Abstract
Of all aspects of psychology, none has achieved more attention within education than intelligence. The reason for this is not hard to seek. If we define intelligence as the ability to see relationships, and to use this ability to overcome new problems, then we can see that there are few aspects of a child’s formal work in schools that do not appear to be influenced by it in some way. Add to this the fact that high or low intelligence can carry important social and vocational significance, and it is not surprising that parents as well as teachers take a deep interest in the subject. It is probably in part because of this deep interest that many misconceptions have grown up about the nature of intelligence and its measurement, some of them actively detrimental to the child’s educational progress.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Cattell, R.B. (1963) Theory of fluid and crystallized intelligence: a critical experiment. Journal of Educational Psychology, 54, 1–22.
Freeman, F.N., Holzinger, K.J. and Mitchell, B.C. (1928) The influence of environment on the intelligence, school achievement and conduct of foster children. In Twenty-Seventh Yearbook of the National Society for the Study of Education, Part 1. Bloomington, Ill.: Public School Publishing.
Gaddes, W.H., McKenzie, A. and Barnsley, R. (1968) Psychometric intelligence and spatial imagery in two northwest Indian and two white groups of children. Journal of Social Psychology, 75, 35–42.
Jarvik, L.F. and Erlenmeyer-Kimling, L. (1967) Survey of familiar correlations in measured intellectual functions. In J. Zubin and G.A. Jervis (eds), Psychopathology of Mental Development. New York: Grune & Stratton.
Jenson, A.R. (1973) Educability and Group Differences. New York: Harper & Row.
Kamin, L.J. (1974) The Science and Politics of IQ. Harmondsworth: Penguin.
Maccoby, E. and Jacklin, C. (1974) The Psychology of Sex Differences. Stanford: Stanford University Press.
McNemar, Q. (1942) The Revision of the Stanford-Binet Scale. Boston: Houghton Mifflin.
Stanchfield, J. (1973) Sex Differences in Learning to Read. Bloomington, Ind.: Phi Delta Kappa Educational Foundation.
Vernon, P.E. (1969) Intelligence and Cultural Enviroment. London: Methuen.
Vernon, P.E. (1979) Intelligence: Heredity and environment. San Francisco: W. H. Freeman.
Werner, E.E. (1972) Infants around the world: cross-cultural studies of psychomotor development from birth to two years. Journal of Cross-cultural Psychology, 3, 111–134.
Annotated reading
Vernon, P.E. (1979) Intelligence: Heredity and environment. San Francisco: Freeman. The student keen to find a good general text on all aspects of intelligence need look no further. In spite of its title, this book covers virtually all areas of the subject of interest to the teacher and does not concentrate solely on the heredity versus environment debate. It is scholarly, fair-minded, and eminently readable.
Butcher, H.J. (1968) Human Intelligence. London: Methuen. An earlier survey but still of value.
Kamin, L.G. (1974) The Science and Politics of IQ. Harmondsworth: Penguin. The book that sparked off the current debate over the relative contributions of nature and nurture to measured intelligence.
Block, N. and Dworkin, G. (1977) The IQ Controversy. London: Quartet Books. Contains much of the relevant evidence thrown up by both sides.
Wiseman, S. (ed.) (1973). Intelligence and Ability (2nd edn). Harmondsworth: Penguin. A good collection of papers on intelligence.
Eysenck, H.J. and Kamin, L. (1981) Intelligence: The battle for the mind. Harmondsworth: Penguin. An excellent debate between two of the major proponents of nature and nurture theories of intelligence respectively.
Richardson, K., Spears, D. and Richards, M. (1972) Race, Culture, and Intelligence. Harmondsworth: Penguin. Deals with cross-cultural issues in intelligence and intelligence testing.
Watson, P. (ed.) (1973) Psychology and Race. Harmondsworth: Penguin. Also of interest, and concerned rather more closely with racial issues, though it deals with other psychological matters in addition to intelligence.
References
Guilford, J.P. (1968) The structure of intelligence. In D.K. Whitla (ed.), Handbook of Measurement and Assessment in the Behavioral Sciences. Reading, Mass.: Addison-Wesley.
Jensen, A. (1969) How much can we boost IQ and scholastic achievement? Harvard Educational Review, 39, 1–123.
Lazar, L. et al (1977) The Persistence of Pre-school Effects: A long-term follow-up of fourteen infant and pre-school experiments: final report. Denver, Colorado: Education Commission of the States.
Additional reading
De Bono, E. (1978) Teaching Thinking. Harmondsworth: Penguin. All his books are fun to read. This is one of the best for the teacher, and gives a variety of strategies that the teacher can adopt with his class.
De Bono, E. (1971) The Mechanism of Mind. Harmondsworth: Penguin. Deeper and more theoretical, though setting out fully his ideas on mind.
De Bono, E. (1970) Children Solve Problems. Harmondsworth: Penguin. An interesting, amusingly illustrated record of how children tackle some of the problems presented to them using de Bono’s methods.
De Bono, E. (1969) The Five Day Course in Thinking. Harmondsworth: Penguin. Readers interested in sharpening their own wits might like to work through this.
De Bono, E. (1980) Future Positive. Harmondsworth: Penguin. Discusses the ways in which positive and lateral thinking can be put to good use in planning for the future and solving our environmental and social problems.
De Bono, E. (1979) Word Power. Harmondsworth: Penguin. An illustrated and highly diverting dictionary of the key words used in the world of business and management today. Of obvious relevance to education.
Copyright information
© 1981 The British Psychological Society
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Fontana, D. (1981). Intelligence. In: Psychology for Teachers. Psychology for Professional Groups. Palgrave, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-16944-3_7
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-16944-3_7
Publisher Name: Palgrave, London
Print ISBN: 978-0-333-31880-5
Online ISBN: 978-1-349-16944-3
eBook Packages: Palgrave Social & Cultural Studies CollectionSocial Sciences (R0)