Download or read book The Mismeasure of Minds written by Michael E. Staub and published by UNC Press Books. This book was released on 2018-09-25 with total page 232 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The 1954 Brown v. Board of Education decision required desegregation of America's schools, but it also set in motion an agonizing multidecade debate over race, class, and IQ. In this innovative book, Michael E. Staub investigates neuropsychological studies published between Brown and the controversial 1994 book The Bell Curve. In doing so, he illuminates how we came to view race and intelligence today. In tracing how research and experiments around such concepts as learned helplessness, deferred gratification, hyperactivity, and emotional intelligence migrated into popular culture and government policy, Staub reveals long-standing and widespread dissatisfaction—not least among middle-class whites—with the metric of IQ. He also documents the devastating consequences—above all for disadvantaged children of color—as efforts to undo discrimination and create enriched learning environments were recurrently repudiated and defunded. By connecting psychology, race, and public policy in a single narrative, Staub charts the paradoxes that have emerged and that continue to structure investigations of racism even into the era of contemporary neuroscientific research.
Download or read book The Mismeasure of Man Revised and Expanded written by Stephen Jay Gould and published by W. W. Norton & Company. This book was released on 2006-06-17 with total page 448 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 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."
Download or read book Naming the Mind written by Kurt Danziger and published by SAGE. This book was released on 1997-05-06 with total page 226 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this work, the author explains how modern psychology found its language by examining the historically changing structure of psychological discourse and offering an analysis of the recent evolution of the concepts and categories on which the quality of psychological discourse depends.
Download or read book A Skeptic s Guide to the Mind written by Robert A. Burton, M.D. and published by St. Martin's Press. This book was released on 2013-04-23 with total page 272 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: What if our soundest, most reasonable judgments are beyond our control? Despite 2500 years of contemplation by the world's greatest minds and the more recent phenomenal advances in basic neuroscience, neither neuroscientists nor philosophers have a decent understanding of what the mind is or how it works. The gap between what the brain does and the mind experiences remains uncharted territory. Nevertheless, with powerful new tools such as the fMRI scan, neuroscience has become the de facto mode of explanation of behavior. Neuroscientists tell us why we prefer Coke to Pepsi, and the media trumpets headlines such as "Possible site of free will found in brain." Or: "Bad behavior down to genes, not poor parenting." Robert Burton believes that while some neuroscience observations are real advances, others are overreaching, unwarranted, wrong-headed, self-serving, or just plain ridiculous, and often with the potential for catastrophic personal and social consequences. In A Skeptic's Guide to the Mind, he brings together clinical observations, practical thought experiments, personal anecdotes, and cutting-edge neuroscience to decipher what neuroscience can tell us – and where it falls woefully short. At the same time, he offers a new vision of how to think about what the mind might be and how it works. A Skeptic's Guide to the Mind is a critical, startling, and expansive journey into the mysteries of the brain and what makes us human.
Download or read book Measuring the Mind written by Denny Borsboom and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2005-05-23 with total page 195 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Is it possible to measure psychological attributes like intelligence, personality and attitudes and if so, how does that work? What does the term 'measurement' mean in a psychological context? This fascinating and timely book discusses these questions and investigates the possible answers that can be given response. Denny Borsboom provides an in-depth treatment of the philosophical foundations of widely used measurement models in psychology. The theoretical status of classical test theory, latent variable theory and positioned in terms of the underlying philosophy of science. Special attention is devoted to the central concept of test validity and future directions to improve the theory and practice of psychological measurement are outlined.
Download or read book The Mismeasure of the Self written by Alessandra Tanesini and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2021 with total page 241 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Mismeasure of the Self is dedicated to vices that blight many lives. They are the vices of superiority, characteristic of those who feel entitled, superior and who have an inflated opinion of themselves, and those of inferiority, typical of those who are riddled with self-doubt and feel inferior. Arrogance, narcissism, haughtiness, and vanity are among the first group. Self-abasement, fatalism, servility, and timidity exemplify the second. This book shows these traits to be to vices of self-evaluation and describes their pervasive harmful effects in some detail. Even though the influence of these traits extends to any aspect of life, the focus of this book is their damaging impact on the life of the intellect. Tanesini develops and defends a view of these vices that puts vicious motivations at their core. The analyses developed in this work build on empirical research in attitude psychology and on philosophical theories in virtue ethics and epistemology. The book concludes with a positive proposal for weakening vice and promoting virtue.
