Book Review: g, Jensen, and the Science of Mental Ability.

Reviews the book "The scientific study of general intelligence: Tribute to Arthur R. Jensen" edited by H. Nyborg (2003). The book's first section is comprised of only one chapter, authored by the late John B. Carroll. In it, he re-analyzes Woodcock-Johnson-R Cognitive and Achievement data sets, and defends the psychometric argument for g--namely that it pervades almost all tests that measure cognitive ability and is the main cause for these tests' positive correlations with each other. The next section, entitled the "Biology of g," concentrates on the neurological and genetic correlates of g, but also houses two chapters on mental chronometry. Two chapters deal with the once controversial topic of brain size and g, a topic Jensen has meticulously researched and authored. The third section of this book deals with the most controversial aspect of Jensen's work, that of group differences. The book's next section concentrates on how g is a part of everyday life. The penultimate section deals with various reservations about g. The last two chapters on g are thoughts on why people ignore the concept of g. The reviewer notes that most of the chapters are well-written, supported with data, easy to follow, and make significant contributions to the literature. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of Feminist visions of gender similarities and differences.

Reviews the book, Feminist visions of gender similarities and differences by Meredith M. Kimball (see record 1995-99017-000). One purpose of the author in writing this book is to explore a central schism within feminist psychology, a schism that bifurcates the feminist psychology community. On the one hand, we have the minimalists, those who argue that the differences between the genders are nonexistent or are modest and irrelevant in most contexts. These are the equal-rights feminists, adherents of the similarities school. On the other hand, we find the maximalists who contend that indeed the genders are quite different on many dimensions and that the qualities of women are important, significant and of value. These are the essentialists, disciples of the differences school. In fleshing out the nature of these two perspectives, Professor Kimball observes the extent of the impact of each view in terms of influencing questions asked, methodologies chosen, theories preferred, and political goals articulated. In her typically even-handed treatment of issues, Kimball also presents the deficiencies of each approach. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of The uncertain mind: Individual differences in facing the unknown.

Reviews the book, The uncertain mind: Individual differences in facing the unknown by Richard M. Sorrentino and Christopher J. R. Roney (see record 2000-07377-000). The book under review is located within an important intellectual tradition in psychology, one that speaks to something about human nature. Sorrentino and Roney approach this topic through the study of individual differences in whether people seek out certainty or uncertainty in their lives. While some of us find meaning in terms of the familiar and predictable, others search for meaning in the novel uncertainties of life. This scholarly monograph describes a 15-year program of research, theoretically grounded in both earlier paradigms (e.g., Atkinson's motivational model) and contemporary social cognition. This monograph merits attention by researchers and students interested in social cognition, individual differences, and societal change. The writing is technical, and one would wish for chapter summaries. However, the book is clearly written, well-organized and at times thought-provoking; it is well worth the effort. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Individual differences in rate of affect change: Studies in affective chronometry.

Three studies explored individual differences in rate of affect change. Participants watched affect-inducing videos and reported their affect twice in 20 min. Individual differences in rate of affect change emerged independently of initial affect intensity and stress appraisals, revealing 2 affect-change profiles. Positive affect augmenters (extraverts, emotionally stable participants, and those with high negative mood regulation expectancies) showed slow rates of positive and rapid rates of negative affect decay. Negative affect augmenters (introverts, neurotics, and participants with low negative mood regulation expectancies) showed slow rates of negative and rapid rates of positive affect decay. These findings expand the literature on affective style, have adaptational implications, and highlight future research directions. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of Discovering connections: A guide to the fun of bridging disability differences and Connecting kids: Exploring diversity together.

