Intelligence

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Jump to: navigation, search For "active intelligence" and its collection, see Intelligence (information gathering) and Espionage. For other uses, see Intelligence (disambiguation). "Human intelligence" redirects here. For human intelligence (HUMINT) in military and espionage contexts, see HUMINT. Intelligence is a term describing a property of the mind including related abilities, such as the capacities for abstract thought, understanding, communication, reasoning, learning, learning from past experiences, planning, and problem solving. Intelligence is most widely studied in humans, but is also observed in animals and plants. Artificial intelligence is the intelligence of machines or the simulation of intelligence in machines. Numerous definitions of and hypotheses about intelligence have been proposed since before the twentieth century, with no consensus yet reached by scholars. Within the discipline of psychology, various approaches to human intelligence have been adopted, with the psychometric approach being especially familiar to the general public. Influenced by his cousin Charles Darwin, Francis Galton was the first scientist to propose a theory of general intelligence; that intelligence is a true, biologically-based mental faculty that can be studied by measuring a person's reaction times to cognitive tasks. Galton's research in measuring the head sizes of British scientists and laymen led to the conclusion that head-size is unrelated to a person's intelligence. Alfred Binet, and the French school of intelligence, believed intelligence was an aggregate of dissimilar abilities, not a unitary entity with specific, identifiable properties. He created the Binet test with his partner simion.

Contents
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1 Definitions

2 Human intelligence

2.1 Theories of human intelligence

2.1.1 Psychometric approach

2.1.1.1 Controversies

2.1.2 Multiple intelligences 2.1.3 Triarchic theory of intelligence 2.1.4 Developmental approach 2.1.5 Emotional intelligence 2.1.6 PASS theory 2.1.7 Empirical evidence

2.2 Evolution of intelligence 2.3 Factors affecting intelligence

2.3.1 Biological 2.3.2 Environmental 2.3.3 Ethical issues

3 Animal and plant intelligence 4 Artificial intelligence 5 Intelligence in culture and arts 6 See also 7 References 8 Further reading 9 External links

Definitions

Humans have pondered the nature of intelligence for centuries. Scientists have proposed two[citation needed] major definitions of intelligence:
1. from Mainstream Science on Intelligence (1994), an editorial statement by fifty-two researchers:

A very general mental capability that, among other things, involves the ability to reason, plan, solve problems, think abstractly, comprehend complex ideas, learn quickly and learn from experience. It is not merely book learning, a narrow academic skill, or test-taking smarts. Rather, it reflects a broader and deeper capability for comprehending our surroundings"catching on," "making sense" of things, or "figuring out" what to do.[1]
2. from Intelligence: Knowns and Unknowns (1995), a report published by the Board of Scientific Affairs of the

American Psychological Association:

Individuals differ from one another in their ability to understand complex ideas, to adapt effectively to the environment, to learn from experience, to engage in various forms of reasoning, to overcome obstacles by taking thought. Although these individual differences can be substantial, they are never entirely consistent: a given person's intellectual performance will vary on different occasions, in different domains, as judged by different criteria. Concepts of "intelligence" are attempts to clarify and organize this complex set of phenomena. Although considerable clarity has been achieved in some areas, no such conceptualization has yet answered all the important questions, and none commands universal assent. Indeed, when two dozen prominent theorists were recently asked to define intelligence, they gave two dozen, somewhat different, definitions.[2][3] Besides the foregoing organizational definitions, these psychology and learning researchers also have defined intelligence as: Researcher Alfred Binet David Wechsler Cyril Burt Howard Gardner Linda Gottfredson Sternberg & Salter Reuven Feuerstein Quotation Judgment, otherwise called "good sense," "practical sense," "initiative," the faculty of adapting one's self to circumstances ... auto-critique.[4] The aggregate or global capacity of the individual to act purposefully, to think rationally, and to deal effectively with his environment.[5] Innate general cognitive ability[6] To my mind, a human intellectual competence must entail a set of skills of problem solving enabling the individual to resolve genuine problems or difficulties that he or she encounters and, when appropriate, to create an effective product and must also entail the potential for finding or creating problems and thereby laying the groundwork for the acquisition of new knowledge.[7] The ability to deal with cognitive complexity.[8] Goal-directed adaptive behavior.[9] The theory of Structural Cognitive Modifiability describes intelligence as "the unique propensity of human beings to change or modify the structure of their cognitive functioning to adapt to the changing demands of a life situation."[10]

Practical application Furthermore, in clinical and therapeutic practice, such theoretic and academic definitions of intelligence might not apply to patients with borderline intellectual and adaptive functioning, whose treatments require comprehensive analysis of every diagnostic, testing, educational placement, and psychosocial factor.

Human intelligence
Theories of human intelligence
A popular theory of intelligence is based on psychometric testing, i.e. intelligence quotient (IQ) tests;[citation needed] however, some researchers' dissatisfaction with traditional IQ tests prompted their developing alternative theories of intelligence suggesting that intelligence results from independent capabilities that uniquely contribute to human intellectual performance. Psychometric approach Main articles: Intelligence quotient, General intelligence factor, and Psychometrics

The IQs of a large enough population are calculated so that they conform[11] to a normal distribution.

Despite the variety of concepts of intelligence, the approach to understanding intelligence with the most supporters and published research over the longest period of time is based on psychometric testing. Such intelligence quotient (IQ) tests include the Stanford-Binet, Raven's Progressive Matrices, the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale and the Kaufman Assessment Battery for Children. Charles Spearman is generally credited with defining general intelligence, which he reported in his 1904 American Journal of Psychology article titled "'General Intelligence,' Objectively Determined and Measured."[12][13][14] Based on the results of a series of studies collected in Hampshire, England, Spearman concluded that there was a common function (or group of functions) across intellectual activities including what he called intelligence (i.e., school rank, which Spearman thought of as "present efficiency" in school courses; the difference between school rank and age, which was conceptualized as "native capacity;" teacher ratings; and peer ratings provided by the two oldest students, which was termed "common sense") and sensory discriminations (i.e., discrimination of pitch, brightness, and weight). This common function became known as "g" or general intelligence. To objectively determine and measure general intelligence, Spearman invented the first technique of factor analysis (the method of Tetrad Differences) as a mathematical proof of the Two-Factor Theory.[12][13][15] The factor analytic results indicated that every variable measured a common function to varying degrees, which led Spearman to develop the somewhat misleadingly named Two-Factor Theory of Intelligence.[12][15][16] The Two-Factor Theory of Intelligence holds that every test can be divided into a "g" factor and an "s" factor. The g-factor measures the "general" factor or common function among ability tests. The s-factor measures the "specific" factor unique to a particular ability test. Spearman's g-factor account for positive correlations among any cognitive ability tests. However, the necessary condition for g-factor to exist is routinely violated in correlation matrices of cognitive tests, according to the work by Peter Schnemann and others.[17]

Human intelligence
Measuring and varieties

Intelligence quotient

General intelligence factor Fluid and crystallized intelligence Cattell-Horn-Carroll theory Triarchic theory of intelligence Theory of multiple intelligences Emotional intelligence Factors associated with intelligence Environment and intelligence Evolution of human intelligence Fertility and intelligence Flynn effect Health and intelligence Height and intelligence Heritability of IQ Longevity and intelligence Nations and intelligence Neuroscience and intelligence Race and intelligence Religiosity and intelligence Sex and psychology Related