Download or read book What Intelligence Tests Miss written by Keith E. Stanovich and published by Yale University Press. This book was released on 2009-01-27 with total page 325 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Critics of intelligence tests writers such as Robert Sternberg, Howard Gardner, and Daniel Goleman have argued in recent years that these tests neglect important qualities such as emotion, empathy, and interpersonal skills. However, such critiques imply that though intelligence tests may miss certain key noncognitive areas, they encompass most of what is important in the cognitive domain. In this book, Keith E. Stanovich challenges this widely held assumption.Stanovich shows that IQ tests (or their proxies, such as the SAT) are radically incomplete as measures of cognitive functioning. They fail to assess traits that most people associate with good thinking, skills such as judgment and decision making. Such cognitive skills are crucial to real-world behavior, affecting the way we plan, evaluate critical evidence, judge risks and probabilities, and make effective decisions. IQ tests fail to assess these skills of rational thought, even though they are measurable cognitive processes. Rational thought is just as important as intelligence, Stanovich argues, and it should be valued as highly as the abilities currently measured on intelligence tests.
Download or read book Intelligence Genes and Success written by Bernie Devlin and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2013-12-01 with total page 379 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A scientific response to the best-selling The Bell Curve which set off a hailstorm of controversy upon its publication in 1994. Much of the public reaction to the book was polemic and failed to analyse the details of the science and validity of the statistical arguments underlying the books conclusion. Here, at last, social scientists and statisticians reply to The Bell Curve and its conclusions about IQ, genetics and social outcomes.
Download or read book The Structure of Evolutionary Theory written by Stephen Jay Gould and published by Harvard University Press. This book was released on 2002-03-21 with total page 1460 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The world’s most revered and eloquent interpreter of evolutionary ideas offers here a work of explanatory force unprecedented in our time—a landmark publication, both for its historical sweep and for its scientific vision. With characteristic attention to detail, Stephen Jay Gould first describes the content and discusses the history and origins of the three core commitments of classical Darwinism: that natural selection works on organisms, not genes or species; that it is almost exclusively the mechanism of adaptive evolutionary change; and that these changes are incremental, not drastic. Next, he examines the three critiques that currently challenge this classic Darwinian edifice: that selection operates on multiple levels, from the gene to the group; that evolution proceeds by a variety of mechanisms, not just natural selection; and that causes operating at broader scales, including catastrophes, have figured prominently in the course of evolution. Then, in a stunning tour de force that will likely stimulate discussion and debate for decades, Gould proposes his own system for integrating these classical commitments and contemporary critiques into a new structure of evolutionary thought. In 2001 the Library of Congress named Stephen Jay Gould one of America’s eighty-three Living Legends—people who embody the “quintessentially American ideal of individual creativity, conviction, dedication, and exuberance.” Each of these qualities finds full expression in this peerless work, the likes of which the scientific world has not seen—and may not see again—for well over a century.
Download or read book Standardized Minds written by Peter Sacks and published by Da Capo Press. This book was released on 2001-01-10 with total page 351 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Standardized Minds" dramatically shows how an unhealthy and enduring obsession with intelligence testing affects everyone. Drawing creative solutions from the headlines and front lines, Sacks demonstrates proven alternatives to such testing, and details a plan to make the American meritocracy legitimate and fair.
Download or read book I am Not a Brain written by Markus Gabriel and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2017-09-18 with total page 240 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Many consider the nature of human consciousness to be one of the last great unsolved mysteries. Why should the light turn on, so to speak, in human beings at all? And how is the electrical storm of neurons under our skull connected with our consciousness? Is the self only our brain's user interface, a kind of stage on which a show is performed that we cannot freely direct? In this book, philosopher Markus Gabriel challenges an increasing trend in the sciences towards neurocentrism, a notion which rests on the assumption that the self is identical to the brain. Gabriel raises serious doubts as to whether we can know ourselves in this way. In a sharp critique of this approach, he presents a new defense of the free will and provides a timely introduction to philosophical thought about the self – all with verve, humor, and surprising insights. Gabriel criticizes the scientific image of the world and takes us on an eclectic journey of self-reflection by way of such concepts as self, consciousness, and freedom, with the aid of Kant, Schopenhauer, and Nagel but also Dr. Who, The Walking Dead, and Fargo.
