Horror stories abound of colleges closed, faculty laid off, and liberal arts programs terminated. Families express concern about costs, students worry about debt, and society appears skeptical about whether a college education is worth it. In many of these reports, colleges and universities are to blame for their own failures. Academic programs…

This commentary documents errors in the statistical analyses and interpretation of empirical evidence in "The Bell Curve" by R. Herrnstein and C. Murray (1994). "The Bell Curve" neglects the role of education and grossly overstates the case for IQ as a determinant of social success. (SLD)

Artificial Intelligence researchers and cognitive scientists commonly believe that thinking involves manipulating representations. Thinking involves search, inference, and making choices. This is how we model reasoning and what goes on in the brain is similar. Winograd and Flores present a radically different view, claiming that our knowledge is…

The two key theoretical propositions of "Practical Intelligence in Everyday Life" are made plausible only if one ignores considerable evidence contradicting them. The six key empirical claims rest primarily on the illusion of evidence enhanced by selective reporting of results. (SLD)

Makes the case that the arguments of F. Schmidt and J. Hunter in favor of the correction for attenuation in theory testing are based on mistaken assumptions. Outlines arguments against the routine use of correction for attenuation, focusing on the relationship between true scores and construct scores. (SLD)

"The Bell Curve" by Richard Herrnstein and Charles E. Murray has created a great deal of controversy because of its assertion that the key to explaining inequality and social problems in the United States is stratification by a unitary entity called intelligence, or cognitive ability, as measured by the intelligence quotient (IQ). Their…

Responds to issues raised by R. Sternberg in his response to commentary on the Sternberg Triarchic Abilities Test. Presents a synopsis of the conclusions that should have been derived from data obtained by Sternberg and his colleagues about the construct validity of the measure. (SLD)

Discusses the research program construct validating the triarchic theory of successful intelligence and discusses objections raised to the triarchic theory and the criticisms of L. Gottfredson. (SLD)

Comments that R. Sternberg does not address criticisms previously made by L. Gottfredson, but rather discusses his theory of successful intelligence and answers only self-posed objections from unspecified critics. (SLD)

Comments on the other papers in this theme issue and presents a speculative account of inspection time (IT). IT is viewed as an index of core information-processing ability that has a causal influence on the development of complex intellectual skills. (Author/SLD)

This biography explores the many scientific interests and contributions of Francis Galton and outlines his psychological studies as a "detour" from his major works that lasted from 1877 to 1885. Galton's interest in heredity was a focus of the second half of his life, the first having concentrated on geography and exploration. (SLD)

This new edition of one of the classic works of psychology highlights the achievements of this pioneer in the study of intelligence and child development. (SLD)

This paper reviews the book "The Bell Curve" by Harvard psychologist Richard J. Herrnstein and political scientist Charles Alan Murray. The paper asserts as the book's main points and implications: (1) one's socioeconomic place in life is now determined by IQ rather than family wealth and influence; (2) ruling white elites, who have…

Few books have generated as much controversy as the recently published "The Bell Curve: Intelligence and Class Structure in American Life." The tremendous polarization on the issue of the relationship between intelligence quotient (IQ) to race and social class, reinforced by the book, and the potential this book has for undermining…

Collection of reviews of the controversial book "The Bell Curve" includes an annotated bibliography of 36 reviews in professional journals, edited books, and the popular press; a critique of the book's statistical appendixes; comments from John Goodlad, Howard Gardner, and others; discussion of heritability estimates; and summaries of a…