Reviews the books, Discovering connections: A guide to the fun bridging disability differences (1998) and Connecting kids: Exploring diversity together by Linda D. Hill (2001). These two books share a common theme: both provide practical solutions for bridging diversity gaps. The books are meant for anyone who wants to build inclusive groups of adults or children - professionals, volunteers, parents, people with disabilities, and family members and friends of people with disabilities. Discovering Connections provides a template to facilitate a group of adults from diverse backgrounds in the formation of an inclusive, cohesive group. There are 20 sessions organized around 10 themes, each with an armchair activity and a community connection idea. Each theme, in turn, is linked to two connecting skills. Connecting Kids is a "travel guide" for increasing diversity in children's groups. A set of 20 skills is presented, along with activity suggestions for cooperative games, creative activities, and nature experiences. These activities are designed to build social skills within a safe, inclusive environment and to help children respect and value individual differences. Those who are searching for practical suggestions and activities for creating inclusive groups of adults or children will likely find these books a useful addition to their resource library. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of Consistency in Social Behavior: The Ontario Symposium (Vol. 2).

Reviews the book, Consistency in Social Behavior: The Ontario Symposium (Vol. 2), edited by Mark P. Zanna, E. Tory Higgins, and C. Peter Herman (1982). The volume has two major foci: the consistency of the individual's behaviour in different situations, and the consistency between people's attitudes and their behaviour. These issues have been classic concerns, respectively, of personality and social psychologists. Once upon a time, we as psychologists naively assumed the existence of both forms of consistency. But in the last two decades our faith has been shaken. For the most part, the participants in the Second Ontario Symposium help to restore our faith. But, in doing so, they provide a more sophisticated, qualified view of consistency. In conclusion, this set of papers is a record of, and a testimonial to, the success of the Second Ontario Symposium on Personality and Social Psychology. It is the present reviewer's hope that this biannual event will be continued in the years ahead. Clearly, the Second Symposium was worth the effort involved! (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of The IQ game: A methodological inquiry into the heredity-environment controversy and Intelligence, Heredity and Environment.

Reviews the books, The IQ Game. A Methodological Inquiry into the Heredity-Environment Controversy by Howard F. Taylor (1980); and Intelligence, Heredity and Environment by Philip E. Vernon (1979). A fundamental issue in psychology is the relation between differences in heredity and differences in human behaviour and mental characteristics. The history of vigorous debate on this question is ancient, and two recent books show that it is far from being resolved. The approaches and conclusions by the two authors are so different that they are best presented as a study of contrasts. In doing so, I have chosen three specific topics for discussion which are addressed explicitly by both authors. Taylor reviews Burt's publications as well as critiques by Kamin (1974), Dorfman (1978), Hearnshaw (1979) and others, concluding that the data 'obviously cannot be used in this analysis.' Vernon, on the other hand, reprints many of Burt's correlations for IQ scores of relatives in several tables and relies heavily on Sir Cyril's analyses. He notes there are reasons to doubt the accuracy of some of the figures, but he vigorously defends Burt against charges of fraud and accuses Leon Kamin, who first exposed Sir Cyril, of being 'a good deal more one-sided than Burt.' Both authors make extensive use of the concept of 'heritability,' but only Taylor explains it clearly and correctly. Of these two books, only the one by Taylor adds anything positive to the extensive discussions of heredity and intelligence during the last decade. The IQ Game is a major contribution, being thorough, critical and thought-provoking. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of How the mind works.

Reviews the book, How the mind works by Steven Pinker (see record 1997-30233-000). In this book, the author writes with optimism and excitement about recent progress in psychology, but with despair about the human condition. The scope of the book is stated briefly: "I will try to explain what the mind is, where it came from, and how it lets us see, think, feel, interact, and pursue higher callings like art, religion, and philosophy" (p. 3). The reader will be disappointed in many of these explanations: the book dwells on the already-expansive topics of what the mind is, and where it came from. As for the rest, we are told that humans have innate knowledge of optics, logic, mathematics, physics, botany (p. 377), and even psychology (p. 329). (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of Foundations of Experimental Research.

