Friday, Sept. 25 - Intelligence and individual differences The first meeting will start with a planning session, where people can propose topics and reserve dates that would be convenient for them to lead discussion. The seminar will meet every two weeks, on the dates listed to the left. Each meeting needs one topic, one paper and two discussion leaders. In addition to planning,we have a topic for the first meeting: Intelligence. Is there such a thing as general intelligence? What underlies it? What do such measures of individual differences contribute to our understanding of cognition? The paper below brings up these questions, but it is only the starting point for discussion. Ian J. Deary Abstract Despite the fact that much is known about the taxonomy and predictive validity of human intelligence differences, there has been relatively little progress in understanding their cognitive bases. However, some recent firm findings mark the beginnings of a cognitive reductionism in human intelligence. Progress towards discovering ‘cognitive components’ that, firstly, show individual differences and, secondly, relate to psychometric intelligence differences is described here at different nominal levels of analysis: ‘psychometric’, ‘cognitive-experimental’ and ‘psychophysical’. The field of intelligence differences remains a fertile yet seriously under-developed demesne in which cognitive scientists should collaborate with differential psychologists. |
Friday, Sept. 25 |