This article describes a continuum of definitions of giftedness from conservative to liberal and discusses how these definitions relate to the development of the 3-ring conception of giftedness. In this definition, above average ability, task commitment, and creativity are seen as 3 interactive clusters of traits that gifted students may exhibit.…

From its beginning, the United States has been a multiracial society, and from the beginning relations between and among the races have been strained by cultural, economic, social, political, and psychological conflicts. Social psychology came of age in the early 1900's as a disciplined inquiry into the psycho-social problems of the people, and…

Research from the late 1960's to 1974 reveals that early sex role socialization affects the intellectual achievement and career choices of women. Whereas preschool girls test as well or somewhat better than boys on various intelligence measures, high school boys test higher in general intelligence, and number, spatial, and analytic ability. One…

Seeing intelligence as neither strongly hereditary nor necessarily stable over time, and accepting the notion that it is a significant determinant of future occupational status, liberal psychologists and educators rely on the intervention of social institutions, primarily the school. The liberal view toward testing and intelligence is discussed.…

In this response to the critiques by Jensen and McVicker Hunt, we focus on the meaning of g, the permanence of effects produced by early education, and the educational significance of IQ gains produced by early education programs. New longitudinal data from our study presented. (Author/RD)

This paper is intended to aid interpretation of intelligence tests in light of neurological findings and to suggest future test designs which would reflect cerebral hemisphere specialization. The need is emphasized for improved measures of right brain functioning, especially for Blacks, who exhibit some degree of right hemisphere preference. (SJL)

Explanations of differences in IQs of Northern and Southern Blacks focus on selective migration (hereditarians) or environmental causes such as education, discrimination and cultural deprivation. In this paper the environmentalist position is questioned and certain neglected features of Lee's data are construed as providing strong evidence for…

Commentary on "The Bell Curve." Points out that Herrnstein and Murray do not acknowledge their politically conservative funding sources. Discusses bias and inadequacies of IQ tests, lack of evidence of intergenerational reproduction of occupational classes, current underemployment of highly educated people, and the authors'…

"The Bell Curve" claims that most human differences and almost all social injustices can be traced to intelligence, and that distribution of intelligence should influence distribution of educational resources to allow students to find their proper and inevitable place in society. Applied to educational policy, this vision of the world…

The relative influence of scholastic achievement, intelligence, athletic ability, and ethnic origin on the formation of friendships among pupils in two Israel elementary schools was explored. The most important factor was found to be similar academic achievement, followed by intelligence and athletic achievement. (Authors/PP)

An approach to intelligence which emphasizes domain-specific constraints on knowledge structures is compared to information processing approaches. The evaluation of any cognitive ability as being intelligent crucially depends on prior specification of the formal constraints on the domains of knowledge from which that ability originates. (Author/RD)

R. Herrnstein and C. Murray, in "The Bell Curve," stated six propositions concerning a "g" factor of intelligence. These propositions are found to be reasonably well supported in the scientific literature. These conclusions can be reached whether or not one accepts Herrnstein and Murray's claims about the social significance of…

Reviews controversies over intelligence and intelligence testing, focusing on impacts on Canadian society in the past century. Discusses eugenics movements and related immigration policies. Suggests that both "tails" of "The Bell Curve" (cognitive elite and underclass) are influenced by inaccurate methods, and that the middle…

Calls for careful but unemotional criticism of "The Bell Curve." Notes that: three chapters that deal with the IQ-race relationship have received most critical attention; genetically based racial categories do not exist; disadvantaged minority-group students have achieved success in Catholic schools with high expectations of students;…

The third edition of the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children (WISC-III) is reviewed. A comparison of the WISC-III with the Weschler Intelligence Scale for Children-Revised (WISC-R) is included. Discusses shortcomings of the WISC-III while noting that overall, there are substantial improvements in the WISC-III over the WISC-R. (KW)