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Very Short Introductions #039
Intelligence: A Very Short Introduction
Some people are cleverer than others. This everyday observation is the subject of an academic field that is often portrayed as confused and controversial, when in fact, the field of intelligence holds some of psychology's best-replicated findings.This Very Short Introduction describes what psychologists have discovered about how and why people differ in their thinking powers. Drawing on large scale data Ian Deary considers how many types of intelligence there are, and how intelligence changes with age. Along the way he tackles some of the most burning questions surrounding intelligence, such as whether larger brains are cleverer, and how genes and environments contribute to people's intelligence differences. He also considersthe new field of cognitive epidemiology, which draws links between intelligence and better health, less illness, and longer life, and asks whether intelligence is increasing. In this new edition Deary also addresses the controversial question of whether men and women differ in intelligence. Throughout heprovides a clear description of the data we can use to answer these questions and more.ABOUT THE The Very Short Introductions series from Oxford University Press contains hundreds of titles in almost every subject area. These pocket-sized books are the perfect way to get ahead in a new subject quickly. Our expert authors combine facts, analysis, perspective, new ideas, and enthusiasm to make interesting and challenging topics highly readable.
184 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 2001
75 people are currently reading
2440 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 83 reviews
August 3, 2017
This is exactly what it promises to be in the title: a very short introduction to the study of intelligence. I went back and forth between four and five stars on this one.
On the one hand it is accessible to laypeople, very well written, engaging, and rigorous. I will be assigning some chapters from it to my students because it is such a strong treatment of the topic (albeit a bit repetitive at some times, that's to help make it broadly accessible).
The downside is that it isn't as thorough as I'd have liked. It is, after all, a very short introduction. What that means is that it goes into detail on 6 topics in intelligence, and basically ignores everything else (the 7th chapter is just a recommendation to read a report from an APA task force). Of those, 4 of the six chapters are very interesting, and one is moderately interesting. The chapter on the brain is the weakest - more like a basic primer on neuroscience methods followed by an acknowledgement that we don't really know what in the brain leads to intelligence.
So, the content here is really good, but there isn't all that much of it. I felt a bit guilty marking it down a star for that - after all, there's no false advertising here, it says its very short right in the title. But I couldn't help but feel that it might have been better off being a moderately short introduction to intelligence added 40 pages, and gone into some other exciting issues that are neglected entirely.
Still, on the whole I recommend this to anybody interested in a clear portrayal of what we know about intelligence.
On the one hand it is accessible to laypeople, very well written, engaging, and rigorous. I will be assigning some chapters from it to my students because it is such a strong treatment of the topic (albeit a bit repetitive at some times, that's to help make it broadly accessible).
The downside is that it isn't as thorough as I'd have liked. It is, after all, a very short introduction. What that means is that it goes into detail on 6 topics in intelligence, and basically ignores everything else (the 7th chapter is just a recommendation to read a report from an APA task force). Of those, 4 of the six chapters are very interesting, and one is moderately interesting. The chapter on the brain is the weakest - more like a basic primer on neuroscience methods followed by an acknowledgement that we don't really know what in the brain leads to intelligence.
So, the content here is really good, but there isn't all that much of it. I felt a bit guilty marking it down a star for that - after all, there's no false advertising here, it says its very short right in the title. But I couldn't help but feel that it might have been better off being a moderately short introduction to intelligence added 40 pages, and gone into some other exciting issues that are neglected entirely.
Still, on the whole I recommend this to anybody interested in a clear portrayal of what we know about intelligence.
March 15, 2021
At first, intelligence is generally associated with a uniquely human characteristic of knowledge representation and problem-solving, reflecting a highly anthropocentric perspective. But still, we humans do not understand ourselves, how our "intelligence" works, and not even the origin of our thoughts.
Today, for many researchers, the idea of intelligence has come to be associated with the concept of survival.
Today, for many researchers, the idea of intelligence has come to be associated with the concept of survival.
July 5, 2018
It was good, but not great.
It focused way too much on the research done on intelligence instead of the findings of the researches. It was maybe a 60-40 split between the two, with the former consuming most of the text.
The book had few insightful lessons in it. Overall, I may have learned 6 or 7 new things (which is not too bad for a 132-page book, but not too good for a book portrayed as being concise), and a few of those things were that "scientists still don't know the reason for ..."
The best part of the book is the fourth chapter, which discusses whether intelligence is more attributable to genetics or environment. The author cites some fascinating statistics which claim the answer is genetics. If you're going to read one chapter of the book, read this one.
It focused way too much on the research done on intelligence instead of the findings of the researches. It was maybe a 60-40 split between the two, with the former consuming most of the text.
The book had few insightful lessons in it. Overall, I may have learned 6 or 7 new things (which is not too bad for a 132-page book, but not too good for a book portrayed as being concise), and a few of those things were that "scientists still don't know the reason for ..."
The best part of the book is the fourth chapter, which discusses whether intelligence is more attributable to genetics or environment. The author cites some fascinating statistics which claim the answer is genetics. If you're going to read one chapter of the book, read this one.
November 11, 2018
Chapter 1: How Many Types of Intelligences Are There?
What is intelligence?
“Intelligence is a very general mental capability that, among other things, involves the ability to reason, plan, solve problems, think abstractly, comprehend complex ideas, learn quickly and learn from experience.” (Gottfredson, 1997)
Consensus among researchers about the important elements of intelligence:
1. Abstract thinking or reasoning – 99.3%
2. Problem-solving ability – 97.7%
3. Capacity to acquire knowledge – 96.0%
4. Memory – 80%
5. Mental speed – 71.7%
6. General knowledge – 62.4%
7. Creativity – 59.6%
8. Achievement motivation – 18.9%
(Synderman and Rothman, 1988)
What is general intelligence?
The average association between the subtests of the WAIS is 0.5 with some of the subtests having a correlation of over 0.8 which means that they can be collected under hypothetical indexes (e.g. Verbal Comprehension Index (VCI), Perceptual Reasoning Index (PRI), Working Memory Index (WMI), Processing Speed Index (PSI) in the WAIS IV) which all correlate strongly between each other (0.6 to 0.8).
Spearman (1904) found that the scores of schoolchildren’s different academic subjects were all positively correlated which can be put down to a general cognitive ability – “Spearman’s g”.
Criticism of Gardner’s multiple intelligences:
-Verbal, Mathematical and Musical intelligences are correlated positively and linked thereby to general cognitive ability.
-Physical intelligence and interpersonal intelligence are normally not considered cognitive skills but a set of motor skills and a set of personality traits.
- “G” derived from Gardner’s multiple intelligences correlated by 0.76 with the g derived from Wonderlic Cognitive Ability Test. Each of the domains proposed by Gardner appears to involve a blend of g, of cognitive abilities other than g (group factors), and, in some cases, of non-cognitive abilities or of personality characteristics (Visser, Ashton & Vernon ,2006).
Takeaways:
-Whenever a group of people is tested on a range of mental tests, the correlations between the scores are almost entirely positive A general factor in cognitive ability is a significant, inescapable fact.
- The “g factor” accounts for approximately 50% of the variability in cognitive ability in the general population.
Chapter 2: What happens to mental abilities as we grow older?
Sharp decline from age 25 to age 80:
-Inductive reasoning (discovering a rule from a limited number of instances)
-Spatial orientation (making decisions about complex shapes in two or three dimensions)
-Perceptual speed (the ability to notice fine visual details quickly)
-Working, Verbal and encoding into Episodic memory
Peak in middle age and late-life decline (beginning at 60 and accelerated at 70):
-Numerical ability
-Verbal ability
-Semantic memory
(Hedden and Gabrieli, 2004)
Through which process does decline occur?