Reviews the book, Foundations of Experimental Research by Robert Plutchik (1968). The reviewer was impressed with the scope, aim, and concept of this book. The author appears to have synthesized, in many cases, the best of what is found in McGuigan's "Experimental Psychology", Underwood's second edition of "Experimental Psychology" and the more advanced text, "Introduction to Psychological Research", by Scott and Wertheimer. In comparison with other books of its level in the field, the book by Plutchik would be certainly recommended. It has failings, but far fewer than most other books that are competitive with it. It is short enough so that where these weaknesses are found, supplementary material can be used in the course. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of Madhouse and The Lobotomist.

Reviews the books, Madhouse: A Tragic Tale of Megalomania and Modern Medicine by Andrew Scull (see record 2005-06776-000); and The Lobotomist: A Maverick Medical Genius and His Tragic Quest to Rid the World of Mental Illness by Jack El-Hai (see record 2005-02343-000). In both books, the history of experimental clinical psychiatry is laid bare with devastating accounts of the efforts to conquer mental illness by any means necessary. Both books are fascinating reading and may illuminate our current context in which the biological avenues for treating mental disorders continue to traffic in hopes of a one-size-fits-all cure, while psychoanalysis ambivalently struggles with how to conduct rigorous research to demonstrate the efficacy of our treatment. Andrew Scull's book Madhouse offers a well-documented historical account of a bizarre episode in American psychiatric history. The centerpiece of Scull's investigative work is Henry Cotton, MD, the superintendent of the Trenton State Hospital in Trenton, New Jersey, from 1907-1930. Once Cotton arrived at Trenton, he was appalled by the conditions he found and instituted reforms such as eliminating the culture of violence by attendants, removing over 700 pieces of restraining equipment from the hospital, and introducing occupational therapy. Jack El-Hai gives us the next segment of psychiatric surgery in his book The Lobotomist, a biography of the neurologist, turned surgical outlaw, Walter Freeman, MD. Walter Freeman was a neurologist fascinated with science and experimentation. Settling into work at St. Elizabeth's hospital in Washington, DC, in 1924, Freeman eventually joined the faculty of George Washington University where he remained until 1954. At that time neurosyphilis was the scourge of mental hospitals producing thousands of victims who were totally disabled by the neurological sequellae of tertiary illness. Thus lobotomy became an efficient outpatient procedure that could be applied to a larger patient population. Both of these books are important reading. Of all the great medical advances of the last century, surely the one that stands out as perhaps the greatest is the Nuremberg Code of 1947, which requires a competent patient giving informed consent to treatment and to research efforts. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of Abnormal psychology perspectives.

Reviews the book, Abnormal psychology perspectives by William L. Marshall and Philip Firestone (1999). Marshall and Firestone have chosen to construct an edited text, using Canadian experts for each of the 19 chapters. Aside from the fact that Abnormal Psychology Perspectives is a top notch text, the quality of materials provided for instructors is also excellent. For each chapter, the instructor's manual provides a summary, major issues and key points, resources for lecture material, as well as suggested topics for classroom discussion. There is a hard copy and computerized test bank containing approximately 1,900 multiple-choice and essay questions. A separate study guide is available that will assist students to organize chapters, focus on key concepts, and provide an opportunity to practice answering multiple-choice questions or questions that require short answers, such as filling in missing terms. This is an excellent abnormal psychology textbook, which was constructed with the Canadian mental health context at its core. It is long overdue and has set a standard against which future texts should be measured. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of The mind in context.

Reviews the book, The mind in context edited by Batja Mesquita, et al. (see record 2010-09987-000). The purpose of this edited volume is to challenge a predominant tendency toward an error of essentialism, or the attempt to explain psychological phenomena in terms of internal, static mental entities that are independent of and seemingly hermetically sealed from the outside world. Instead the introductory chapter of The mind in context advances the context principle: that mental processes and behaviour emerge from a profound and complex interaction between person and environment. It is important to note at the outset that a reader seeking an abstracted, sterilized, encyclopaedic list of essential elements making up this perspective would be well advised to look elsewhere. Rather, and in keeping with the theme of the book, the editors have assembled a lively collection of exemplars: chapters by prominent scholars each exploring the influence of context in a focused area of interest. The disadvantage of this approach is that the book can feel somewhat overextended. The significant advantage, however, is that the reader experiences each chapter in the context of the others, a juxtaposition that allows for the emergence of resonances, themes, and common principles across domains. In elaborating on the context principle the contributors to this book emphasise the mind’s mechanisms, situation-sensitivity, and agency over its content, permanence, and passivity. While written in large part by and for social psychologists, the volume should be of interest to any scholar fascinated by the mind’s ecological nature. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of Psychoanalysis: Freud’s cognitive psychology.

