Intelligence and How to Get It: Why Schools and Cultures Count

by Richard Nisbett, Mariya Kul'neva (Translator)

Overview

About how the environment affects the intellectual capabilities of a person. Under the environment, the author understands not only the people around him on the street, neighbors and friends. He prioritizes the education we receive in schools and universities, their role in shaping this environment.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9785001393061
Publisher:	Alpina Non Fiction
Publication date:	05/03/2023
Sold by:	Bookwire
Format:	eBook
Pages:	344
File size:	2 MB
Language:	Russian

About the Author

Richard E. Nisbett is Theodore M. Newcomb Distinguished University Professor of Psychology at the University of Michigan and Research Professor at Michigan’s Institute for Social Research. He has taught courses in social psychology, cultural psychology, cognitive psychology, and evolutionary psychology. His research focuses on how people from different cultures think, perceive, feel, and act in different ways. He is the recipient of the Distinguished Scientific Contribution Award of the American Psychological Association and the William James Fellow Award of the American Psychological Society and is a member of the National Academy of Sciences and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

Editorial Reviews

That genetics determines intelligence has become a mantra for millions of Americans. Social psychologist Richard E. Nisbett, however, refuses to accept what he regards as a simplistic explanation for a much more complex reality. In Intelligence and How to Get It, he shows how narrow genetic explanations ignore the dominant shaping forces of culture, economics, and education. His refutation of arguments that intellect is essentially an accident of birth will provide encouragement for educators, parents, and citizens dedicated to social reform.

In Intelligence and How to Get It, [Nisbett] offers a meticulous and eye-opening critique of hereditarianism. True to its self-helplike title, the book does contain a few tips on how to boost your child's I.Q.…But its real value lies in Nisbett's forceful marshaling of the evidence, much of it recent, favoring what he calls "the new environmentalism," which stresses the importance of nonhereditary factors in determining I.Q. So fascinating is this evidence—drawn from neuroscience and genetics, as well as from studies of educational interventions and parenting styles—that the author's slightly academic prose style can be forgiven.
—The New York Times

Jim Holt

"A devastating and persuasive refutation of all those who believe intellectual ability is fixed at birth. Few Americans have done as much to deepen our understanding of what it means to be human. (Malcolm Gladwell, author of The Tipping Point and Blink)"

"[Nisbett’s] biggest message, largely unspoken, is one of persistence and hope. If all kids are capable of learning under the right circumstances, parents and teachers should never give up on children who appear to be low performers. Everyone has the inherent ability to be smart. (Associated Press, Dinesh Ramde)"

"If intelligence were deeply encoded in our genes, that would lead to the depressing conclusion that neither schooling nor antipoverty programs can accomplish much. Yet while this view of I.Q. as overwhelmingly inherited has been widely held, the evidence is growing that it is, at a practical level, profoundly wrong. Richard Nisbett, a professor of psychology at the University of Michigan, has just demolished this view in a superb new book, Intelligence and How to Get It, which also offers terrific advice for addressing poverty and inequality in America.... Offers terrific advice for addressing poverty.... [and] provides suggestions for transforming your own urchins into geniuses. (Nicholas D. Kristof, The New York Times)"

From the Publisher