-Age causes slowing of cognitive processing speed which then affects g which affects every other more specific mental ability. (Salthouse, 1996)
-Brain mass slowly decreases after young adulthood and sharply decreases with old age (Dekaban and Sadowsky, 1978)
Takeaways:
-Good maintenance of crystallised abilities (relating to knowledge or educational experience) in old age.
-Decline in fluid abilities (abilities that represent the current state of our brainpower, relating to abilities that involve speed or new ideas).
-Age affects information processing speed affects g affects other mental abilities.
Chapter 3: Why are some people more intelligent than others?
1. Brain mass (Rushton and Ankney 2009):
-Correlation of 0.4 between brain mass and intelligence.
-G correlated with overall brain mass but slightly more concentrated in the frontal lobes.
Several hypotheses for why bigger brains are correlated with more intelligence:
1. Pakkenberg and Gundersen (1997) found a correlation of 0.56 between brain size and number of neurons.
2. Same number of neurons but more neuronal connections.
3. Bigger brains have axons with thicker myelin sheaths.
2. Information Processing Speed:
ERP in response to oddball sound stimuli:
N100: Response to an unpredictable stimulus occurring after 100ms.
P200: May be response that compares sensory input with stored memory.
P300: Related to noticing a difference; only occurs in response to oddball sound, not the normal tones.
Differences in responses:
There are differences in the electrical activity in the brain between people with higher and lower intelligence
1. More intelligent people tend to have faster (some thousandths of a second) brain electrical responses to stimuli.
2. More Intelligent people tend to have more consistent brain electrical responses to stimuli.
3. More intelligent people tend to have steeper swings between N100 and P200.
Inspection time tests:
- Used to measure how efficiently people extract information from iconic memory.
Procedure:
1. A figure is presented (U-shaped) with a long and a short side for between 0.25 and 0.001 seconds.
2. The pp is subsequently asked to identify on which side the long side was.
3. This is repeated several times, sometimes up to a few hundred times.
Results:
There is a 0.4 correlation between how good people are at the inspection time test and intelligence scores.
Conclusion:
People with higher intelligence seem to be more efficient at processing visual information that is only briefly presented.
Explanations:
1. The better test performance could be due to intelligent people have brains that process information faster.
2. The better test performance could be due to intelligent people being better and finding a strategy to do well at this test.
Reaction time tests:
Results:
1. Correlation of 0.2 between reaction time and psychometric intelligence.
2. More intelligent people tend to have more consistent reaction times.
Explanations:
1. Intelligent people might have brains faster and more consistent processing speed.
2. Unknown whether speed in reaction time is a cause or merely a symptom of intelligence differences.
Takeaways:
-People might be smarter because their brain’s information processing speed is quicker.
-Scientists not sure how to measure brain’s processing speed (e.g. inspection time, reaction time, ERPs, electrical impulse speed).
-Not all these tests relate to each other very well (which do, and which don’t?)
Are intelligence differences a result of genes or the environment or both?
Experiments of nature (MZ twins):
1. Correlation between IQ scores:
- Correlation of 0.69 between the Wechsler IQ scores of MZ twins reared-apart compared to 0.88 for MZ twins reared-together.
- Correlation of 0.78 between reared-apart MZ twins compared to 0.76 for reared-together MZ twins on the fluid intelligence Raven’s Progressive Matrices test with a vocabulary scale score added to it.
- About 70% of the variance in IQ is associated with genes (Bouchard et al., 1990).
2. Average ‘wobble’:
-Same person tested twice: 5 IQ points.
-MZ twins: 7 IQ points (no association between time spent together and similarity in IQ scores).
-Two random people: 18 IQ points.
3. Possible confounding variables:
-The twins spent time together in their mother’s womb.
-Adoptive families of MZ twins reared-apart might have been very similar and thus the similar environment could have acted as a confounding variable.
-Many of the MZ twins reared-apart spent some time together while they were children before being given up for adoption or as adults when they were reunited, thus the similar environment may have acted as a confounding variable.
4. The influence of the genes changes across the human lifespan:
-20-40% from infancy to childhood.
-60%+ in old age (70+).
OctoTwin study:
-76% of the intelligence variance is determined by genes and 20% is determined by the unique environment and almost nothing by the common environment.
-Genetic effect associated with g account for the correlation between g and verbal, spatial, and speed-of-processing abilities.
-Memory is slightly more genetically distinct from g.
(Petrill et al., 1998)
Experiments of nurture (adoption studies):
Texas Adoption Project:
-Birth mothers gave up their new born babies.
-Babies were adopted by an adoptive family that had their own child.
-Adopted children never met their biological mother.
-Everyone involved takes an intelligence test.
Results:
- 0.1 correlation between the IQ-scores of adoptive parents and adoptive children compared to a 0.3 correlation between the IQ-scores of adoptive children and their biological mothers.
- 0.3 correlation between the IQ-scores of biologically related children in the adoptive families compared to no correlation at all between biologically unrelated children in adoptive families.
Conclusion:
-Adopted children are more similar in intelligence level to a birth mother they’ve never met before but share 50% of their genes with than to an adoptive mother with whom they spend their lives which suggests that the family environment plays a marginal role in determining intelligence. Furthermore, the intelligence of children that are biologically unrelated but spend their whole life in the same family is not correlated at all (Loehling, Horn and Willerman, 1997).
Which genes are responsible?
-Mental abilities are influenced by an unquantifiable number of genes, each of which will have a small effect.
What is intelligence?
“Intelligence is a very general mental capability that, among other things, involves the ability to reason, plan, solve problems, think abstractly, comprehend complex ideas, learn quickly and learn from experience.” (Gottfredson, 1997)
Consensus among researchers about the important elements of intelligence:
1. Abstract thinking or reasoning – 99.3%
2. Problem-solving ability – 97.7%
3. Capacity to acquire knowledge – 96.0%
4. Memory – 80%
5. Mental speed – 71.7%
6. General knowledge – 62.4%
7. Creativity – 59.6%
8. Achievement motivation – 18.9%
(Synderman and Rothman, 1988)
What is general intelligence?
The average association between the subtests of the WAIS is 0.5 with some of the subtests having a correlation of over 0.8 which means that they can be collected under hypothetical indexes (e.g. Verbal Comprehension Index (VCI), Perceptual Reasoning Index (PRI), Working Memory Index (WMI), Processing Speed Index (PSI) in the WAIS IV) which all correlate strongly between each other (0.6 to 0.8).
Spearman (1904) found that the scores of schoolchildren’s different academic subjects were all positively correlated which can be put down to a general cognitive ability – “Spearman’s g”.
Criticism of Gardner’s multiple intelligences:
-Verbal, Mathematical and Musical intelligences are correlated positively and linked thereby to general cognitive ability.
-Physical intelligence and interpersonal intelligence are normally not considered cognitive skills but a set of motor skills and a set of personality traits.
- “G” derived from Gardner’s multiple intelligences correlated by 0.76 with the g derived from Wonderlic Cognitive Ability Test. Each of the domains proposed by Gardner appears to involve a blend of g, of cognitive abilities other than g (group factors), and, in some cases, of non-cognitive abilities or of personality characteristics (Visser, Ashton & Vernon ,2006).
Takeaways:
-Whenever a group of people is tested on a range of mental tests, the correlations between the scores are almost entirely positive A general factor in cognitive ability is a significant, inescapable fact.
- The “g factor” accounts for approximately 50% of the variability in cognitive ability in the general population.
Chapter 2: What happens to mental abilities as we grow older?
