need to understand the basics of intelligence analysis. The book focuses on how to do research, what qualities are needed to be an intelligence analyst, and what methods can be employed to help in producing products. To avoid politicization, intelligence analysts should strive to become more transparent in their methodology of how they arrived at their conclusions. Intelligence Research and Analysis provides several methods to assist in that end.

Intelligence is one of the defining characteristics of human beings: an inherent ability to respond to the world with awareness, knowledge, learning, and insight. Most considerations of human intelligence are based on the notion that intelligence is a product of brain functioning. A. H. Almaas introduces here a radically different viewpoint, one that recognizes an actual quality of consciousness as the source of intelligence. He calls this source the Brilliancy of our true nature.
The presentation of his understanding of intelligence is followed by in-depth dialogues with his students on the various barriers to recognizing and embodying this essential quality. In particular, an unresolved relationship with one's father is found to shape the experience of Brilliancy. Using a Socratic method that draws upon techniques of body-centered, Gestalt, psychodynamic, and cognitive psychologies, Almaas helps participants work through their defenses and conflicts surrounding this issue and then, diverging from pychotherapeutic practice, guides them in discovering their own Brilliancy.

Harvard psychologist Howard Gardner has been acclaimed as the most influential educational theorist since John Dewey. His ideas about intelligence and creativity - explicated in such bestselling books as Frames of Mind and Multiple Intelligences (over 200,000 copies in print combined) - have revolutionized our thinking.In his ground-breaking 1983 book Frames of Mind , Howard Gardner first introduced the theory of multiple intelligences, which posits that intelligence is more than a single property of the human mind. That theory has become widely accepted as one of the seminal ideas of the twentieth century and continues to attract attention all over the world.Now in Intelligence Reframed , Gardner provides a much-needed report on the theory, its evolution and revisions. He offers practical guidance on the educational uses of the theory and responds to the critiques leveled against him. He also introduces two new intelligences (existential intelligence and naturalist intelligence) and argues that the concept of intelligence should be broadened, but not so absurdly that it includes every human virtue and value. Ultimately, argues Gardner, possessing a basic set of seven or eight intelligences is not only a unique trademark of the human species, but also perhaps even a working definition of the species. Gardner also offers provocative ideas about creativity, leadership, and moral excellence, and speculates about the relationship between multiple intelligences and the world of work in the future.

A comprehensive exploration of issues affecting the lives of women with intellectual disabilities, this book examines how they have found a place for themselves in families, in relationships, at work and in communities. It consists of their stories, written by themselves or by those close to them, and of qualitative research on particular areas of their lives. It takes an international perspective, including contributions from women living in Europe, Australia, India and the US.

Women with intellectual disabilities face specific problems in writing about their lives. Some of these problems relate to their disability, others to the way they are perceived by the broader communities in which they live. These stories challenge the prevailing stereotypes about women with intellectual disabilities as a homogeneous group in need of care and protection. Throughout the book, women's experiences from different countries and cultures are represented. Their personal stories and feminist scholarship are linked together, to provide new and important perspectives on issues of gender and disability. This book will be particularly important for policy workers and practitioners in the disability field, as well as to sociologists and psychologists.

Inferentialism as a theory of meaning builds on the idea that what a linguistic expression means depends exclusively on the inferential rules that govern its use. Following different strategies and exploring various case studies, the authors of this collection of essays discuss under what circumstances and to what extent the central tenets of inferentialism are tenable.The essays in this volume present the results of a three-year research project "Representation and Inference" which was conducted from the beginning of 2008 to the end 2010. The aim of the project was to assess the research program of inferentialism as it has been pursued recently by Robert Brandom, Mark Lance, and Jaroslav Peregrin. Earlier versions of these texts were presented at the conference "Inference, Consequence, and Meaning" held in Sofia on the 3rd and 4th of December, 2008.