Reviews the book, Psychoanalysis: Freud’s cognitive psychology by Matthew Hugh Erdelyi (see record 1985-97974-000). Few psychoanalytic clinicians or experimental psychologists ever bother to develop a historical or meta-theoretical perspective on their discipline, or pause to ponder the obstacles encountered and avenues taken or ignored en route to a synthesis between psychoanalytic, experimental and cognitive psychology. For those who have already pondered these issues somewhat, Erdelyi's book is a positive pleasure, full of penetrating insights, programmatic suggestions and astute historical reflections. For those new to the area, it is the best available introduction to the field, grounded, as it is, in a fluent grasp of the various methods and models of unconscious mental processes in these increasingly convergent fields of inquiry. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of Handbook of Human Engineering Data.

Reviews the second edition of the book "Handbook of human engineering data". This Handbook was developed by the Institute for Applied Experimental Psychology of Tufts College, Medford, Massachusetts, under contract with the Special Devices Center of the Office of Naval Research. Work on it was begun in 1947. To many nonpsychologists the Handbook provides the means whereby they first become aware of the broad panorama of scientific concern with man in a nonclinical sense. This reviewer also believes there should be a growing place for the Handbook in training programs throughout the country, whether in college, government, or industry. The Handbook of Human Engineering Data in the opinion of this reviewer is an important contribution which, teamed up with two other major publications in human engineering provides a strong basis for growth and effective practice in human engineering. Consequently people interested therein should have the Handbook available to them. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of Women's Mental Health: A Comprehensive Textbook.

Reviews the book, Women's Mental Health: A Comprehensive Textbook edited by Susan G. Kornstein and Anita H. Clayton (2004). The reviewer notes that this book was so helpful that I could not put it down to write a review. In my opinion, many readers, including clinicians in psychology and psychiatry, researchers, graduate students, and sophisticated undergraduates would all benefit from perusing this text and examining chapters related to specific disorders and aspects of the reproductive stages of women's lives. This book is definitely a gold mine for busy academics preparing comprehensive lectures on women's mental health issues. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of Introducing Psychology; an Experimental Approach.

Reviews the book, Psychology; an Experimental Approach by D. S. Wright, Ann Taylor, et al. (see record 1970-13650-000). British undergraduate texts in psychology have been generally poor over the years. Recent offerings suggest a change. Among these is Wright and Taylor's 736 paperback "Introducing Psychology; an Experimental Approach". This text covers in a no-nonsense way the traditional material but minus the expense of visual aid and other teaching crutches so typical of North American texts. The approach gives a good dose of structural factors in behavior. There are, for example, chapters on behavior genetics and on the autonomic nervous system. On the whole, the offering represents a refreshing change from the expensive introductory psychology "artwork" that we are accustomed to in Canada. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of The Experimental Psychology of Sensory Behaviour.

Reviews the book, The Experimental Psychology of Sensory Behaviour by John F. Corso. The evaluation of John Corso's book depends to a great extent upon the use for which it is intended. As a text for an experimental psychology course, this book unfortunately has some serious limitations. This is of considerable value for some types of courses; however, for a course in experimental psychology it would seem desirable to give students a broader range of methodologies than those used in sensory psychology. This is a good, but somewhat limited, experimental psychology text that would need considerable supplementation from other sources in order to be adequate for general experimental courses in psychology. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)