Sharp decline from age 25 to age 80:
-Inductive reasoning (discovering a rule from a limited number of instances)
-Spatial orientation (making decisions about complex shapes in two or three dimensions)
-Perceptual speed (the ability to notice fine visual details quickly)
-Working, Verbal and encoding into Episodic memory
Peak in middle age and late-life decline (beginning at 60 and accelerated at 70):
-Numerical ability
-Verbal ability
-Semantic memory
(Hedden and Gabrieli, 2004)
Through which process does decline occur?
-Age causes slowing of cognitive processing speed which then affects g which affects every other more specific mental ability. (Salthouse, 1996)
-Brain mass slowly decreases after young adulthood and sharply decreases with old age (Dekaban and Sadowsky, 1978)
Takeaways:
-Good maintenance of crystallised abilities (relating to knowledge or educational experience) in old age.
-Decline in fluid abilities (abilities that represent the current state of our brainpower, relating to abilities that involve speed or new ideas).
-Age affects information processing speed affects g affects other mental abilities.
Chapter 3: Why are some people more intelligent than others?
1. Brain mass (Rushton and Ankney 2009):
-Correlation of 0.4 between brain mass and intelligence.
-G correlated with overall brain mass but slightly more concentrated in the frontal lobes.
Several hypotheses for why bigger brains are correlated with more intelligence:
1. Pakkenberg and Gundersen (1997) found a correlation of 0.56 between brain size and number of neurons.
2. Same number of neurons but more neuronal connections.
3. Bigger brains have axons with thicker myelin sheaths.
2. Information Processing Speed:
ERP in response to oddball sound stimuli:
N100: Response to an unpredictable stimulus occurring after 100ms.
P200: May be response that compares sensory input with stored memory.
P300: Related to noticing a difference; only occurs in response to oddball sound, not the normal tones.
Differences in responses:
There are differences in the electrical activity in the brain between people with higher and lower intelligence
1. More intelligent people tend to have faster (some thousandths of a second) brain electrical responses to stimuli.
2. More Intelligent people tend to have more consistent brain electrical responses to stimuli.
3. More intelligent people tend to have steeper swings between N100 and P200.
Inspection time tests:
- Used to measure how efficiently people extract information from iconic memory.
Procedure:
1. A figure is presented (U-shaped) with a long and a short side for between 0.25 and 0.001 seconds.
2. The pp is subsequently asked to identify on which side the long side was.
3. This is repeated several times, sometimes up to a few hundred times.
Results:
There is a 0.4 correlation between how good people are at the inspection time test and intelligence scores.
Conclusion:
People with higher intelligence seem to be more efficient at processing visual information that is only briefly presented.
Explanations:
1. The better test performance could be due to intelligent people have brains that process information faster.
2. The better test performance could be due to intelligent people being better and finding a strategy to do well at this test.
Reaction time tests:
Results:
1. Correlation of 0.2 between reaction time and psychometric intelligence.
2. More intelligent people tend to have more consistent reaction times.
Explanations:
1. Intelligent people might have brains faster and more consistent processing speed.
2. Unknown whether speed in reaction time is a cause or merely a symptom of intelligence differences.
Takeaways:
-People might be smarter because their brain’s information processing speed is quicker.
-Scientists not sure how to measure brain’s processing speed (e.g. inspection time, reaction time, ERPs, electrical impulse speed).
-Not all these tests relate to each other very well (which do, and which don’t?)
Are intelligence differences a result of genes or the environment or both?
Experiments of nature (MZ twins):
1. Correlation between IQ scores:
- Correlation of 0.69 between the Wechsler IQ scores of MZ twins reared-apart compared to 0.88 for MZ twins reared-together.
- Correlation of 0.78 between reared-apart MZ twins compared to 0.76 for reared-together MZ twins on the fluid intelligence Raven’s Progressive Matrices test with a vocabulary scale score added to it.
- About 70% of the variance in IQ is associated with genes (Bouchard et al., 1990).
2. Average ‘wobble’:
-Same person tested twice: 5 IQ points.
-MZ twins: 7 IQ points (no association between time spent together and similarity in IQ scores).
-Two random people: 18 IQ points.
3. Possible confounding variables:
-The twins spent time together in their mother’s womb.
-Adoptive families of MZ twins reared-apart might have been very similar and thus the similar environment could have acted as a confounding variable.
-Many of the MZ twins reared-apart spent some time together while they were children before being given up for adoption or as adults when they were reunited, thus the similar environment may have acted as a confounding variable.
4. The influence of the genes changes across the human lifespan:
-20-40% from infancy to childhood.
-60%+ in old age (70+).
OctoTwin study:
-76% of the intelligence variance is determined by genes and 20% is determined by the unique environment and almost nothing by the common environment.
-Genetic effect associated with g account for the correlation between g and verbal, spatial, and speed-of-processing abilities.
-Memory is slightly more genetically distinct from g.
(Petrill et al., 1998)
Experiments of nurture (adoption studies):
Texas Adoption Project:
-Birth mothers gave up their new born babies.
-Babies were adopted by an adoptive family that had their own child.
-Adopted children never met their biological mother.
-Everyone involved takes an intelligence test.
Results:
- 0.1 correlation between the IQ-scores of adoptive parents and adoptive children compared to a 0.3 correlation between the IQ-scores of adoptive children and their biological mothers.
- 0.3 correlation between the IQ-scores of biologically related children in the adoptive families compared to no correlation at all between biologically unrelated children in adoptive families.
Conclusion:
-Adopted children are more similar in intelligence level to a birth mother they’ve never met before but share 50% of their genes with than to an adoptive mother with whom they spend their lives which suggests that the family environment plays a marginal role in determining intelligence. Furthermore, the intelligence of children that are biologically unrelated but spend their whole life in the same family is not correlated at all (Loehling, Horn and Willerman, 1997).
Which genes are responsible?
-Mental abilities are influenced by an unquantifiable number of genes, each of which will have a small effect.
May 23, 2024
Overall, I think Deary made this book easy enough for someone interested in knowing more about intelligence can learn something. However, there really seem to be firm conclusions. Focused on research.
How did this book find me? I saw a book about gathering the other kind of intelligence, and looked for books from the library and came across the one.
How did this book find me? I saw a book about gathering the other kind of intelligence, and looked for books from the library and came across the one.
January 23, 2022
Lần đầu đọc seri A Very Short Introduction. Đồng ý với một số review là hơi khô khan như giáo trình thiệt. Nhưng được cái là chủ đề rất thú vị, cách trình bày liền mạch, rõ ràng.
Quyển sách hơi theo style debunk (phản biện lại những quan điểm sai lầm mà ai cũng tưởng là thật) làm mình rất thích thú, nghiệm ra nhiều điều mình chưa từng nghĩ tới hoặc hiểu sai về trí thông minh, đồng thời cũng được giới thiệu với ngành nghiên cứu trí tuệ.
Quyển sách hơi theo style debunk (phản biện lại những quan điểm sai lầm mà ai cũng tưởng là thật) làm mình rất thích thú, nghiệm ra nhiều điều mình chưa từng nghĩ tới hoặc hiểu sai về trí thông minh, đồng thời cũng được giới thiệu với ngành nghiên cứu trí tuệ.
January 29, 2018
A lovely example of how to write a certain kind of book — the non-fluff introduction to a single academic topic. Within two hours, you’ll have a solid grasp of how psychologists and geneticists think about “intelligence”, and you’ll be ready to read other books.
Deary’s tone is thoroughly encouraging, as though you’ve stopped by his office hours, and he provides hundreds of citations that will send you as deep down the rabbit hole as you wish to go. Really, that’s all he had to do, and it’s enough.