Creativity High IQ society Genius Giftedness Dysrationalia

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L.L. Thurstone extended and generalized Spearman's method of factor analysis into what is called the Centroid method and which became the basis for modern factor analysis.[16][18] Thurstone demonstrated that Spearman's one common factor method (Spearman's method yielded only a single factor) was a special case of his multiple factor analysis. Thurstone's research led him to propose a model of intelligence that included seven orthogonal (unrelated) factors (i.e., verbal comprehension, word fluency, number facility, spatial visualization, associative memory, perceptual speed and reasoning) referred to as the Primary Mental Abilities.[16][19] In a critical review of the adult testing literature, Raymond B. Cattell found that a considerable percentage of intelligence tests that purported to measure adult intellectual functioning had all of the trappings of using college students in their development.[20] To account for differences between children/adolescents and adults, which past theory did not address, Cattell proposed two types of cognitive abilities in a revision of Spearman's concept of general intelligence. Fluid intelligence (Gf) was hypothesized as the ability to discriminate and perceive relations (e.g., analogical and syllogistic reasoning), and crystallized intelligence (Gc) was hypothesized as the ability to discriminate relations that had been established originally through Gf, but no longer required the identification of the relation (commonly assessed using information or vocabulary tests). In addition, fluid intelligence was hypothesized to increase until adolescence and then to slowly decline, and crystallized intelligence increases gradually and stays relatively stable across most of adulthood until it declines in late adulthood. With his student John L. Horn, Cattell indicated that Gf and Gc were only two among several factors manifest in intelligence tests scores under the umbrella of what became known as Gf/Gc Theory.[21] General visualization (Gv; visual acuity, depth perception), general fluency (F, facility in recalling words), general speediness (Gs; performance on speeded, simple tasks) were among several cognitive ability factors added to Gf/Gc Theory. J.P. Guilford sought to more fully explore the scope of the adult intellect by providing the concept of intelligence with a strong, comprehensive theoretical backing.[22][23] The Structure-of-Intellect model (SI model) was designed as a cross classification system with intersections in the model providing the basis for abilities similar to Mendeleev's periodic table

in chemistry. The three-dimensional cubeshaped model includes five content categories (the way in which information is presented on a test; visual, auditory, symbolic, semantic, and behavioral), six operation categories (what is done on a test; evaluation, convergent production, divergent production, memory retention, memory recording, and cognition), and six product categories (the form in which information is processed on a test; units, classes, relations, systems, transformations, and implications). The intersection of three categories provides a frame of reference for generating one or more new hypothetical factors of intelligence. John B. Carroll re-analyzed 461 datasets in the single most comprehensive study of cognitive abilities.[14][24] This analysis led him to propose the Three Stratum Theory, which is a hierarchical model of intellectual functioning. The strata represent three different levels of generality over the domain of cognitive abilities. At the bottom is the first stratum, which is represented by narrow abilities that are highly specialized (e.g., induction, spelling ability). The second stratum is represented by broad abilities that include moderate specializations in various domains. Carroll identified eight second-stratum factors: fluid intelligence, crystallized intelligence, general memory and learning, broad visual perception, broad auditory perception, broad retrieval ability, broad cognitive speediness, and processing speed (reaction time decision speed). Carroll has noted the similarity of his second stratum abilities and the Gf/Gc factors, although the Three-Stratum Theory does not incorporate the developmental trajectories associated with Gf/Gc Theory. Carroll accepted Spearman's concept of general intelligence, for the most part, as a representation of the uppermost third stratum. More recently, an amalgamation of the Gf-Gc theory of Cattell and Horn with Carroll's Three-Stratum theory has led to the Cattell-Horn-Carroll (CHC) Theory of cognitive abilities.[25] CHC researchers have produced numerous studies that have influenced diagnostic issues and test development.[26] Intelligence tests are widely used in educational, business, and military settings due to their efficacy in predicting behavior. g is highly correlated with many important social outcomesindividuals with low IQs are more likely to be divorced, have a child out of marriage, be incarcerated, and need long-term welfare support, while individuals with high IQs are associated with more years of education, higher status jobs and higher income.[27] Intelligence is significantly correlated with successful training and performance outcomes, and g is the single best predictor of successful job performance.[28]
Controversies

IQ tests were originally designed to identify mentally "defective" children.[29] The inventors of the IQ did not necessarily believe they were measuring fixed intelligence.[citation needed] Despite this, critics argue that intelligence tests have been used to support nativistic theories which view intelligence as a qualitative object with a relatively fixed quantity.[30]

Critics of the psychometrics point out that intelligence is often more complex and broader in conception than what is measured by IQ tests. Furthermore, skeptics argue that even though tests of mental abilities are correlated, people still have unique strengths and weaknesses in specific areas. Consequently they argue that psychometric theorists over-emphasize g, despite the fact that g was defined so as to encompass all inter-correlated capabilities and skills. Researchers in the field of human intelligence have encountered a considerable amount of public concern and criticism much more than scientists in other areas normally receive.[citation needed] A number of critics have challenged the relevance of psychometric intelligence in the context of everyday life. There have also been controversies over genetic factors in intelligence, particularly questions regarding the relationship between race and intelligence and sex and intelligence.[31] Another controversy in the field is how to interpret the increases in test scores that have occurred over time, the so-called Flynn effect. Stephen Jay Gould was one of the most vocal critics of intelligence testing. In his book The Mismeasure of Man Gould argued that intelligence could not be quantified to a single numerical entity. He also challenged the hereditarian viewpoint on intelligence. Many of Gould's criticisms were aimed at Arthur Jensen, who responded that his work had been misrepresented.[32] Gould also investigated the methods of 19th-century craniometry. Jensen stated that drawing conclusions from early intelligence research is like condemning the auto industry by criticizing the performance of the Model T. Multiple intelligences Main article: Theory of multiple intelligences Howard Gardner's theory of multiple intelligences is based on studies not only of normal children and adults but also by studies of gifted individuals (including so-called "savants"), of persons who have suffered brain damage, of experts and virtuosos, and of individuals from diverse cultures. This led Gardner to break intelligence down into at least eight different components: logical, linguistic, spatial, musical, kinesthetic, interpersonal, intrapersonal, naturalist and existential intelligences. He argues that psychometric tests address only linguistic and logical plus some aspects of spatial intelligence. [citation needed] A major criticism of Gardner's theory is that it has never been tested, or subjected to peer review, by Gardner or anyone else, and indeed that it is unfalsifiable.[33] Triarchic theory of intelligence Main article: Triarchic theory of intelligence

Robert Sternberg proposed the triarchic theory of intelligence to provide a more comprehensive description of intellectual competence than traditional differential or cognitive theories of human ability.[34] The triarchic theory describes three fundamental aspects of intelligence. Analytic intelligence comprises the mental processes through which intelligence is expressed. Creative intelligence is necessary when an individual is confronted with a challenge that is nearly, but not entirely, novel or when an individual is engaged in automatizing the performance of a task. Practical intelligence is bound in a sociocultural milieu and involves adaptation to, selection of, and shaping of the environment to maximize fit in the context. The triarchic theory does not argue against the validity of a general intelligence factor; instead, the theory posits that general intelligence is part of analytic intelligence, and only by considering all three aspects of intelligence can the full range of intellectual functioning be fully understood. More recently, the triarchic theory has been updated and renamed the Theory of Successful Intelligence by Sternberg.[35][36] Intelligence is defined as an individual's assessment of success in life by the individual's own (idiographic) standards and within the individual's sociocultural context. Success is achieved by using combinations of analytical, creative, and practical intelligence. The three aspects of intelligence are referred to as processing skills. The processing skills are applied to the pursuit of success through what were the three elements of practical intelligence: adapting to, shaping of, and selecting of one's environments. The mechanisms that employ the processing skills to achieve success include utilizing one's strengths and compensating or correcting for one's weaknesses. Sternberg's theories and research on intelligence remain contentious within the scientific community.[37][38][39][40] Developmental approach Main articles: Cognitive development, Theory of cognitive development, and Neo-Piagetian theories of cognitive development Jean Piaget[41] was the founder of the developmental approach to the study of intelligence. According to his theory of cognitive development, intelligence is the basic mechanism of ensuring equilibrium in the relations between the person and the environment. This is achieved through the actions of the developing person on the world. At any moment in development, the environment is assimilated in the schemes of action that are already available and these schemes are transformed or accommodated to the peculiarities of the objects of the environment, if they are not completely appropriate.
[42]