Download or read book Brain Science under the Swastika written by Lawrence A. Zeidman and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2020-05-25 with total page 785 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Eighty years ago the largest genocide ever occurred in Nazi Europe. This began with the mass extermination of patients with neurologic and psychiatric disorders that Hitler's regime considered "useless eaters". The neuropsychiatric profession was systematically "cleansed" beginning in 1933, but racism and eugenics had infiltrated the specialty long before that. With the installation of Nazi-principled neuroscientists, mass forced sterilization was enacted, which transitioned to patient murder by the start of World War II. But the murder of roughly 275,000 patients was not enough. The patients' brains were stored and used in scientific publications both during and long after the war. Also, patients themselves were used for unethical experiments. Relatively few neuroscientists resisted the Nazis, with some success in the occupied countries. Most neuroscientists involved in unethical actions continued their careers unscathed after the war. Few answered for their actions, and few repented. The legacy of such a depraved era in the history of neuroscience and medical ethics is that codes now exist to protect patients and research subjects. But this protection is possibly subject to political extremes and individual neuroscientists can only protect patients and colleagues if they understand the dangers of a utilitarian, unethical, and uncompassionate mindset. Brain Science under the Swastika is the only comprehensive and scholarly published work regarding the ethical and professional abuses of neuroscientists during the Nazi era. The author has crafted a scathing tour de force exploring the extremes of ethical abuse, but also ways that this can be resisted and hopefully prevented by future generations of neuroscientists and physicians
Download or read book The Man Who Could Read Minds written by Paul Seifert and published by iUniverse. This book was released on 2001-08-28 with total page 170 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Somebody—call him John Doe—has been shot in the head. With the bullet still lodged in his brain, he has lost his memory, but gained the ability to read minds. This new talent makes him a winner at high-stakes poker, then on the stock market, then as an international mediator for the U.S. government, where he becomes the center of an international intrigue. Finally, his brain flooded with endorphins, Jon Dough realizes that nothing is really as it seams.
Download or read book The Richness of Life written by Stephen Jay Gould and published by W. W. Norton & Company. This book was released on 2007 with total page 684 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This spotlight on an extraordinary mind collects the most entertaining and enlightening writings by the beloved paleontologist, evolutionary biologist, and celebrant of the wonder of life. 20 illustrations.
Download or read book In the Know written by Russell T. Warne and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2020-10-29 with total page 437 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Emotional intelligence is an important trait for success at work. IQ tests are biased against minorities. Every child is gifted. Preschool makes children smarter. Western understandings of intelligence are inappropriate for other cultures. These are some of the statements about intelligence that are common in the media and in popular culture. But none of them are true. In the Know is a tour of the most common incorrect beliefs about intelligence and IQ. Written in a fantastically engaging way, each chapter is dedicated to correcting a misconception and explains the real science behind intelligence. Controversies related to IQ will wither away in the face of the facts, leaving readers with a clear understanding about the truth of intelligence.
Download or read book Magnificent Minds written by Suzanne Goh, MD and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2024-04-09 with total page 353 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An essential primer based on a renowned new model of care that is comprehensive and research based, while honoring the uniqueness of every child An estimated one in thirty-six children in the United States is diagnosed with autism. New research has shed light on the many factors that determine a child’s trajectory—but many parents are still navigating this complex terrain without a road map. Pediatric neurologist Dr. Suzanne Goh has spent decades working with autistic children, and in this practical and research-based guide she shares her renowned and revolutionary model of care: an innovative, whole-child approach that combines optimal medical treatment with the most effective strategies for advancing cognition, communication, and behavior. Demystifying a wide range of diagnostics and therapies and offering new insights into the neurological, biochemical, behavioral, and social factors that play a role in successful outcomes, the book is an essential resource for understanding all of autism—a strengths-based approach that helps parents design a comprehensive treatment plan. It is also a celebration of what each autistic person brings to the world—and how parents can best nurture the remarkable uniqueness of their child while setting them up for the future they envision.
Download or read book Mismeasuring Our Lives written by Jean-Paul Fitouss and published by ReadHowYouWant.com. This book was released on 2011-04-22 with total page 230 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In February of 2008, amid the looming global financial crisis, President Nicolas Sarkozy of France asked Nobel Prize-winning economists Joseph Stiglitz and Amartya Sen, along with the distinguished French economist Jean Paul Fitoussi, to establish a commission of leading economists to study whether Gross Domestic Product (GDP) - the most widely used measure of economic activity - is a reliable indicator of economic and social progress. The Commission was given the further task of laying out an agenda for developing better measures. Mismeasuring Our Lives is the result of this major intellectual effort, one with pressing relevance for anyone engaged in assessing how and whether our economy is serving the needs of our society. The authors offer a sweeping assessment of the limits of GDP as a measurement of the well-being of societies - considering, for example, how GDP overlooks economic inequality (with the result that most people can be worse off even though average income is increasing); and does not factor environmental impacts into economic decisions.In place of GDP, Mismeasuring Our Lives introduces a bold new array of concepts, from sustainable measures of economic welfare, to measures of savings and wealth, to a ''green GDP.'' At a time when policymakers worldwide are grappling with unprecedented global financial and environmental issues, here is an essential guide to measuring the things that matter.