Deary’s tone is thoroughly encouraging, as though you’ve stopped by his office hours, and he provides hundreds of citations that will send you as deep down the rabbit hole as you wish to go. Really, that’s all he had to do, and it’s enough.
December 26, 2021
I have mixed feelings about this SI. Perhaps it’s just a misalignment between Dewey’s purpose and my desire from the book. He clearly wrote it thinking people would continue reading more. I picked it up wanting to know the main 5 things of the intelligence research world and then be content in my ignorance. He spends a good deal of precious page space saying something along the lines of “this report that I won’t tell you the results of explores these questions.” Potentially helpful to someone looking for a “Wikipedia” of sorts to search for quality external sources. To me…really irritating.
On a similarly hot and cold note: Deary is a true researcher. He’s well-read, understands deeply the implications of overstating causality, and has nuanced interpretations of data (re: the difference between saying genes make person A 40% smarter than person B rather than they account for 40% of the DIFFERENCE in intelligence). I appreciate his even handed approach. However, this means it’s not juicy. Intelligence testing is a (for obvious reasons) very contentious research area. I wish he had more faith in his reader to say “these are some of the juicier hypotheses in the field right now. We don’t currently have data so don’t you dare state them as fact, but here they are to at least ponder.” Instead, he’s so married to the data that if there wasn’t a 60k person study on a topic he’s hesitant to share any theories.
Main points:
- general “g” a statistical result
- areas of g all correlate, the people who are good at the spatial stuff aren’t bad at the word stuff. This def goes against personal experience for most.
- genes account for somewhere around 10-40% of intelligence differences. The way they use fraternal vs identical twin studies to reason this is fascinating
- crystallized vs fluid intelligence
- we lose fluid intelligence with age but not crystallized
- Flynn effect - why are IQs rising? This is THE question to answer
- IQ tests don’t change as much with socioeconomic status as we think
- Scottish mental surveys 1932 and 47 are incredible data set from an entire nation
- unexplainable correlation between “thinking” tasks and reaction time (and inspection time)
Overall, glad I read this. Very cool to understand how this testing works and to see it has some merits and many limits. Would recommend to someone with equally neurotic an interest as me. Not to someone who wasn’t previously interested.
Wow ^ I could never write a short introduction.
On a similarly hot and cold note: Deary is a true researcher. He’s well-read, understands deeply the implications of overstating causality, and has nuanced interpretations of data (re: the difference between saying genes make person A 40% smarter than person B rather than they account for 40% of the DIFFERENCE in intelligence). I appreciate his even handed approach. However, this means it’s not juicy. Intelligence testing is a (for obvious reasons) very contentious research area. I wish he had more faith in his reader to say “these are some of the juicier hypotheses in the field right now. We don’t currently have data so don’t you dare state them as fact, but here they are to at least ponder.” Instead, he’s so married to the data that if there wasn’t a 60k person study on a topic he’s hesitant to share any theories.
Main points:
- general “g” a statistical result
- areas of g all correlate, the people who are good at the spatial stuff aren’t bad at the word stuff. This def goes against personal experience for most.
- genes account for somewhere around 10-40% of intelligence differences. The way they use fraternal vs identical twin studies to reason this is fascinating
- crystallized vs fluid intelligence
- we lose fluid intelligence with age but not crystallized
- Flynn effect - why are IQs rising? This is THE question to answer
- IQ tests don’t change as much with socioeconomic status as we think
- Scottish mental surveys 1932 and 47 are incredible data set from an entire nation
- unexplainable correlation between “thinking” tasks and reaction time (and inspection time)
Overall, glad I read this. Very cool to understand how this testing works and to see it has some merits and many limits. Would recommend to someone with equally neurotic an interest as me. Not to someone who wasn’t previously interested.
Wow ^ I could never write a short introduction.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 15, 2026
Mission 2026: Binge reviewing all previous Reads, I was too slothful to review back when I read them
Ian J. Deary’s ‘Intelligence: A Very Short Introduction’ is one of those rare books that balances scientific rigor, historical perspective, and thoughtful reflection with exceptional clarity. In fewer than 150 pages, Deary manages to navigate one of the most complex, controversial, and socially charged areas of human research: the study of intelligence. Yet this book is not just about IQ scores or abstract cognitive metrics—it is a meditation on human capacity, potential, and the interplay of biology, environment, and society.
Reading it feels like being guided through a landscape both familiar and strange, where everyday assumptions about “smarts” are questioned, nuanced, and carefully reconstructed.
From the outset, Deary confronts the reader with a deceptively simple question: what is intelligence? The answer, as he shows, is far from straightforward.
Intelligence is not a single entity; it is a cluster of cognitive abilities, encompassing reasoning, problem-solving, memory, processing speed, and adaptability.
Deary introduces the reader to the idea of general intelligence, or “g,” first proposed by Charles Spearman, while also acknowledging the diversity of cognitive skills that escape neat quantification.
He makes clear that intelligence is simultaneously a statistical construct, a psychological reality, and a social concept.
This layered framing prepares the reader for the complexity of the debates to come.
One of the book’s most impressive aspects is its careful historical contextualization.
Deary traces the study of intelligence from early psychometrics and the pioneering work of Alfred Binet through the rise of standardized testing, the eugenics controversies of the early twentieth century, and the modern era of cognitive neuroscience and molecular genetics.
In doing so, he demonstrates that the study of intelligence has never been purely academic; it is deeply intertwined with societal values, cultural assumptions, and political agendas.
The historical lens prevents the book from feeling abstract or detached; instead, intelligence emerges as a field of human endeavor shaped by ideas, ambitions, and ethical dilemmas.
Deary is particularly skilled at balancing scientific detail with readability. He introduces readers to concepts such as factor analysis, heritability, cognitive epidemiology, and neural correlates of intelligence without overwhelming them with jargon.
Instead, he uses examples, analogies, and clear explanations to convey how these tools illuminate human cognition.
For instance, when discussing heritability, he carefully distinguishes between population-level statistics and individual outcomes, emphasizing that intelligence is influenced by both genes and environment, and that neither operates in isolation. This nuanced treatment avoids simplistic determinism while highlighting the predictive power of cognitive research.
A recurring theme in the book is the stability and malleability of intelligence. Deary presents research showing that intelligence, particularly as measured in childhood, is remarkably stable over the lifespan.
Yet he also emphasizes that intelligence is not fixed: education, nutrition, socioeconomic conditions, and stimulating environments all play critical roles in shaping cognitive development.
This duality—the interplay of stability and plasticity—underscores the ethical implications of intelligence research: it is not merely a descriptive science, but one with profound consequences for policy, education, and social equity.
Another notable strength of the book is its engagement with controversy. Intelligence is perhaps one of the most politically and culturally charged topics in psychology, touching on issues of race, gender, inequality, and opportunity.
Deary addresses these debates with care, avoiding sensationalism or moralizing. He clarifies what the evidence does—and does not—support, emphasizing transparency and precision. In doing so, he models critical thinking, demonstrating that the study of intelligence is not about confirming prejudices but about understanding human diversity with rigor and humility.
Deary also highlights the broader implications of intelligence research. Beyond standardized testing or academic achievement, intelligence correlates with health, longevity, and life outcomes.
These findings provoke reflection: what does it mean for society if cognitive differences influence not only education and employment but also lifespan and well-being?
The book never offers easy answers, but it encourages readers to think deeply about the social, ethical, and personal significance of intelligence.
Stylistically, the book is a pleasure to read. Deary’s prose is clear, concise, and gently wry, making complex ideas approachable without oversimplifying them.