Thus, the development of intelligence is a continuous process of assimilations and accommodations that lead to increasing expansion of the field of application of schemes, increasing coordination between them, increasing interiorization, and

increasing abstraction. Piaget described four main periods or stages in the development towards completely equilibrated thought and problem solving. In the sensorimotor stage (02 years), thought is based on perceptions and external actions and their coordination. In the preoperational stage, sensorimotor schemes are internalized and thought occurs mentally rather than externally, through the manipulation of representations and symbols that stand for sensorimotor schemes and objects.[42] At the beginning, however, mental schemes are not coordinated. As a result, systematic logical reasoning is not possible (that, for example, A = C, if A = B and B = C). When mental schemes are coordinated, thinking enters the concrete operational stage. In this period, thinking is logical, but limited to the concrete aspects of the world. That is, children can grasp several important aspects of the world, such as the conservation of number, matter, length, weight, volume, etc. despite external transformation. Gradually, concrete operational schemes are coordinated with each other and cognitive development enters the final formal operational stage.[42] In this period reality is subsumed to possibilities and reasoning becomes formal. As a result, abstract scientific concepts such as the concept of inertia, energy, algebra, and proportionality can be grasped and scientific experiments can be designed. All in all, for Piaget intelligence is not the same at different ages. It changes qualitatively, thereby allowing access to different levels of organization of the world. Research shows that Piagetian intelligence is correlated but it is not identical with psychometric intelligence and IQ.[42] The neo-Piagetian theories of cognitive development[43] advanced by Case, Demetriou, Halford, and Pascual-Leone, attempted to integrate Piaget's theory with cognitive and differential theories of cognitive organization and development. Their aim was to better account for the cognitive factors of development and for intra-individual and inter-individual differences in cognitive development. They suggested that development along Piaget's stages is due to increasing processing efficiency which is defined in terms of speed of processing and working memory capacity. Moreover, Demetriou's theory ascribes an important role to hypercognitive processes of self-recording, self-monitoring, and selfregulation and it recognizes the operation of several relatively autonomous domains of thought. Overall, this approach suggests that there indeed is a general intelligence factor. This factor is geared on general processing efficiency functions that enable humans to represent and process information, that processing involves general inferential processes that are gradually constructed, and self-awareness and reflection are instrumental in this construction. The general understanding and problem solving ability associated with this factor changes qualitatively with age and this change is related to the succession of Piagetian stages. At the same time, individual differences in the state of the general efficiency factors may cause differences in the rate of intellectual development of different individuals and these

differences may be reflected in psychometric measures of cognitive ability, such as the IQ tests. Moreover differences between individuals may come from differences in their predispositions or facility related to different domains of knowledge and problem solving.[44] Emotional intelligence Main article: Emotional intelligence Daniel Goleman and several other researchers have developed the concept of emotional intelligence and claim it is at least as "important" as traditionally proposed components of intelligence. These theories grew from observations of human development and of brain injury victims who demonstrate an acute loss of a particular cognitive functione.g. the ability to think numerically, or the ability to understand written language. Many researchers[who?] believe that emotional intelligence is a composite of general intelligence and agreeableness, one of the five dimensions of personality in the five-factor model of personality. In this model, an emotionally intelligent person would score higher than average in both dimensions, and vice versa. Moreover, an emotionally intelligent person cannot score high on only one of the two traits.[citation needed] For example, an individual with low general mental ability and high agreeableness would be impaired in his ability to produce emotionally intelligent behavior despite his intentions, while an individual with high general mental ability and low agreeableness would be perfectly capable of being emotionally intelligent, but not inclined to do so. PASS theory PASS theory has been offered as an alternative to general intelligence, and is based on a description of neuropsychological processes.[45][46][47] These authors suggested that a unidimensional model with just intelligence fails to assist researchers and clinicians who study learning disabilities, disorders of attention, mental retardation, and interventions designed for special populations who face those challenges. The PASS model covers four kinds of competencies that are associated with areas of the brain. 1. The planning processes involve decision making, problem solving, and performing activities and requires goal setting and self-monitoring. 2. The attention/arousal component involves selectively attending to a particular stimulus, ignoring distractions, and maintaining vigilance.

3. Simultaneous processing involves the integration of stimuli into a group and requires the observation of relationships. 4. Successive processing involves the integration of stimuli into serial order. The planning and attention/arousal components comes from structures located in the frontal lobe, and the simultaneous and successive processes come from structures located in the posterior region of the cortex. Empirical evidence This section does not cite any references or sources.
Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (December 2010)

IQ proponents have claimed that IQ's predictive validity has been demonstrated, for example in predicting non-academic outcomes such as job performance (see IQ), and that the various multiple intelligence theories have little or no such support. Meanwhile, it has been claimed that the relevance and existence of multiple intelligences have not been borne out when tested. A set of ability tests that do not correlate together would support the claim that multiple intelligences are independent of each other.

Evolution of intelligence
Main article: Evolution of human intelligence Our hominid and human ancestors evolved large and complex brains exhibiting an ever-increasing intelligence through a long and mostly unknown evolutionary process. This process was either driven by the direct adaptive benefits of intelligence,[48] or, alternatively, driven by its indirect benefits within the context of sexual selection as a reliable signal of genetic resistance against pathogens.[49] Several factors were suggested by scholar as the crucial for the emergence of human intelligence (among them making and using tools, use of complex language and syntactic structures, use of speech, ability to ask questions)

Factors affecting intelligence

Intelligence is an ill-defined, difficult to quantify concept. Accordingly, the IQ tests used to measure intelligence provide only approximations of the posited "real" intelligence. In addition, a number of theoretically unrelated properties are known to correlate with IQ such as race, gender and height but since correlation does not imply causation the true relationship between these factors is uncertain. Factors affecting IQ may be divided into biological and environmental.

Biological Main articles: Heritability of IQ and Neuroscience and intelligence The biological factors that correlate with IQ include ratio of brain weight to body weight and the volume and location of gray matter tissue in the brain. However, the basic mechanisms by which the brain produces complex phenomena such as intelligence are still poorly understood.[50] Lesion studies indicate that general intelligence "draws on connections between regions that integrate verbal, visuospatial, working memory, and executive processes."[51] Because intelligence appears to be at least partly dependent on brain structure and the genes shaping brain development, it has been proposed that genetic engineering could be used to enhance the intelligence of animals, a process sometimes called biological uplift in science fiction. Experiments on mice have demonstrated superior ability in learning and memory in various behavioral tasks.[52] Environmental Main article: Environment and intelligence Evidence suggests that family environmental factors may have an effect upon childhood IQ, accounting for up to a quarter of the variance. Other variance in IQ results from environmental influences not shared by siblings who grow up in the same home. Another important influence on IQ that was often neglected in earlier human genetic studies is the "maternal effect" of the prenatal environment of the mother's womb.[53] In the context of follow-up research on the nature versus nurture debate, it is still unclear whether the "nature" component is more important than the "nurture" component in explaining IQ variance in the general population.[54] There are indications that in middle age intelligence is influenced by life style choices (e.g. long working hours[55]). Cultural factors also play a role in intelligence. For example, on a sorting task to measure intelligence, Westerners tend to take a taxonomic approach while the Kpelle people take a more functional approach. For example, instead of grouping food and tools into separate categories, a Kpelle participant stated "the knife goes with the orange because it cuts it."[56] Ethical issues Main articles: Eugenics and Intelligence and public policy Conscious efforts to influence intelligence raise ethical issues. Transhumanist theorists study the possibilities and consequences of developing and using techniques to enhance human abilities and aptitudes, and individuals ameliorating

what they regard as undesirable and unnecessary aspects of the human condition; eugenics is a social philosophy which advocates the improvement of human hereditary traits through various forms of intervention.[57] Eugenics has variously been regarded as meritorious or deplorable in different periods of history, falling greatly into disrepute after the defeat of Nazi Germany in World War II.[citation needed] Policies promoted on supposed eugenic grounds usually favor the ethnic group in political authority, without regard to evidence of genetic superiority. For example, Jewish people were disfavored by the Nazis even though Jews in Germany had conspicuous achievements in the arts and sciences.[citation needed] Neuroethics considers the ethical, legal and social implications of neuroscience, and deals with issues such as the difference between treating a human neurological disease and enhancing the human brain, and how wealth impacts access to neurotechnology. Neuroethical issues interact with the ethics of human genetic engineering.

