1/ In The Know: Debunking 35 Myths About Human Intelligence
By @Russwarne

I’ll tweet out some of the more important/interesting parts as I go.
I’ll put my thoughts in a separate thread by retweeting.

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2/ Positive comments about the book from people in the know.
https://russellwarne.com/2020/09/29/advance-praise-for-in-the-know/

The Myths debunked (table of contents)

https://russellwarne.com/2019/12/01/35-myths-about-human-intelligence/

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3/ Intelligence is tricky to define, here is Gottfredson giving it a go.
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4/ IQ used to be calculated by dividing mental age by chronological age and multiplying by 100.
Ex: 6 mental age/5 years old=IQ of 120

But not anymore.
Now test performance is compared to a normed group with a deviation score method.

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5/ here’s a little more detail about what the deviation score method is.

Basically, it makes comparisons by using standard deviations.
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https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/IQ_classification

6/ In the Mismeasure of Man, Stephen Jay Gould deliberately ignored evidence showing that there are genetic components of intelligence.
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7/ Some genetic components of intelligence.
More white matter=faster problem solving
Smarter people have more densely packed neurons with less neurites than low-IQ individuals.

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8/ The idea of general intelligence, or ‘g’ has been established through the ‘positive manifold’.
Essentially, you can assess intelligence in many ways and the results are all positively correlated.
Ex: a test on word associations and another on memory have positive correlations

9/ ‘g’ is not all inclusive.
“No expert in the past 60 years has argued that g is the only important cognitive ability.”

The number produced by g is not a sum of all human cognitive abilities.

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10/ A common critique of IQ research is that IQ is a western construct that doesn’t neatly map onto non-western cultures.
This critique falls flat.
g can be reliably found in non-western cultures.
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11/ @Russwarne and Burningham studies 31 non-western countries and 50,103 individuals in 97 samples.
Of the 97 samples, 94 (96.9%) produced ‘g’. This g factor is roughly as strong as studies in western countries.

https://psycnet.apa.org/fulltext/2019-01683-001.pdf

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12/ Howard Gardener’s theory of multiple intelligences is well known, particularly in education.
Educators have traditionally used it to validate their folk theories of learning.

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13/ It’s too bad that educators use his theories, because “there is virtually no objective evidence for the theory” of multiple intelligences.

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14/ Howard Gardener is unconcerned about the lack of evidence supporting his theory.
He admits it is out of date.
He doesn’t feel the need to test his theory against reality.

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15/ in addition, multiple intelligences relies on anecdotal evidence and small, non representative case studies.

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16/ Finally, when researchers attempt to measure the multiple intelligences, the result is a series of correlated variables that produce a general factor.”

It produces a g factor, measuring general intelligence.
#IQ #IQtest #Intelligence #books