Each chapter flows naturally, building from foundational concepts to contemporary debates, interweaving empirical findings with historical context and philosophical reflection.
The result is a text that is both informative and intellectually stimulating—a rare combination in a short introduction to a demanding subject.
For me, reading this book was transformative. It reframed how I think about intelligence—not as a number, a label, or a measure of worth, but as a multifaceted, dynamic, and socially embedded human capacity.
Deary’s approach emphasizes curiosity, rigor, and ethical reflection, showing that intelligence is not just something we study, but something we live with, nurture, and understand in relation to others.
Ultimately, ‘Intelligence: A Very Short Introduction’ succeeds because it treats a difficult and controversial topic with honesty, clarity, and depth. It is not a manual, a guide to scoring higher, or a moral judgment.
Instead, it is an invitation: to think critically, to question assumptions, and to appreciate the complexity of human cognition in all its forms.
In fewer than 150 pages, Deary achieves what many longer texts cannot: he illuminates the science, history, and philosophy of intelligence while leaving the reader wiser, more reflective, and profoundly engaged with the human mind.
In short, this book is a masterclass in intellectual generosity. It educates, provokes thought, and models how to approach a controversial topic with clarity, rigor, and ethical sensitivity.
It is essential reading for anyone interested in understanding the mind, human potential, and the intricate interplay between biology, society, and cognition.
Most recommended.
Ian J. Deary’s ‘Intelligence: A Very Short Introduction’ is one of those rare books that balances scientific rigor, historical perspective, and thoughtful reflection with exceptional clarity. In fewer than 150 pages, Deary manages to navigate one of the most complex, controversial, and socially charged areas of human research: the study of intelligence. Yet this book is not just about IQ scores or abstract cognitive metrics—it is a meditation on human capacity, potential, and the interplay of biology, environment, and society.
Reading it feels like being guided through a landscape both familiar and strange, where everyday assumptions about “smarts” are questioned, nuanced, and carefully reconstructed.
From the outset, Deary confronts the reader with a deceptively simple question: what is intelligence? The answer, as he shows, is far from straightforward.
Intelligence is not a single entity; it is a cluster of cognitive abilities, encompassing reasoning, problem-solving, memory, processing speed, and adaptability.
Deary introduces the reader to the idea of general intelligence, or “g,” first proposed by Charles Spearman, while also acknowledging the diversity of cognitive skills that escape neat quantification.
He makes clear that intelligence is simultaneously a statistical construct, a psychological reality, and a social concept.
This layered framing prepares the reader for the complexity of the debates to come.
One of the book’s most impressive aspects is its careful historical contextualization.
Deary traces the study of intelligence from early psychometrics and the pioneering work of Alfred Binet through the rise of standardized testing, the eugenics controversies of the early twentieth century, and the modern era of cognitive neuroscience and molecular genetics.
In doing so, he demonstrates that the study of intelligence has never been purely academic; it is deeply intertwined with societal values, cultural assumptions, and political agendas.
The historical lens prevents the book from feeling abstract or detached; instead, intelligence emerges as a field of human endeavor shaped by ideas, ambitions, and ethical dilemmas.
Deary is particularly skilled at balancing scientific detail with readability. He introduces readers to concepts such as factor analysis, heritability, cognitive epidemiology, and neural correlates of intelligence without overwhelming them with jargon.
Instead, he uses examples, analogies, and clear explanations to convey how these tools illuminate human cognition.
For instance, when discussing heritability, he carefully distinguishes between population-level statistics and individual outcomes, emphasizing that intelligence is influenced by both genes and environment, and that neither operates in isolation. This nuanced treatment avoids simplistic determinism while highlighting the predictive power of cognitive research.
A recurring theme in the book is the stability and malleability of intelligence. Deary presents research showing that intelligence, particularly as measured in childhood, is remarkably stable over the lifespan.
Yet he also emphasizes that intelligence is not fixed: education, nutrition, socioeconomic conditions, and stimulating environments all play critical roles in shaping cognitive development.
This duality—the interplay of stability and plasticity—underscores the ethical implications of intelligence research: it is not merely a descriptive science, but one with profound consequences for policy, education, and social equity.
Another notable strength of the book is its engagement with controversy. Intelligence is perhaps one of the most politically and culturally charged topics in psychology, touching on issues of race, gender, inequality, and opportunity.
Deary addresses these debates with care, avoiding sensationalism or moralizing. He clarifies what the evidence does—and does not—support, emphasizing transparency and precision. In doing so, he models critical thinking, demonstrating that the study of intelligence is not about confirming prejudices but about understanding human diversity with rigor and humility.
Deary also highlights the broader implications of intelligence research. Beyond standardized testing or academic achievement, intelligence correlates with health, longevity, and life outcomes.
These findings provoke reflection: what does it mean for society if cognitive differences influence not only education and employment but also lifespan and well-being?
The book never offers easy answers, but it encourages readers to think deeply about the social, ethical, and personal significance of intelligence.
Stylistically, the book is a pleasure to read. Deary’s prose is clear, concise, and gently wry, making complex ideas approachable without oversimplifying them.
Each chapter flows naturally, building from foundational concepts to contemporary debates, interweaving empirical findings with historical context and philosophical reflection.
The result is a text that is both informative and intellectually stimulating—a rare combination in a short introduction to a demanding subject.
For me, reading this book was transformative. It reframed how I think about intelligence—not as a number, a label, or a measure of worth, but as a multifaceted, dynamic, and socially embedded human capacity.
Deary’s approach emphasizes curiosity, rigor, and ethical reflection, showing that intelligence is not just something we study, but something we live with, nurture, and understand in relation to others.
Ultimately, ‘Intelligence: A Very Short Introduction’ succeeds because it treats a difficult and controversial topic with honesty, clarity, and depth. It is not a manual, a guide to scoring higher, or a moral judgment.
Instead, it is an invitation: to think critically, to question assumptions, and to appreciate the complexity of human cognition in all its forms.
In fewer than 150 pages, Deary achieves what many longer texts cannot: he illuminates the science, history, and philosophy of intelligence while leaving the reader wiser, more reflective, and profoundly engaged with the human mind.
In short, this book is a masterclass in intellectual generosity. It educates, provokes thought, and models how to approach a controversial topic with clarity, rigor, and ethical sensitivity.
It is essential reading for anyone interested in understanding the mind, human potential, and the intricate interplay between biology, society, and cognition.
Most recommended.
March 7, 2014
An excellent read on how cognitive abilities are measured, how they vary on different factors, and what they affect. Beautifully written by a leading researcher in the field for the non-specialist. Another gem in the 'very short introduction' series by Oxford.
August 3, 2025
While doing my master's in education, I recall reading a chapter from an educator who, full of vitriol and absolute certainty, was saying the idea of general intelligence was purely racist and white-supremacist pseudoscience. The IQ tests are racist, the results are racist, and those who give the tests are racist. I also recall just how passionately the Bell Curve was denounced in other audiobooks I've listened to. Murrey is seen as the embodiment of Hitler for daring to set forth his research. Anyhow, it was interesting to listen to this audiobook in which Dearly, simply and calmly, shares the studies, findings, questions, puzzles, limits, and benefits of IQ. Towards the end of the book, he does give a nod of the head to some of the controversy, but his mindset is that the misuse of a tool isn't grounds for rejecting a tool. Simply because a knife can be used to kill someone doesn't mean all knives should be banned. For Deary, and his fellow scientists, it seems they are comfortable with affirming the facts and realities their research seems to point to; while remaining sensitive to DEI concerns, they are not going to act like woke zealots. Frankly, it is refreshing.