Animal and plant intelligence

Main articles: Animal cognition and Plant intelligence

The common Chimpanzee can use tools. This chimpanzee is using a stick in order to get food. Although humans have been the primary focus of intelligence researchers, scientists have also attempted to investigate animal intelligence, or more broadly, animal cognition. These researchers are interested in studying both mental ability in a particular species, and comparing abilities between species. They study various measures of problem solving, as well as mathematical and language abilities. Some challenges in this area are defining intelligence so that it means the same thing

across species (e.g. comparing intelligence between literate humans and illiterate animals), and then operationalizing a measure that accurately compares mental ability across different species and contexts. Wolfgang Khler's pioneering research on the intelligence of apes is a classic example of research in this area. Stanley Coren's book, The Intelligence of Dogs[unreliable source?] is a notable popular book on the topic.[58] Nonhuman animals particularly noted and studied for their intelligence include chimpanzees, bonobos (notably the language-using Kanzi) and other great apes, dolphins, elephants and to some extent parrots and ravens. Controversy exists over the extent to which these judgments of intelligence are accurate.[citation needed] Cephalopod intelligence also provides important comparative study. Cephalopods appear to exhibit characteristics of significant intelligence, yet their nervous systems differ radically from those of most other notably intelligent life-forms (mammals and birds). It has been argued that plants should also be classified as being intelligent based on their ability to sense the environment and adjust their morphology, physiology and phenotype accordingly.[59][60]

Artificial intelligence

In the field of artificial intelligence there is no consensus on how closely the brain should be simulated. Main article: Artificial intelligence Artificial intelligence (or AI) is both the intelligence of machines and the branch of computer science which aims to create it, through "the study and design of intelligent agents"[61] or "rational agents", where an intelligent agent is a system that perceives its environment and takes actions which maximize its chances of success.[62] Achievements in artificial intelligence include constrained and well-defined problems such as games, crossword-solving and optical character recognition. General intelligence or strong AI has not yet been achieved and is a long-term goal of AI research. Among the traits that researchers hope machines will exhibit are reasoning, knowledge, planning, learning, communication, perception, and the ability to move and manipulate objects.[61][62]

Intelligence in culture and arts

The concept of intelligence has been treated in many works:

Flowers for Algernon, a book written by Daniel Keyes and published in 1966.

See also
Thinking portal Logic portal Psychology portal

Active intellect Artificial Intelligence Downing effect Educational psychology

Intellectual giftedness Intelligence quotient Knowledge Malleable intelligence

Evolution of human intelligence Fertility and intelligence Flynn effect History of the race and intelligence controversy Individual differences psychology

Passive intellect Race and intelligence Religiosity and intelligence Situational intelligence Systems intelligence

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56. ^ Glick (1975) reported in Resnick, L. (1976). The Nature of Intelligence. Hillsdale, New Jersey: Lawrence

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approach. Oxford [Oxfordshire]: Oxford University Press. pp. 1. ISBN 0195102703. http://www.cs.ubc.ca/spider/poole/ci/ch1.pdf.
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Further reading
Books listed in chronological order of publication

Binet, Alfred; Simon, Th. (1916). The development of intelligence in children: The Binet-Simon Scale. Publications of the Training School at Vineland New Jersey Department of Research No. 11. E.S. Kite (Trans.). Baltimore: Williams & Wilkins. http://books.google.com/?id=jEQSAAAAYAAJ&dq=The%20development%20of %20intelligence%20in%20children%20Binet&pg=PA1#v=onepage&q. Retrieved 18 July 2010. Terman, Lewis M. (1916). The Measurement of Intelligence. Boston: Houghton Mifflin. ISBN 0405064802. http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/20662. Retrieved 26 June 2010. Wake, Warren K.; Gardner, Howard; Kornhaber, Mindy L. (1996). Intelligence: Multiple perspectives. Fort Worth, TX: Harcourt Brace College Publishers. ISBN 0030726298. OCLC 34414874. Khalfa, Jean, ed (1996). What Is Intelligence?. Darwin College Lectures. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 9780521566858. Lay summary (4 July 2010).

Sternberg, Robert J., ed (2000). Handbook of Intelligence. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 9780521596480. Lay summary (29 June 2010). Richardson, Ken (2000). The Making of Intelligence. New York (NY): Columbia University Press. ISBN 978-0231-12005-0. Lay summary (28 June 2010). Bock, Gregory; Goode, Jamie; Webb, Kate, eds (2000). The Nature of Intelligence. Novartis Foundation Symposium 233. Chichester: Wiley. doi:10.1002/0470870850. ISBN 978-0471494348. http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/cgi-bin/bookhome/118964607?CRETRY=1&SRETRY=0. Retrieved 16 July 2010. Blakeslee, Sandra; Hawkins, Jeff (2004). On intelligence. New York: Times Books. ISBN 0-8050-7456-2. OCLC 55510125. Sternberg, Robert J., ed (2004). International Handbook of Intelligence. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 9780521004022. Lay summary (29 June 2010). Flynn, James R. (2009). What Is Intelligence: Beyond the Flynn Effect (expanded paperback ed.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-74147-7. Lay summary (18 July 2010). Stanovich, Keith (2009). What Intelligence Tests Miss: The Psychology of Rational Thought. New Haven (CT): Yale University Press. ISBN 9780300123852. Lay summary (9 August 2010). Garlick, Dennis (2010). Intelligence and the Brain: Solving the Mystery of Why People Differ in IQ and How a Child Can Be a Genius. Burbank (CA): Aesop Press. ISBN 9780615319216. Lay summary (23 August 2010).

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Inteligencia
De Wikipedia, la enciclopedia libre Saltar a navegacin, bsqueda Para otros usos de este trmino, vase Inteligencia (desambiguacin). La inteligencia es el trmino global mediante el cual se describe una propiedad de la mente en la que se relacionan habilidades tales como las capacidades del pensamiento abstracto, el entendimiento, la comunicacin, el raciocinio, el aprendizaje, la planificacin y la solucin de problemas. El diccionario de la Real Academia Espaola de la lengua define la inteligencia (del latn intellegenta), entre otras acepciones como la "capacidad para entender o comprender" y como la "capacidad para resolver problemas".[1] La inteligencia parece estar ligada a otras funciones mentales como la percepcin, o capacidad de recibir informacin, y la memoria, o capacidad de almacenarla.[2]

El Pensador, de Auguste Rodin.

Contenido
[ocultar]

1 Etimologa 2 Definir la inteligencia 3 mbito psicolgico

3.1 Definiciones

3.1.1 Definicin diferencial de la American Psychological Association 3.1.2 Definicin general del Mainstream Science on Intelligence 3.2.1 Inteligencias mltiples 3.2.2 Teora trirquica de la inteligencia 3.2.3 Inteligencia emocional

3.2 Teoras

4 Intentos de medir la inteligencia 4.1 Controversias 4.2 Sociedades de superdotados en el mundo 5.1 Evidencias 5.2 Grados 5.3 Inteligencia primaria 5.4 Inteligencia humana 6.1 Principio de lateralidad

5 Teora de la emergencia evolutiva

6 Desarrollo de la inteligencia 7 Vase tambin 8 Referencias y notas 9 Enlaces externos

Etimologa

La palabra inteligencia proviene del latn, intellegentia, que proviene de intellegere, trmino compuesto de inter 'entre' y legere 'leer, escoger', por lo que, etimolgicamente, inteligente es quien sabe leer o escoger. La palabra inteligencia fue introducida por Cicern para significar el concepto de capacidad intelectual. Su espectro semntico es muy amplio, reflejando la idea clsica segn la cual, por la inteligencia el hombre es, en cierto modo, todas las cosas.

Definir la inteligencia
Definir qu es la inteligencia es siempre objeto de polmica; ante un escenario tan diversificado de opiniones Vernon (1960) sugiri una clasificacin de las principales definiciones. La misma se hizo en base a tres grupos: las psicolgicas, mostrando la inteligencia como la capacidad cognitiva, de aprendizaje, y relacin; las biolgicas, que consideran la capacidad de adaptacin a nuevas situaciones; y las operativas, que son aquellas que dan una definicin circular diciendo que la inteligencia es "...aquello que miden las pruebas de inteligencia". Adems, el concepto de inteligencia artificial gener hablar de sistemas, y para que se pueda aplicar el adjetivo inteligente a un sistema, ste debe poseer varias caractersticas, tales como la capacidad de razonar, planear, resolver problemas, pensar de manera abstracta, comprender ideas y lenguajes, y aprender. Tal diversidad indica el carcter complejo de la inteligencia, la cual slo puede ser descrita parcialmente mediante enumeracin de procesos o atributos que, al ser tan variados, hacen inviable una definicin nica y delimitada, dando lugar a singulares definiciones, tales como: la inteligencia es la capacidad de adquirir capacidad, de Woodrow, o la inteligencia es lo que miden los test de inteligencia, de Bridgman.

mbito psicolgico
Definiciones
Las definiciones psicolgicas han sido elaboradas bajo diversas perspectivas:

la psicologa experimental, se ocupa del pensamiento y de la solucin de problemas, las leyes generales cognoscitivas y el comportamiento inteligente; la psicologa diferencial, de carcter (psicomtrico, trata de medir y explicar las diferencias entre las personas y fundamentar la elaboracin de diagnsticos y pronsticos; la psicologa gentica, estudia los procesos de constitucin y desarrollo del ser humano.

