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    Physics and Our Universe: How It All Works (Transcript)
    Physics and Our Universe: How It All Works (Transcript)
    Physics and Our Universe: How It All Works (Transcript)
    Ebook1,201 pages25 hours

    Physics and Our Universe: How It All Works (Transcript)

    By Richard Wolfson

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    About this ebook

    Physics and Our Universe: How It All Works is the companion book to the audio/video series of the same name. It contains a full transcript of the series as well as the complete course guidebook which includes lecture notes, bibliography, and more.

    About this series:

    No feature of the mind is as important, controversial, and mysterious as intelligence. It is one of the brain's highest-order activities, allowing us to navigate the complexities of everyday life—thinking, remembering, planning, learning, organizing, solving problems, making snap judgments, and pondering difficult decisions. It is the epitome of brain function, and it has a powerful influence on success in life. And thanks to decades of research, we are closer than ever before to understanding it.

    Although many aspects of intelligence remain puzzling, researchers are now on their way to a detailed scientific explanation of what defines intelligence, where it comes from, and how it operates in the brain. Few fields of psychology are as crucial to the lives of people or the social policies of nations. An understanding of how the brain produces intelligence sheds light on questions such as these:

    What's right and what's wrong with IQ tests?
    Can intelligence be measured directly from the brain?
    Can education or brain training enhance intelligence in children or adults?
    Is intelligence constrained by genes?
    What is the connection between intelligence and creativity?
    The answers to these questions help determine policy decisions in education, employment, health care, and other fields. They also govern personal choices about how we want to lead our lives and raise our children. For example, is it realistic to gauge school success largely by rising test scores? Are everyday tools such as electronic devices unnecessarily complicated for most people to use? Or suppose a pill were available that could raise IQ. Would you take it? Would you allow your school-age children to take it?

    The Intelligent Brain plunges you into a myriad of thought-provoking issues such as these in 18 stimulating half-hour lectures taught by Professor Richard J. Haier of the University of California, Irvine. Professor Haier is one of the world's foremost researchers on intelligence and a pioneer in the use of brain imaging technology to explore the workings of the human intellect.

    Testing Intelligence

    The modern history of intelligence research began with attempts to measure the differences that separate cognitively normal children from “abnormal” children. This was the origin of the first IQ test, designed by French psychologist Alfred Binet in the early 20th century. The Intelligent Brain traces the fascinating history of intelligence testing and its leading thinkers and their ideas, including the following:

    g factor: First described by psychologist Charles Spearman over 100 years ago, g is the conjectured general factor of intelligence and is widely used today in research. It is not the same as IQ, which can be influenced by social and cultural factors, whereas g is thought to be largely innate.
    Flynn effect: Challenging the idea of an innate g factor is James R. Flynn's research showing that average intelligence test scores have risen faster than can be explained by evolution. Critics contend that better education and test-taking skills help explain the increase, while leaving g relatively unchanged.
    Multiple intelligences: Howard Gardner's theory of multiple intelligences holds that instead of a single g factor there are diverse independent abilities—from facility with language to interpersonal skills. But if such abilities are not independent, is this evidence for the g model?
    Arthur Jensen: The most infamous article in the history of psychology was written by Arthur Jensen, a prolific intelligence researcher. Professor Haier shows how Jensen's work on g factor differences among groups led to widespread criticism about the nature of intelligence.
    While most of us are familiar with tests
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherThe Great Courses
    Release dateSep 30, 2011
    ISBN9781598037722
    Physics and Our Universe: How It All Works (Transcript)

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