May 9, 2020
Good example of science writing that is useful and accessible without dumbing things down beyond reason. I learnt some things and was surprised how much Ian Deary managed to fit into the slim book.
Among the things I learnt was how terrifying age-related decline is, but also the fascinating studies on how little upbringing seems to influence intelligence.
Among the things I learnt was how terrifying age-related decline is, but also the fascinating studies on how little upbringing seems to influence intelligence.
May 20, 2024
Not the worst book ever. Would have gotten a lot more out of it a few years ago but good introduction to the topic.
July 9, 2025
It does what it sets out to do. I am extremely happy about the chapter on the Flynn effect since this was always my gripe with the whole thing.
Would recommend, but be aware that this is more about IQ as a measure of Intelligence than Intelligence itself.
Would recommend, but be aware that this is more about IQ as a measure of Intelligence than Intelligence itself.
April 4, 2021
Good introduction, but the topic discussed is very specific to human mental abilities.
October 9, 2016
Insight-dense, well-founded and very interesting.
Some key findings and surprises:
• Scores on all the different kinds of intelligence tests researchers have administered correlate very much with each other, such that there seems to be some factor that some people have more of and some people have less of that determines most of their scores on intelligence tests. Call this the "g factor".
• An optimal grouping based on the correlation between scores of many difference intelligence tests gives four different factors of intelligence. These factors have then been named by John Carrol: verbal comprehension, perceptual organisation, working memory and processing speed.
• Most of the intelligence differences can be traced to genetic differences.
• Out of of the intelligence differences that are due to the environment (i.e. not genes), most of it comes from the non-shared environment (i.e. not family upbringing or school).
• Inductive ability declines from young adulthood (and the steeper curve starts from year 40) to old age, while verbal ability stays much the same.
• Brain size correlates moderately with intelligence test scores.
• Decision time and movement time (on choice-reaction tests) both correlate moderately with g.
• The genetic influence on intelligence /rise/ as humans grow older. IQ for 40-year olds is more due to their genes than IQ for 20-year olds.
• The Flynn effect may or may not be real.
• Intelligence tests have the same predictive power as structured job interviews on future job performance (correlation = 0.51 for both). Reference checks (corr=0.26), years of job experience (corr=0.18) and years of education (corr=0.10) were weak predictors.
• The Raven's Progressive Matrices is the simplest test with the greatest predictive power on g, the general intelligence factor.
Some key findings and surprises:
• Scores on all the different kinds of intelligence tests researchers have administered correlate very much with each other, such that there seems to be some factor that some people have more of and some people have less of that determines most of their scores on intelligence tests. Call this the "g factor".
• An optimal grouping based on the correlation between scores of many difference intelligence tests gives four different factors of intelligence. These factors have then been named by John Carrol: verbal comprehension, perceptual organisation, working memory and processing speed.
• Most of the intelligence differences can be traced to genetic differences.
• Out of of the intelligence differences that are due to the environment (i.e. not genes), most of it comes from the non-shared environment (i.e. not family upbringing or school).
• Inductive ability declines from young adulthood (and the steeper curve starts from year 40) to old age, while verbal ability stays much the same.
• Brain size correlates moderately with intelligence test scores.
• Decision time and movement time (on choice-reaction tests) both correlate moderately with g.
• The genetic influence on intelligence /rise/ as humans grow older. IQ for 40-year olds is more due to their genes than IQ for 20-year olds.
• The Flynn effect may or may not be real.
• Intelligence tests have the same predictive power as structured job interviews on future job performance (correlation = 0.51 for both). Reference checks (corr=0.26), years of job experience (corr=0.18) and years of education (corr=0.10) were weak predictors.
• The Raven's Progressive Matrices is the simplest test with the greatest predictive power on g, the general intelligence factor.
April 5, 2011
There isn't a single area of Psychology that elicits as much contention as the area of psychometrics. To a certain degree this is understandable, since no one wants to be told that she is not as bright as someone else, no matter how true or obvious it might be. However, of all brunches of Psychology, psychometrics has the greatest predictive power. Within the professional community many of the general aspects of intelligence are very well understood and appreciated. This VSI book is an excellent introduction to this fascinating field. It covers all the major aspects of the Intelligence research and gives directions for further reading. The style of the book is very accessible without being dumbed-down (this is not another one of those "For Dummies"-styled books). If you are serious about finding out more about what scientist know about intelligence, this would be an excellent starting point for you readings. Overall, this is a wonderful little book.
September 26, 2021
WYSIWYG introduction to human intelligence: A clearly explained presentation on:
* What intelligence is
* What difference it makes in life outcomes (health, longevity, education, career..)
* How intelligence is tested
* Gender differences
* How intelligence varies as one ages
* Inheritibility
* Influence of environment on intelligence
* Physical embodiment (brain size, etc.)
* Flynn effect: (trends in improved test results)
* What testing does not measure
* Controversies, e.g. racial differences
* What we don't know about intelligence
The author dies a good job of presenting the methodology used to make the determinations, balancing between giving substantial explanations and avoiding technical terminology some readers may be unfamiliar with.
* What intelligence is
* What difference it makes in life outcomes (health, longevity, education, career..)
* How intelligence is tested
* Gender differences
* How intelligence varies as one ages
* Inheritibility
* Influence of environment on intelligence
* Physical embodiment (brain size, etc.)
* Flynn effect: (trends in improved test results)
* What testing does not measure
* Controversies, e.g. racial differences
* What we don't know about intelligence
The author dies a good job of presenting the methodology used to make the determinations, balancing between giving substantial explanations and avoiding technical terminology some readers may be unfamiliar with.
July 5, 2017
I read this in preparation for a psychology exam. It advertises itself as a very short introduction, and that's exactly what it is. It's easy to understand, doesn't get too technical, and gives you a basic grounding in various issues surrounding the study of intelligence, with lots of recommendations for further reading. However, I'd only recommend it if you're brand new to the field of intelligence, otherwise you'll have heard it all before.
June 17, 2021
Somewhere between 3 and 4 stars for me. It's exactly what it says on the tin, but very dry. On the plus side it makes sure that we know where the findings for the questions he discusses come from, on the minus side it makes for a book where you find out a relatively limited number of facts that psychologists have established through widespread intelligence testing, and not much interpretation or analysis of the consequences of knowing these facts.
October 26, 2021
When it goes it all goes.
Some important points:
* To a substantial extent, it (intelligence) does all tend to go when it goes.
* Every correlation is positive; performing well on one of the tests tends to go with performing well on the others. There are no tests that are unrelated to any other one, that is, there are no near-to-zero correlations. There are no tests that are negatively related with other ones.
* Mental ability tests do not measure personality traits (e.g. neuroticism, extraversion, conscientiousness, and agreeableness), social adroitness, leadership, charisma, cool-headedness, altruism, or many other things that we might recognize as having individual differences.
* We are not asking whether an intelligence test score totally predicts human achievements or outcomes—it never does, or anything near it—just whether intelligence test scores have some predictive power.
* In intelligence research, there are many correlations, but few of them have adequate causal accounts. We know a lot about what goes with what, but rarely why.
* The things that people do and experience that are not shared with a sibling —even an identical twin—matter for people’s intelligence differences.
* The correlations between intelligence and reaction time and inspection time are a response to those who would dismiss intelligence tests as based on social class, or just academic book-learning.
* There is a robust association between higher intelligence test scores in early life and living longer, and having a lower risk of dying from several causes. When we look at the next studies we shall also find that, on average, people with higher childhood intelligence have a lower risk of developing various illnesses and are more likely to adopt healthier behaviours as adults.