Definicin diferencial de la American Psychological Association La American Psychological Association (APA), una organizacin cientfica y profesional de psiclogos de EEUU, lo expuso as:[3] {{cita|Los individuos difieren los unos de los otros en habilidad de comprender ideas complejas, de adaptarse eficazmente al entorno, as como el de aprender de la experiencia, en encontrar varias formas de razonar, de superar obstculos mediante la reflexin. A pesar de que estas diferencias individuales puedan ser sustanciales, stas nunca son completamente consistentes: las caractersticas intelectuales de una persona variarn en diferentes ocasiones, en diferentes dominios, y juzgarn con diferentes criterios. El concepto de "inteligencia" es una tentativa de aclarar y organizar este conjunto complejo de fenmenos.} Definicin general del Mainstream Science on Intelligence Definicin que fue suscrita por cincuenta y dos investigadores en 1994:[4] Una capacidad mental muy general que, entre otras cosas, implica la habilidad de razonar, planear, resolver problemas, pensar de manera abstracta, comprender ideas complejas, aprender rpidamente y aprender de la experiencia. No es un mero aprendizaje de los libros, ni una habilidad estrictamente acadmica, ni un talento para superar pruebas. Ms bien, el concepto se refiere a la capacidad de comprender nuestro entorno.

Teoras
A finales del siglo XX surgen varias teoras psicolgicas que cobran gran celebridad: la Teora de las inteligencias mltiples, la Teora trirquica de la inteligencia y la que trata de la Inteligencia emocional. Inteligencias mltiples Howard Gardner, psiclogo norteamericano de la Universidad de Harvard, escribi en 1983 Las estructuras de la mente, un trabajo en el que consideraba el concepto de inteligencia como un potencial que cada ser humano posee en mayor o menor grado, planteando que sta no poda ser medida por instrumentos normalizados en test de CI[5] y ofreci criterios, no para medirla, sino para observarla y desarrollarla. Segn Howard Gardner, creador de la Teora de las inteligencias mltiples, la inteligencia es la capacidad para resolver problemas o elaborar productos que puedan ser valorados en una determinada cultura. Propuso varios tipos de inteligencia, igual de importantes:

Inteligencia lingstica: capacidad de usar las palabras de manera adecuada.

Caracteriza a escritores y poetas. Implica la utilizacin de ambos hemisferios cerebrales.

Inteligencia lgica-matemtica: capacidad que permite resolver problemas de lgica y matemtica. Es fundamental en cientficos y filsofos. Al utilizar este tipo de inteligencia se hace uso del hemisferio lgico. Era la predominante en la antigua concepcin unitaria de "inteligencia".

Inteligencia musical: capacidad relacionada con las artes musicales. Es el talento de los msicos, cantantes y bailarines. Es conocida comnmente como "buen odo". Inteligencia espacial: la capacidad de distinguir aspectos como: color, lnea, forma, figura, espacio, y sus relaciones en tres dimensiones. Esta inteligencia atae a campos tan diversos como el diseo, la arquitectura, la ingeniera, la escultura, la ciruga o la marina.

Inteligencia corporal-cinestsica: capacidad de controlar y coordinar los movimientos del cuerpo y expresar sentimientos con l. Es el talento de los actores, mimos, o bailarines. Implica a deportistas o cirujanos. Inteligencia intrapersonal: est relacionada con las emociones, y permite entenderse a s mismo. Relacionada con las ciencias psicolgicas. Inteligencia interpersonal o social: capacidad para entender a las dems personas con empata; est relacionada con las emociones. Es tpica de los buenos vendedores, polticos, profesores o terapeutas.

Posteriormente aadi:

Inteligencia naturalista: la utilizamos al observar y estudiar la naturaleza para organizar y clasificar. Los bilogos y naturalistas son quienes ms la desarrollan. Inteligencia existencial: la capacidad para situarse a s mismo con respecto al cosmos. Requiere de un estudio ms profundo para ser caracterizada como inteligencia.

La crtica ms comn es que la inteligencia musical y la cinestsica no muestran inteligencia, sino talento.

Teora trirquica de la inteligencia Robert J. Sternberg, psiclogo estadounidense profesor de la Universidad de Yale, en su Teora trirquica de la inteligencia de 1985, estableci tres categoras para describir la inteligencia: Inteligencia componencial-analtica: la habilidad para adquirir y almacenar informacin. Inteligencia experiencial-creativa: habilidad fundada en la experiencia para seleccionar, codificar, combinar y comparar informacin. Inteligencia contextual-prctica: relacionada con la conducta adaptativa al mundo real.

Inteligencia emocional Daniel Goleman, psiclogo estadounidense, public en 1995 el libro Emotional Intelligence, "Inteligencia emocional", que adquiri fama mundial, aunque fueron Peter Salowey y John D. Mayer los que acuaron la citada expresin "Inteligencia emocional", en 1990. Anteriormente, el psiclogo Edward Thorndike, haba manejado un concepto similar en 1920, la "Inteligencia social". Para Goleman la inteligencia emocional es la capacidad para reconocer sentimientos propios y ajenos, y la habilidad para manejarlos. Considera que la inteligencia emocional puede organizarse en cinco capacidades: conocer las emociones y sentimientos propios, manejarlos, reconocerlos, crear la propia motivacin, y manejar las relaciones.

Intentos de medir la inteligencia

La psicometra es la disciplina que se encarga de las mediciones psicolgicas. Los primeros trabajos de psicometra surgieron para evaluar la inteligencia mediante diversos test cuya aplicacin permita estimar el cociente intelectual de los individuos, una medida que se supona aproximada al constructo de la inteligencia. Los criterios de cientificidad ms extendidos en Psicometra para la aceptacin de los tests de inteligencia son la fiabilidad y la validez, medidas obtenidas generalmente a travs de tcnicas estadsticas basadas en la correlacin, como el anlisis factorial o la regresin lineal. Algunos de estos test ofrecen una nica medida, un "factor general de inteligencia", (o Factor G en trminos de la Teora bifactorial de Charles Spearman) que se determina comparando el rendimiento del sujeto con el obtenido por su grupo de referencia, en condiciones similares. Otros tests, sin embargo, estn diseados bajo un marco terico diferente, y en consecuencia permiten la estimacin de varias medidas independientes correspondientes a los distintos tipos de inteligencia.

Controversias Los test para evaluar el cociente intelectual fueron empleados, inicialmente, para predecir el rendimiento escolar. Los creadores no creyeron que estuvieran midiendo una inteligencia esttica y, a pesar de ello, los crticos argumentan que los test de inteligencia han sido empleados para justificar teoras genticas en las que la inteligencia sera una cualidad nica y fija. [6] Las investigaciones acerca de la inteligencia humana crean gran preocupacin en el pblico y generan ms crticas que los estudios cientficos de otras reas. As, hay numerosos estudios que han puesto en tela de juicio la relevancia de los test psicomtricos. Hay controversias sobre los factores genticos en la inteligencia, particularmente en cuestiones sobre si estas diferencias se relacionan con la raza y el sexo, o cmo interpretar el incremento en las puntuaciones de los test, conocido como el efecto Flynn. Los crticos de la visin psicomtrica sealan que la gente tiene un concepto distinto de inteligencia al que se mide en los test. Argumentan que esta visin slo mide una parte de lo que comnmente se entiende por inteligencia. Adems, cuando se realiza un test, hay diversas circunstancias que influyen en el resultado, como el estado de nimo, la salud, o el conocimiento previo de pruebas similares. Stephen Jay Gould fue una de la voces ms crticas de los test de inteligencia; argumentaba que sta no es mensurable , rebata los puntos de vista hereditarios, rechazaba el anlisis factorial como criterio cientficamente vlido en la investigacin psicomtrica, expona el fuerte fundamento poltico que subyace a gran parte de la investigacin histrica sobre la inteligencia y termina denunciando los abusos de la Psicologa, que ha invocado criterios pretendidamente cientficos para justificar prejuicios meramente sociales.[7]

Sociedades de superdotados en el mundo

Las asociaciones de superdotados son organizaciones que limitan la membresa a personas que hayan alcanzado un determinado percentil en un test de CI, lo cual incluira en teora a las personas con mayor CI del mundo. La asociacin ms antigua, ms grande y mejor conocida de este tipo, es Mensa Internacional, fundada en 1946 por Roland Berrill y Lancelot Ware.[8]

Teora de la emergencia evolutiva

Desde el punto de vista de la evolucin biolgica, existe un largo proceso de adquisicin de facultades asociadas a las diversas inteligencias. En la naturaleza observamos su diversidad y complejidad, mostrando los distintos grados.

