On Intelligence: A Biological Treatise on Intellectual Development, Expanded Edition

by Stephen J. Ceci

Overview

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.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780674029316
Publisher:	Harvard University Press
Publication date:	07/01/2009
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	312
File size:	1 MB

About the Author

Stephen J. Ceci is the Helen L. Carr Professor of Psychology at Cornell University.

Table of Contents

Contents
Preface, 1996
Preface to the Original Edition
Acknowledgments
PART ONE SOCIAL CONTEXT AND INTELLECTUAL DEVELOPMENT
CHAPTER 1 Why a Treatise on Intelligence?
Five Easy Facts
Old Wine in New Bottles?
Traditional Psychological Theories of Intelligence
About the Rest of This Book
CHAPTER 2 Toward an Inductive Theory of Intellectual Complexity
Toward a Developmental Framework
Terminological Considerations
Elaborated Knowledge Structures versus Cognitive Processes
Knowledge versus Intelligence
CHAPTER 3 Mismatches Between Intelligent Peformance and IQ
Cultural Anthropology
Grocery Shopping
Dairy Workers
!Kung San Hunters
Experimental Psychology
Cupcake Baking
Capturing Butterflies
City Manager
A Day at the Races
CHAPTER 4 A Social-Organizational Analysis of Intellectual Development
Social Class and IQ
Motivational Values Inculcated Through Parenting
SAT Scores and Academic Achievement
Income and SATs: One Interpretation
Income and SATs: An Alternate Interpretation
The Terman Study of Genius
The Validity of IQ
Convergence from Recent Life Course Analyses
Thirtysomething: To Be Born Rich or Smart
CHAPTER 5 The Impact of Schooling on Intelligence
Correlation Between IQ and Years in School
Influence of Summer Vacation on IQ
Continuous Impact of Schooling on IQ
Impact of Delayed Schooling on IQ
School Achievement versus Aptitude
Influence of Early Termination of Schooling on IQ
Influence of Northern Schooling on Black IQ
Influence of Early School Entry on Cognitive Development
Influence of Intergenerational Changes in Schooling
Quality of Schooling
Schooling and Information Processing
Perceptual Abilities
Concept Formation
Memory
Other Cognitive Skills
Taking Stock
PART TWO THE BIOECOLOGICAL FRAMEWORK
CHAPTER 6 The Role of Context in Shaping Multiple Intelligences
Contextualism and Intelligence
Cognitive Molecules Out of Context
Culture's Role
A Bioecological Theoretical Framework
Introducing the Bioecological View
Multiple Cognitive Potentials
Pitting g Against a Multiple Potential Perspective
Central Processing Capacity
The Problem with Factors
Contexts of Crystallization
Motives as Crystallizing Agents
Environmental Challenges
Knowledge versus Intelligence
Some Illustrative Anecdotes
Knowledge and Process in Symbiosis
CHAPTER 7 A Model of Cognitive Complexity
Evaluating the Bioecological Framework vis-a-vis Classic Forms of Evidence: The Case of Heritability
Genetics
Methods of Estimating h2
The Stability, Nature, and Meaning of h2
The Assumption of Additivity
Differences Between Correlations and Means
Confounding Genetic and Ecological Sources of Shared Variance
CHAPTER 8 The Fallacy: Biology = IQ = Intelligence = Singularity of Mind = Real-World Success
Cross-Task Commonality
The Role of Task Complexity
g and Job Success
Positive Manifold
Same-Different Judgments
The Role of Practice
Age of Aquisition and Memory
CHAPTER 9 How Abstract Is Intelligence?
The Relationship Between Intelligence and Abstraction
Transfer Within and Across Domains
Abstractness Defined
The Role of Knowledge in Abstraction
Race and Abstraction: The Jensen Study
Generality
The Effect of Training on Transfer
Transfer and Cross-Task Correlations
The Problem of Problem Isomorphs
CHAPTER 10 Taking Stock of the Options
Contrasting the Bioecological Framework with Existing Theories
Contextualist Theories
Information Processing Theory
Structural Theories: Piaget's Theory and Case's Theory
Case's Theory of Intellectual Development
Knowledge-based Theories of Intellectual Development
Theories of Multiple Intelligences
Sternberg's Triarchic Theory
Modularity Theories
Caveat Lector
Epilogue
Endnotes
References
Subject Index

Editorial Reviews

A very ambitious book...Ceci himself eschews the word intelligence, preferring the term cognitively complex behavior...The efficiency of Ceci's cognitive processing of all this knowledge is unmatched. Certainly, if we equate intelligence with cognitively complex behavior, whatever Ceci's own feeling about the term, [this book] is probably the most intelligent book on the topic.

Applied Cognitive Psychology Journal - Carmi Schooler

An exciting book as well as an important one...It strikes a fatal blow to the idea that a construct of general intelligence can play an important role in our efforts to understand why people differ in their intellectual abilities.

British Journal of Educational Psychology - Michael J. A. Howe

Densely packed with important information and fascinating insights.

Merrill-Palmer Quarterly - Richard K. Wagner

Densely packed with important information and fascinating insights.
— Richard K. Wagner

Merrill-Palmer Quarterly

A very ambitious book...Ceci himself eschews the word intelligence, preferring the term cognitively complex behavior...The efficiency of Ceci's cognitive processing of all this knowledge is unmatched. Certainly, if we equate intelligence with cognitively complex behavior, whatever Ceci's own feeling about the term, [this book] is probably the most intelligent book on the topic.
— Carmi Schooler

Applied Cognitive Psychology Journal

An exciting book as well as an important one...It strikes a fatal blow to the idea that a construct of general intelligence can play an important role in our efforts to understand why people differ in their intellectual abilities.
— Michael J. A. Howe

British Journal of Educational Psychology