* adjusting for childhood socio-economic status had little influence on the results, but adjusting for adult socio-economic status did reduce the intelligence–mental health associations considerably.
* There is overwhelming evidence that higher intelligence in youth is related to healthier behaviours in adulthood, lower risk of illnesses, and longer life.
* Here’s another, general warning: intelligence test scores might have some associations with things in life, but there is always a lot more to any human story than just intelligence. Intelligence is never all that matters.
Some Specifics
Some important points:
* To a substantial extent, it (intelligence) does all tend to go when it goes.
* Every correlation is positive; performing well on one of the tests tends to go with performing well on the others. There are no tests that are unrelated to any other one, that is, there are no near-to-zero correlations. There are no tests that are negatively related with other ones.
* Mental ability tests do not measure personality traits (e.g. neuroticism, extraversion, conscientiousness, and agreeableness), social adroitness, leadership, charisma, cool-headedness, altruism, or many other things that we might recognize as having individual differences.
* We are not asking whether an intelligence test score totally predicts human achievements or outcomes—it never does, or anything near it—just whether intelligence test scores have some predictive power.
* In intelligence research, there are many correlations, but few of them have adequate causal accounts. We know a lot about what goes with what, but rarely why.
* The things that people do and experience that are not shared with a sibling —even an identical twin—matter for people’s intelligence differences.
* The correlations between intelligence and reaction time and inspection time are a response to those who would dismiss intelligence tests as based on social class, or just academic book-learning.
* There is a robust association between higher intelligence test scores in early life and living longer, and having a lower risk of dying from several causes. When we look at the next studies we shall also find that, on average, people with higher childhood intelligence have a lower risk of developing various illnesses and are more likely to adopt healthier behaviours as adults.
* adjusting for childhood socio-economic status had little influence on the results, but adjusting for adult socio-economic status did reduce the intelligence–mental health associations considerably.
* There is overwhelming evidence that higher intelligence in youth is related to healthier behaviours in adulthood, lower risk of illnesses, and longer life.
* Here’s another, general warning: intelligence test scores might have some associations with things in life, but there is always a lot more to any human story than just intelligence. Intelligence is never all that matters.
Some Specifics
August 30, 2020
I read the first edition (2001) in 2018. I read the second edition (2020) in 2020 and I highly recommend it, as the first edition is getting out of date. While many unanswered questions remain in the field of human intelligence (such as how to explain and interpret the puzzling Flynn effect), Deary's second edition presents many updated findings. In particular, two new areas of research have emerged since the first edition: Cognitive epidemiology (the correlation of IQ with better health outcomes) and Genome-wide association study (GWAS) (a tool for identifying many hundreds if not thousands of gene variants each making tiny contributions to variations in intelligence between individuals). GWAS represents a substantial breakthrough in intelligence research, because scientists no longer have to merely infer genetic influence from sibling/twin/adoptee studies - they can identify (some of) the relevant genetic variations.
The second edition brings this Very Short Introduction up to date with other recent books in the field such as Intelligence: All That Matters (2016) and Blueprint: How DNA Makes Us Who We Are (2019).
Deary again largely sidesteps the incendiary issue of race differences in intelligence - which is unsurprising as he likely understands it to be career suicide. He does, however, discuss sex differences in intelligence. This seems to be somewhat less hysteria-inducing since there is strong evidence for no difference in average intelligence between the sexes, although men appear to show more variation than women. This has the effect of making both idiots and geniuses slightly more numerous among men than women, although of course Deary does not use the term "idiot" since it's been thoroughly euphemism treadmilled by now. The equally old term "genius" is apparently still politically correct, perhaps because being a desirable trait makes the term difficult to stigmatize.
But even if there were no group differences in average intelligence, we would still be left with the vastly greater individual variations. For people on the disadvantaged end of the bell curve of intelligence, their measurably higher probabilities of poorer life outcomes (in physical, mental, social, and economic well-being) are not diminished by the average for whatever group they may identify with. Thus it's hard for me to understand what distress or comfort anyone could draw from the average intelligence for their group being more or less different from that of another group. By analogy, if you are tall or short, you do not become taller or shorter as a function of the average height of your group. To the extent that your height matters, it matters by itself.
The second edition brings this Very Short Introduction up to date with other recent books in the field such as Intelligence: All That Matters (2016) and Blueprint: How DNA Makes Us Who We Are (2019).
Deary again largely sidesteps the incendiary issue of race differences in intelligence - which is unsurprising as he likely understands it to be career suicide. He does, however, discuss sex differences in intelligence. This seems to be somewhat less hysteria-inducing since there is strong evidence for no difference in average intelligence between the sexes, although men appear to show more variation than women. This has the effect of making both idiots and geniuses slightly more numerous among men than women, although of course Deary does not use the term "idiot" since it's been thoroughly euphemism treadmilled by now. The equally old term "genius" is apparently still politically correct, perhaps because being a desirable trait makes the term difficult to stigmatize.
But even if there were no group differences in average intelligence, we would still be left with the vastly greater individual variations. For people on the disadvantaged end of the bell curve of intelligence, their measurably higher probabilities of poorer life outcomes (in physical, mental, social, and economic well-being) are not diminished by the average for whatever group they may identify with. Thus it's hard for me to understand what distress or comfort anyone could draw from the average intelligence for their group being more or less different from that of another group. By analogy, if you are tall or short, you do not become taller or shorter as a function of the average height of your group. To the extent that your height matters, it matters by itself.
June 11, 2020
This is my first "very short introduction" book that I've read, with many more on my to-read shelf. I'm conflicted because a) I myself did not find it at all enlightening; I knew all the information already. But I'm also majoring in psychology, so I've had more than a "short" introduction into intelligence and related areas. But b) I assume this is supposed to be written for the layman reader, as sparse and accessible as possible, and yet there were terms in there that the general reader probably doesn't know, and they weren't explained. Deary does a decent job in certain spots describing studies and explaining results and then providing a more "plain English" version, but I feel like sometimes he gets so into his subject he forgets the audience he's writing for and the tone becomes a bit elevated. The ideal reader thus feels like someone who is in university but has not had much exposure to the psychology field, which is a fair size population but still rather exclusive when the intention (I thought, anyway) is to introduce a reader completely unfamiliar with the subject.
While it is a tiny book, it is still 121 pages and very dense with text, so it's not exactly "short" in terms of the amount of reading or time spent reading. It is short in the sense that Deary discusses one study per chapter, generally, and gives facts and findings without much backstory, so it's essentially the Cole's Notes of intelligence research, which is what it's intended to be, really. He does provide many resources for interested readers to follow up anything that strikes their interest, but this is essentially an appetizer in that it tells you very little about intelligence or the study of it; just enough to (hopefully) whet your appetite to search out more information elsewhere.
While it is a tiny book, it is still 121 pages and very dense with text, so it's not exactly "short" in terms of the amount of reading or time spent reading. It is short in the sense that Deary discusses one study per chapter, generally, and gives facts and findings without much backstory, so it's essentially the Cole's Notes of intelligence research, which is what it's intended to be, really. He does provide many resources for interested readers to follow up anything that strikes their interest, but this is essentially an appetizer in that it tells you very little about intelligence or the study of it; just enough to (hopefully) whet your appetite to search out more information elsewhere.
February 16, 2019
Did it for me.
Good enough introduction for an outsider to the academic study of intelligence.
Deary went about the explanation of all experiments and their “datasets” concisely.