Evidencias

La naturaleza no desarrolla formas de vida inteligentes por premeditacin; los seres ms simples reaccionan ante el medio mediante programacin gentica, miedos y afinidades instintivas. Un pequeo cambio en estos instintos implica muchas generaciones. La seleccin natural ha favorecido la rapidez en la adaptacin al medio. Esta criba de seres vivos ha seleccionado aquellos que disponen de un sistema nervioso central como los seres superiores dentro de la escala trfica de alimentacin. Dentro de esta escala, la seleccin ha dejado en la cumbre a aquellos que disponen de un sistema nervioso central con cerebro e identidad de individuos. Esta disposicin del sistema nervioso les hace capaces de administrar en mayor o menor medida sus comportamientos, aprendiendo y reaccionando en consecuencia, esto es, con inteligencia, un resultado consecuente del ahorro energtico que supone memorizar y recordar para luego aplicar resultados. La inteligencia no es una cualidad nicamente humana (solipsismo humano), en mayor o menor medida todos los seres vivos la tienen, basada en las hormonas, visceralidad, el sistema nervioso perifrico o el central, incluso con zonas especficas del sistema nervioso central para procesos concretos. Muchos animales tienen signos claros de inteligencia instintiva, e incluso pueden lograr algunas etapas racionales primarias bajo entrenamiento. Algunos casos de animales domsticos que se antropizan pueden llegar a adquirir algunos rasgos de inteligencia racional.

Grados
Las distintas cualidades psquicas y sus distintos grados de desarrollo pueden considerarse como las distintas formas de inteligencia, utilizadas para un uso prctico, ldico o perverso, pero en todos los casos, inteligencia. La naturaleza nos muestra que la inteligencia es una cuestin de grado; podemos encontrar rasgos inteligentes en aquellas situaciones en el que el ecosistema alberga sistemas biolgicos capaces de ahorrar energa frente a otras alternativas ms costosas. El hecho de encontrar el camino ms corto entre dos puntos, es una muestra de que se est aplicando algn tipo de lgica, cuyo procesamiento da evidencias de un grado de inteligencia.[9] La inteligencia depende de las variaciones del sistema, que se sujeta a la teora general de sistemas, estableciendo una lgica y, a su vez, la lgica depende de un diferencial. En la naturaleza encontramos constantes indicios de diferenciales. Las unidades biolgicas reactivas ante la variacin de los diferenciales del medio, se podran catalogar como unidades de funcionamiento condicionado o lgico. En otras palabras, ante una variacin concreta de un valor del medio, esa unidad biolgica actuar siempre de la misma manera. Se puede decir, que la unidad de la inteligencia es la lgica, que a su vez se basa en la termodinmica del medio, o sea algo totalmente natural.[10]

Inteligencia primaria

El grado mnimo de inteligencia se le otorga al Moho Mucilaginoso, que est en la frontera de hongo y animal (miclogos y zologos no se ponen de acuerdo). Dentro de esta categora aun se distinguen dos grupos: los plasmodiales y los celulares. Se han realizado en Japn experimentos con Physarum Polycephalum.[11] Estos plasmodiales son organismos unicelulares con mltiples ncleos que son capaces de encontrar el camino ms corto en un laberinto. Es el mejor ejemplo de procesamiento de informacin sin poseer un sistema nervioso.

Inteligencia humana
Existe una discusin sobre si la inteligencia humana contiene algn aspecto que la diferencie de forma cualitativa de las dems espcies o incluso de la inteligencia artificial. Slo a partir de Darwin se ha comprendido que no somos la especie elegida, sino una especie nica entre otras muchas especies nicas, aunque maravillosamente inteligente.[12]

Desarrollo de la inteligencia
La pedagoga es la ciencia que estudia la educacin humana y elabora tcnicas que faciliten el aprendizaje; los pedagogos muestran gran inters en los diferentes aspectos relacionados con la inteligencia y sus factores condicionantes, tanto psicolgicos y biolgicos como socio-culturales. Algunos de estos condicionantes son:

Factores hereditarios: el carcter hereditario no significa una relacin lineal ni que se encuentre predeterminado. La combinacin de genes ofrece multitud de posibilidades. Estudios realizados con gemelos idnticos (monocigticos) y mellizos (dicigticos) ayudan a establecer estas diferencias.[13] Es un factor ms, no determinante. Otros factores biolgicos: la migracin de mayor densidad de neuronas especializadas en almacenar conocimiento, desde el tronco enceflico hacia la corteza cerebral, crea conexiones sinpticas ms entrelazadas en los primeros meses de vida. Factores ambientales: el entorno del individuo es crucial para el desarrollo de la inteligencia; situaciones muy opresivas pueden limitarla al generar inestabilidad emocional. El medio sociocultural es muy importante en el desarrollo intelectual de un individuo. Un sujeto que crezca en un ambiente con adecuados estmulos cognitivos puede desarrollar mayores aptitudes intelectuales frente a un sujeto que se cre en un ambiente con pobreza de estmulos (Vase: Kaspar Hauser).

 Educacin: una educacin esmerada puede proporcionar valiosas herramientas para desenvolverse. Motivacin: un individuo puede desarrollar mejor su inteligencia si es motivado por su familia o personas de su entorno a mejorar su percepcin cognitiva. Hbitos saludables: una dieta sana genera mejores condiciones para desarrollarse. Dormir adecuadamente facilita el desarrollo de los procesos cerebrales. El alcohol y otras drogas pueden llegar a incapacitar al individuo.

Principio de lateralidad
El neurofisilogo Roger Sperry en sus trabajos demostr que nuestros dos hemisferios cerebrales se nutren de las mismas informaciones bsicas, pero que las procesan de forma distinta. Cada uno de nosotros tiene un hemisferio dominante (predisposicin gentica). El hemisferio cerebral izquierdo domina aspectos como el lenguaje, la solucin de problemas lgicos y el pensamiento analtico; mientras que en el hemisferio derecho destacan la comprensin espacial, musical o el dibujo. La creatividad En el proceso creativo, los hemisferios cerebrales se encuentran en actividad al mismo tiempo, funcionando de forma coherente e integrada en el acto creador, aunque cada hemisferio es dominante en ciertas actividades, los dos estn bsicamente capacitados en todas las reas y las habilidades mentales se hallan distribuidas por toda la corteza cerebral.[14] La enseanza Sefchovich y Waisburd estiman que los programas de las escuelas y en general la educacin, se han apoyado principalmente en las habilidades del hemisferio cerebral izquierdo, mientras que el otro hemisferio se ha desarrollado por s solo, lo que ha ocasionado que se han quedado fuera habilidades y funcionamientos que son indispensables para el desarrollo creativo.[14]

Vase tambin

Cerebro Cociente intelectual Creatividad

Inteligencia artificial Inteligencia colectiva Inteligencia sanitaria Mediacin cultural Memoria Mensa (organizacin) Psicometra Robert Sternberg Superdotado Talento

Referencias y notas
1. inteligencia, Diccionario de la lengua espaola (vigsima segunda edicin), Real Academia Espaola, 2001,

http://buscon.rae.es/draeI/SrvltConsulta?TIPO_BUS=3&LEMA=inteligencia
2. Manual de psiquiatra mdica (2 ed.), de Jefferson, J. y Moore, D. 3. APA Task Force Report, Intelligence: Knowns and Unknowns. 4. Mainstream Science on Intelligence reprinted in Gottfredson (1997). Intelligence p. 13. 5. El cociente de inteligencia es un ndice que pretende establecer la relacin entre la edad mental y la edad

cronolgica.
6. The myth of intelligence. The Psychological Record, vol. 53, 2003. 7. http://www.xtec.es/~lvallmaj/academia/gould2.htm 8. Percival, Matt (2006-09-08). Consultado el 2006-09-26. 9. Eduardo Punset, El viaje a la felicidad. 10. Eduardo Punset. Como crear un superorganismo. Redes.

