General and Specific Mental Abilities

General and Specific Mental Abilities
Author: Dennis J. McFarland
Publisher: Cambridge Scholars Publishing
Total Pages: 485
Release: 2020-05-07
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 1527550478

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.

The Mismeasure of Man (Revised and Expanded)

The Mismeasure of Man (Revised and Expanded)
Author: Stephen Jay Gould
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
Total Pages: 458
Release: 2006-06-17
Genre: Science
ISBN: 0393340406

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."

Introduction to Psychology

Introduction to Psychology
Author: Lionel Nicholas
Publisher: Juta and Company Ltd
Total Pages: 428
Release: 2008
Genre: Psychology
ISBN: 9781919895024

Completely revised and updated, this newly illustrated guide helps both licensed and student nurses apply the latest in psychological research and theory to their everyday lives. Sensation, perception, cognitive processes, and developmental psychology are among the topics discussed. A brief history of the field and new information on HIV and AIDS are also included along with a CD-ROM containing PowerPoint slides for each chapter.

The Psychology of Personnel Selection

The Psychology of Personnel Selection
Author: Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 301
Release: 2010-01-14
Genre: Psychology
ISBN: 1139485261

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.

Psychology

Psychology
Author: Don H. Hockenbury
Publisher: Macmillan
Total Pages: 856
Release: 2005-04-08
Genre: Psychology
ISBN: 9780716764465

More than any other textbook, Don and Sandra Hockenbury's Psychology relates the science of psychology to the lives of the wide range of students taking the introductory course. Now Psychology returns in a remarkable new edition that shows just how well-attuned the Hockenburys are to the needs of today's students and instructors.

The G Factor

The G Factor
Author: Arthur R. Jensen
Publisher: Praeger
Total Pages: 714
Release: 1998-02-28
Genre: Education
ISBN:

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.