It’s clear from writing that there isn’t(or wasn’t - it’s a 2001 book) that much of a consensus on matters concerning Intelligence, but it made for good reading with a number of really interesting insights: the growth in the correlation between genetics and IQ with age, the lapses with ‘IQ’, graphology (haha, this was a good one), the Flynn effect and the diverse ensuing explanations for it, etc.
My opinion: the Flynn effect really isn’t a thing.
Anyway, best parts of the book for me were all of the experiments and how Deary beat them down. I absolutely loved that. If anything, I’ve left the book with the feeling that cognitive psychology and neuroscience are more exciting IN PRACTICE that I’d previously thought.
My next book on the series will Brain: A Very Short Introduction.
Fingers crossed, it’s just as engrossing as this was.
Good enough introduction for an outsider to the academic study of intelligence.
Deary went about the explanation of all experiments and their “datasets” concisely.
It’s clear from writing that there isn’t(or wasn’t - it’s a 2001 book) that much of a consensus on matters concerning Intelligence, but it made for good reading with a number of really interesting insights: the growth in the correlation between genetics and IQ with age, the lapses with ‘IQ’, graphology (haha, this was a good one), the Flynn effect and the diverse ensuing explanations for it, etc.
My opinion: the Flynn effect really isn’t a thing.
Anyway, best parts of the book for me were all of the experiments and how Deary beat them down. I absolutely loved that. If anything, I’ve left the book with the feeling that cognitive psychology and neuroscience are more exciting IN PRACTICE that I’d previously thought.
My next book on the series will Brain: A Very Short Introduction.
Fingers crossed, it’s just as engrossing as this was.
November 1, 2020
Questa catena di libri è una droga.
Ti fa venire voglia di sapere sempre di più, ti pone domande, ti fa riflettere. E tutto questo su tematiche complesse, ma con un linguaggio che ti permette di comprendere.
L’intelligenza penso sia un tema affascinante per tutti e quanto ancora non è dato sapere! Leggendo, pensi a quando tra tantissimi anni troveranno delle risposte e tu vorresti solo esserci, per conoscere di quelle scoperte scientifiche.
Il libro è strutturato in modo molto efficiente; riprende certi concetti per farti seguire il filo del discorso e contiene anche figure esplicative dei diversi esperimenti condotti.
È, ovviamente e come da titolo, una introduzione, ma è questa la sua forza: ti stimola, ti lascia una bibliografia che puoi approfondire, ti “apre la mente” e la riempie di domande, come: quali sono le implicazioni etiche? Come relazionare tutto ciò alla intelligenza emotiva? E ancora tante altre. Avrei voluto che fosse più approfondito il discorso sulle diverse abilità, ma alla fine questo mi spingerà a altre ricerche.
Lettura fantastica.
Ti fa venire voglia di sapere sempre di più, ti pone domande, ti fa riflettere. E tutto questo su tematiche complesse, ma con un linguaggio che ti permette di comprendere.
L’intelligenza penso sia un tema affascinante per tutti e quanto ancora non è dato sapere! Leggendo, pensi a quando tra tantissimi anni troveranno delle risposte e tu vorresti solo esserci, per conoscere di quelle scoperte scientifiche.
Il libro è strutturato in modo molto efficiente; riprende certi concetti per farti seguire il filo del discorso e contiene anche figure esplicative dei diversi esperimenti condotti.
È, ovviamente e come da titolo, una introduzione, ma è questa la sua forza: ti stimola, ti lascia una bibliografia che puoi approfondire, ti “apre la mente” e la riempie di domande, come: quali sono le implicazioni etiche? Come relazionare tutto ciò alla intelligenza emotiva? E ancora tante altre. Avrei voluto che fosse più approfondito il discorso sulle diverse abilità, ma alla fine questo mi spingerà a altre ricerche.
Lettura fantastica.
June 30, 2017
This is an excellently written book regarding the structure, simplicity and the approach to the content. the book discuss several questions related to intelligence by summarizing key research results. I like it when I read a book written by researchers. They know how to approach, view and discuss the questions. The only problem with this book is it is old.
Very interesting finding reported in this book, is that genetics influences intelligence more than enviroment. Another one is that successive generations gain more intelligence than their previous ones.
There are so many things not know about how the brain works and about intelligence, yet this book still provides a scientific approach to understand what research has been done on this matter. The thing is, and the author admits, is that quantifying intelligence using IQ test is not enough to predict all human brain qualities. for example, wisdom and creativity cant be tested so far.
Very interesting finding reported in this book, is that genetics influences intelligence more than enviroment. Another one is that successive generations gain more intelligence than their previous ones.
There are so many things not know about how the brain works and about intelligence, yet this book still provides a scientific approach to understand what research has been done on this matter. The thing is, and the author admits, is that quantifying intelligence using IQ test is not enough to predict all human brain qualities. for example, wisdom and creativity cant be tested so far.
October 24, 2017
A good VSI. The book starts with the types of Intelligence, how our mind work correlate and associate things, shapes, patterns... giving different types of general intelligence. Try to discuss what happens to this computing machine as it grow older. Try to solve the origin of intelligence and its different levels. And Is it increasing generation after generation ?
The different studies, research and data-sets were very interesting plus what are they trying to do right now and it gives a set of books or research to follow up each area.
I think it is a very good book, well organized and researched and better than many books in this series, maybe one of the best so far.
It is certainly true that intelligence test were used inappropriately and over-zealously at time during the 20th century, and to the exclusion of other important human characteristics.
The different studies, research and data-sets were very interesting plus what are they trying to do right now and it gives a set of books or research to follow up each area.
I think it is a very good book, well organized and researched and better than many books in this series, maybe one of the best so far.
July 16, 2018
"This Very Short Introduction takes readers from no knowledge about the science of human intelligence to a stage where they are able to make judgements for themselves about some of the key questions about human mental ability differences. Each chapter deals with a central issue that is both scientifically lively and of considerable general interest, and is structured around a diagram which is explained in the course of the chapter. The issues discussed include whether there are several different types of intelligence, whether intelligence differences are caused by genes or the environment, the biological basis of intelligence differences, and whether intelligence declines or increases as we grow older."
January 4, 2021
A really good read on what we know about this elusive concept and how it relates to life outcomes. Deary is not some rando, but a psychologist with 100,000+ citations and he writes a succinct summary of what we know and we don't know.
In short, IQ measures something like intelligence and this measure alone is useful in helping predict life outcomes. For example, it's as good as the best interviews a company can make before hiring, but administering a short test is much cheaper than that.
It's also reassuring for parents who fret over it: after genetics, the unique environment that siblings do not share (so not the family and upbringing) is the next big predictor, and upbringing seems to be almost non-correlated.
In short, IQ measures something like intelligence and this measure alone is useful in helping predict life outcomes. For example, it's as good as the best interviews a company can make before hiring, but administering a short test is much cheaper than that.
It's also reassuring for parents who fret over it: after genetics, the unique environment that siblings do not share (so not the family and upbringing) is the next big predictor, and upbringing seems to be almost non-correlated.
March 29, 2020
Intelligence research is the "hardest" and most scientific of all the sub-discipline within psychology. I.e. the largest samples sizes, most solid replicated findings and best most cross culturally validated findings, using multiple methods (surveys, twin studies/adoption studies, fMRI, GWAS etc).
With so rock solid foundations, why is it still such a controversial topic?
Ian J. Deary sums up 120 years of intelligence research by answering 10 of the most common and basic questions on human intelligence. Very clear, authoritative and well written.
With so rock solid foundations, why is it still such a controversial topic?
Ian J. Deary sums up 120 years of intelligence research by answering 10 of the most common and basic questions on human intelligence. Very clear, authoritative and well written.
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