11. Cellular memory hints at the origins of intelligence 12. J. L. Arsuaga, I. Martinez. La especie elegida, 1998, Ed. Temas de hoy, pag. 336. 13. Mientras en gemelos el grupo sanguneo es igual (100%), en mellizos es el 66%. El color de los ojos 99% y 28%. 14. a b 2007/pdf/CREATIVA.pdf M.C.D. Cynthia P. Villagmez: Pedagoga creativa en el mbito de las artes y el

diseo. Fuentes Consultadas

Punset, Eduardo. (2006) El viaje a la felicidad. Las nuevas claves cientficas. Ed. Destino. Octava Edicin. ISBN 84-233-3777-4. La inteligencia, en psicoactiva.com Lederman, Leon M. y Hill, Christopher T. (2006) La simetra y la belleza del universo. Ed. TusQuets. 1 Edicin. Patrocinado por Cosmo Caixa - Fundacin la Caixa. Coleccin Metatemas. ISBN 84-8310-351-6. Gardner, Howard (2003) Inteligencias mltiples, Paidos, ISBN 950-12-5012-1. Sternberg, R. J. (1985) A Triarchic Theory of Intelligence. Cambridge University Press. Goleman, Daniel (1996) Inteligencia emocional. Kairos. Barcelona. Bonner, John T. (1980) The evolution of Culture in Animals. Princenton University Press.

Bibliografa de referencia

En espaol: Bonner, John T. (1982) La revolucin de la cultura de los animales, Alianza Editorial.

Enlaces externos

Wikcionario tiene definiciones para inteligencia.Wikcionario Wikiquote alberga frases clebres de o sobre Inteligencia. Wikiquote Historia y variedad de estudios experimentales de la evaluacin intelectual. CTY Espaa, Johns Hopkis University, Center for Talented Youth International Charter Member

BBC Mundo | Ciencia | Inteligencia y materia gris

Obtenido de "http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inteligencia" Categoras: Inteligencia | Psicologa

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Educacin
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Nios en un parvulario de Afganistn. La educacin, (del latn educere "guiar, conducir" o educare "formar, instruir") puede definirse como:

El proceso multidireccional mediante el cual se transmiten conocimientos, valores, costumbres y formas de actuar. La educacin no slo se produce a travs de la palabra: est presente en todas nuestras acciones, sentimientos y actitudes. El proceso de vinculacin y concienciacin cultural, moral y conductual. As, a travs de la educacin, las nuevas generaciones asimilan y aprenden los conocimientos, normas de conducta, modos de ser y formas de ver el mundo de generaciones anteriores, creando adems otros nuevos. Proceso de socializacin formal de los individuos de una sociedad. La educacin se comparte entre las personas por medio de nuestras ideas, cultura, conocimientos, etc. respetando siempre a los dems. sta no siempre se da en el aula.

Existen tres tipos de educacin: la formal, la no formal y la informal. La educacin formal hace referencia a los mbitos de las escuelas, institutos, universidades, mdulos.. mientras que la no formal se refiere a los cursos, academias, etc. y la educacin informal es aquella que abarca la formal y no formal, pues es la educacin que se adquiere a lo largo de la vida.

Contenido

[ocultar]

1 Historia 2 La educacin bsica 3 Objetivos 4 Concepto de educacin 5 Educacin a lo largo de la vida 6 Evaluacin 7 Definicin alternativa de evaluacin 8 Referencias 9 Bibliografa 10 Enlaces externos

Historia
Artculo principal: Historia de la educacin

La educacin en geografas del joven Aquiles por el centurin Chiron", grabado de Antonio Mara Zanetti en 1752. La historia de la educacin se cie a la divisin de las edades del hombre. En los inicios de la Edad Antigua hay que situar las concepciones y prcticas educativas de las culturas india, china, egipcia y hebrea. Durante el primer milenio a.C. se desarrollan las diferentes paideias griegas (arcaica, espartana, ateniense y helenstica). El mundo romano asimila el helenismo tambin en el terreno docente, en especial gracias a Cicern quien fue el principal impulsor de la llamada humanitas romana. El fin del Imperio romano de Occidente (476) marca el final del mundo antiguo y el inicio de la larga Edad Media (hasta 1453, cada de Constantinopla ante las tropas turcas, bien hasta 1492, descubrimiento de Amrica). El cristianismo, nacido y extendido por el Imperio romano, asume la labor de mantener el legado clsico, tamizado, filtrado por la doctrina cristiana. De la recuperacin plena del saber de Grecia y Roma que se produce durante el Renacimiento nace el nuevo concepto educativo del Humanismo a lo largo del siglo XVI, continuado durante el Barroco por el disciplinarismo pedaggico y con el colofn ilustrado del siglo XVIII. En la educacin Contempornea (siglos XIX-XXI) nacern los actuales sistemas educativos, organizados y controlados por el Estado.

La educacin bsica
Preescolar, educacin primaria y secundaria es la etapa de formacin de los individuos en la que se desarrollan las habilidades del pensamiento y las competencias bsicas para favorecer el aprendizaje sistemtico y continuo, as como las disposiciones y actitudes que regirn su vida. Lograr que todos los nios, las nias y adolescentes del pas tengan las mismas oportunidades de cursar y concluir con xito la educacin bsica y que logren los aprendizajes que se establecen para cada grado y nivel son factores fundamentales para sostener el desarrollo de la nacin. En una educacin bsica de buena calidad el desarrollo de las competencias bsicas y el logro de los aprendizajes de los alumnos son los propsitos centrales, son las metas a las cuales los profesores, la escuela y el sistema dirigen sus esfuerzos. Permiten valorar los procesos personales de construccin individual de conocimiento por lo que, en esta perspectiva, son poco importantes los aprendizajes basados en el procesamiento superficial de la informacin y aquellos orientados a la recuperacin de informacin en el corto plazo.

Una de las definiciones ms interesantes nos la propone uno de los ms grandes pensadores, Aristteles: "La educacin consiste en dirigir los sentimientos de placer y dolor hacia el orden tico." Tambin se denomina educacin al resultado de este proceso, que se materializa en la serie de habilidades, conocimientos, actitudes y valores adquiridos, produciendo cambios de carcter social, intelectual, emocional, etc. en la persona que, dependiendo del grado de concienciacin, ser para toda su vida o por un periodo determinado, pasando a formar parte del recuerdo en el ltimo de los casos.

La educacin obligatoria en el mundo. Los colores oscuros representan ms aos escolares y los claros, menos aos. Si desea ver el mapa en un tamao cmodo pulse en la imagen. (Fecha: 2007).

Objetivos
Incentivar el proceso de estructuracin del pensamiento, de la imaginacin creadora, las formas de expresin personal y de comunicacin verbal y grfica. Favorecer el proceso de maduracin de los nios en lo sensorio-motor, la manifestacin ldica y esttica, la iniciacin deportiva y artstica, el crecimiento socio afectivo, y los valores ticos.

Estimular hbitos de integracin social, de convivencia grupal, de solidaridad y cooperacin y de conservacin del medio ambiente. Desarrollar la creatividad del individuo. Fortalecer la vinculacin entre la institucin educativa y la familia. Prevenir y atender las desigualdades fsicas, psquicas y sociales originadas en diferencias de orden biolgico, nutricional, familiar y ambiental mediante programas especiales y acciones articuladas con otras instituciones comunitarias.

Concepto de educacin

Nivel de alfabetismo. La educacin es un proceso de socializacin y endoculturacin de las personas a travs del cual se desarrollan capacidades fsicas e intelectuales, habilidades, destrezas, tcnicas de estudio y formas de comportamiento ordenadas con un fin social (valores, moderacin del dilogo-debate, jerarqua, trabajo en equipo, regulacin fisiolgica, cuidado de la imagen, etc.).

En muchos pases occidentales la educacin escolar o reglada es gratuita para todos los estudiantes. Sin embargo, debido a la escasez de escuelas pblicas, tambin existen muchas escuelas privadas y parroquiales. La funcin de la educacin es ayudar y orientar al educando para conservar y utilizar los valores de la cultura que se le imparte (p.e. la occidental -democrtica y cristiana-), fortaleciendo la identidad nacional. La educacin abarca muchos mbitos; como la educacin formal, informal y no formal. Pero el trmino educacin se refiere sobre todo a la influencia ordenada ejercida sobre una persona para formarla y desarrollarla a varios niveles complementarios; en la mayora de las culturas es la accin ejercida por la generacin adulta sobre la joven para transmitir y conservar su existencia colectiva. Es un ingrediente fundamental en la vida del ser humano y la sociedad y se remonta a los orgenes mismos del ser humano. La educacin es lo que transmite la cultura, permitiendo su evolucin. En azul podemos observar los pases desarrollados (es decir, los que tienen una buena educacin). En estos pases la educacin es gratuita y a los chicos/as se le dan muchas oportunidades de tener un buen presente.

