Review by Choice Review
Taking a critical look at the inadequacies of the concept of intelligence, Richardson (Open Univ., UK) notes that all societies recognize intelligence as an important characteristic. This has significant political implications for the utilization of societal resources and division into groups. Beginning with the Galton and Binet attempts to measure intelligence and continuing through Richard Herrnstein and Charles Murray's approach in The Bell Curve (CH, May'95), Richardson finds the concept of IQ based on a test score untenable and subject to exploitation. He explores the deficiencies in various biological explanations--i.e., evoked potentials, brain size, and so forth--and in studies on variations in intelligence among different genetic pairings. He also laments the failure of cognitive approaches to intelligence, such as computer analogs and static connectionism, to advance knowledge of the "nature" of intelligence. Richardson views human intelligence (social intelligence) as unique in the animal kingdom in adapting to survival needs by providing the unparalleled ability to cooperate with others through language, number ability, and conceptualization. An interesting book that explores the social parameters of the meaning of intelligence; bibliographic listings in each chapter. All collections. P. Barker emeritus, Schenectady County Community College
Copyright American Library Association, used with permission.
Review by Library Journal Review
This title launches the publisher's new series, "Maps of the Mind," which aims to offer "a glimpse of the extraordinary innovations of science's last frontier." In fact, this title does the opposite, arguing that most of the so-called "innovations" in the study of intelligence, both human and animal, are extremely ephemeral. Beginning with a useful reminder that the very concept of intelligence is unclear, Richardson, honorary research fellow in the Centre for Human Development and Learning at the Open University (UK), moves on to argue that all IQ tests are highly culture-bound, that evolutionary pressures would result in a uniformity of intelligence among humans, not in greater variation, and that the popular "computer model" of intelligence is very limited. Instead, he argues, the concept of intelligence only has meaning in sociocultural contexts. This is a lot for a 200-page book to attempt, but the author does a very good job of providing useful correctives for a number of currently popular "fads" in the cognitive sciences in a concise, readable format. Recommended for most public and academic libraries.DMary Ann Hughes, Neill P.L., Pullman, WA (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
A provocative attack on most past and present theories of intelligence by British psychologist Richardson (Origins of Human Potential, not reviewed, etc.). The author inveighs against the racial and cultural biases perpetuated in The Bell Curve and other works, his main arguments following the tradition of Lewontin and Gould in opposing genetic determinism. He also points to the failure of theoreticians to come up with anything like a consensus definition of intelligence: what remains is either the circular reasoning that intelligence is what intelligence tests, or a self-fulfilling prophecy based on how teachers evaluate their pupils. He adds some new wrinkles in showing that so-called culture-free test items are anything but culture-free and in pointing to flaws in twin studies and cognitive testing in infants. Analogies of the brain to computers and new studies of "connectionism," artificial intelligence, and brain mapping and imaging are similarly faulted as inadequate or over-interpreted. What's left is Richardson's main thesis--that intelligence has evolved, and the human brain mushroomed in size, in response to our socially and culturally dependent natures. His is a constructivist approach, in which the key concepts are co-variation, complexity, and hierarchical systems involving genetic, epigenetic, and cognitive regulations. Certainly there is a lot more meat in this conceptualization than the simplistic idea that there are genes "for intelligence," but one can argue that Richardson may overemphasize the importance of social interactions: He would, for example, change school curricula to teach arithmetic in terms of its social utility, emphasize laws of local and national economy, speak to resource management, the nature of social institutions, etc. Nor is it clear how one could--or should--measure Richardsonian intelligence. Good and provocative insights here--enough to fuel debate, put genetic determinists in their place, and maybe get neuroscientists, psychologists, anthropologists, and linguists to talk to each other instead of plying their separate trades. Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Review by Choice Review
Review by Library Journal Review
Review by Kirkus Book Review