Educacin a lo largo de la vida

En algunos pases como Mxico la educacin se divide en dos o ms tipos, stos a su vez se subdividen en niveles tales como Educacin Bsica (nivel Preescolar, Nivel Primaria, Nivel Secundaria), Educacin Media (Preparatoria) y Educacin superior (Licenciatura y posgrado). Las divisiones varan segn las polticas educativas de cada pas.

ndice de educacin. Existen diversos conceptos que intentan analizar el fenmeno educativo, en relacin al discurrir temporal en las personas. As, conceptos como educacin permanente, educacin continua , Andragoga o educacin de adultos tienen aspectos comunes pero tambin matices importantes que los diferencian y los enriquecen. Segn estudios, los nios de ocho aos aprenden mejor premiando su desarrollo y no atienden a los castigos mientras los de doce, al contrario, aprenden ms al reaccionar de forma negativa ante sus errores. Los adultos tambin siguen esta norma general y observan ms sus fallos aunque de forma ms eficiente.[1] Esto es porque los adultos aprenden ms por conviccin e incluso por necesidad ya que pueden requerir los conocimientos para su trabajo, o para alguna actividad en especfico por ello es que aprenden ms eficientemente de sus errores, y saben perfectamente que el aprendizaje es responsabilidad suya. A diferencia de lo que pasa con los nios y jvenes, mismos que en muchas ocasiones acuden a la escuela porque sus paps los envan y no tanto por conviccin propia o porque tengan la necesidad de ciertos conocimientos. Todo esto lleva a que existan dos corrientes educativas segn el tipo de estudiantes, la pedagoga para los nios y jvenes y la andragoga para los adultos.

Evaluacin
La evaluacin es un proceso que procura determinar, de la manera ms sistemtica y objetiva posible, la pertinencia, eficacia, eficiencia e impacto de las actividades formativas a la luz de los objetivos especficos. Constituye una herramienta administrativa de aprendizaje y un proceso organizativo orientado a la accin para mejorar tanto las actividades en marcha, como la planificacin, programacin y toma de decisiones futuras. Lo que no debe hacer la evaluacin es categorizar. La categorizacin del conocimiento impide reconocer de manera efectiva el avance en el proceso de enseanza-aprendizaje, al enmarcar por episodios la capacidad intelectual del aprendiz. Tampoco debe generalizar. As como todo conocimiento es diferente, todo proceso que conlleva a l es diferente de persona a persona, es decir, todos aprendemos de manera diferente, no debemos generalizar, aunque s establecer criterios. Tampoco es calificar: asignar a un nmero no significa conocimiento, entonces, evaluar no es calificar. La evaluacin nos ayuda a medir los conocimientos adquiridos, y nos proporciona informacin de los avances de los mismos con la finalidad de conocer si se estn cumpliendo o no los objetivos propuestos.[2] La evaluacin en tecnologas es sistemtica y constante no se debe evaluar por el proyecto terminado sino por el esfuerzo realizado y en un mayor concepto las competencias que se adquieren segn el plan de estudios 2006 de secundariaEn tecnologas es recomedable emplear la lista de comprobacin, esta es una lista escrita de criterios de desempeo, puede utilizarse unas veces para diacnosticar los puntos fuerte y dbiles, as como los camb ios de desempeo, esta lista no permite registrar los matices del desempeo. Con una lista de comprobacin puede resumirse el desempeo estableciendo criterios de calificacin o calculando el porcenaje de los criterios cumplidos. La evaluacin educativa es un proceso sistemtico y dirigido, en el cual intervienen una serie de elementos, por ejemplo: un ensayo o prctica en la formacin profesional, una representacin teatral en una escuela, un proyecto integrador, una prueba de ensayo en el aprendizaje informtico, etc. Estos elementos nos permiten determinar si un sujeto ha alcanzado todos los objetivos planteados, propiciando con ello un cambio en su actitud de una manera significativa. En la actualidad, los mejores sistemas de enseanza estn al servicio de la educacin, y por consiguiente, deja de ser un objetivo central de los programas educativos la simple transmisin de informacin y conocimientos. Tambin se podra decir que existe en algunos la necesidad de capacitar al alumnado en el autoaprendizaje, como proceso de desarrollo personal. Cada alumno es un ser nico, lo que muestra un elemento clave dentro del proceso de la evaluacin: no evaluar nada ms por evaluar, sino para mejorar el aprendizaje y para la organizacin de las tareas, entre otros aspectos

metodolgicos. Bajo la perspectiva educativa, la evaluacin debe adquirir una nueva dimensin, y de esa manera darle un sentido de pertinencia a la enseanza-aprendizaje. La evaluacin puede conceptualizarse como un proceso dinmico, continuo y sistemtico, enfocado hacia los cambios de las conductas y rendimientos, mediante el cual verificamos los logros adquiridos en funcin de los objetivos propuestos. Y es ste para el docente el perfeccionamiento de su razn de ser.

Definicin alternativa de evaluacin

La evaluacin es la medicin del proceso de enseanza/aprendizaje que contribuye a su mejora. Desde este punto de vista, la evaluacin nunca termina, ya que debemos de estar analizando cada actividad que se realiza. Se puede mencionar tambin que la evaluacin es un proceso que busca indagar el aprendizaje significativo que se adquiere ante la exposicin de un conjunto de objetivos previamente planeados, para los cuales institucionalmente es importante observar que los conocimientos demuestren que el proceso de enseanza y aprendizaje tuvo lugar en el individuo que ha sido expuesto a esos objetivos. En este sentido estoy hablando de la evaluacin acadmica, en donde lo que importa es verificar y/u observar a travs de diversos instrumentos cualitativos o cuantitativos, que el alumno ha adquirido nuevas habilidades, destrezas, capacidades, mtodos y tcnicas, as como tambin la "calidad educativa" de su instruccin, que le permitan tener un buen desempeo para el bien de su comunidad, beneficio personal, rendimiento laboral y disciplina. Existen diferentes tipos de clasificacin que se pueden aplicar a la evaluacin, pero atendiendo a los diferentes momentos en que se presentan podemos mencionar:

Evaluacin inicial que tiene como objetivo indagar en un alumno el tipo de formacin que posee para ingresar a un nivel educativo superior al cual se encuentra. Para realizar dicha evaluacin el maestro debe conocer a detalle al alumno, para adecuar la actividad, elaborar el diseo pedaggico e incluso estimar el nivel de dificultad que se propondr en ella. Evaluacin formativa es la que tiene como propsito verificar que el proceso de enseanza-aprendizaje tuvo lugar, antes de que se presente la evaluacin sumativa. Tiene un aspecto connotativo de proalimentacin activa. Al trabajar dicha evaluacin el maestro tiene la posibilidad de rectificar el proyecto implementado en el aula durante su puesta en prctica.

Evaluacin sumativa es la que se aplica al concluir un cierto perodo o al terminar algn tipo de unidad temtica. Tiene la caracterstica de ser medible, dado que se le asigna a cada alumno que ostenta este tipo de evaluacin un nmero en una determinada escala, el cual supuestamente refleja el aprendizaje que se ha adquirido; sin embargo, en la mayora de los centros y sistemas educativos este nmero asignado no deja de ser subjetivo, ya que no se demuestra si en realidad el conocimiento aprendido puede vincularse con el mbito social. Esta evaluacin permite valorar no solo al alumno, sino tambin el proyecto educativo que se ha llevado a efecto. Goleman, Daniel (Diciembre de 1999). captulo 3. Ttulo en espaol: Inteligencia Emocional (trigsimo sptima edicin edicin). Editorial Kairs. pp. 59-79. ISBN 84-7245-371-5.

La educacin que se imaparte en Mxico es considerada como laica y gratuita, y todos los nios tienen derecho a recibirla, esto est reglamentado en la Constitucin Poltica de lo Estados Unidos Mexicanos. En el artculo 3ro. Constitucional, tambin menciona que sta debe ser obligatoria. Actualmente la educacin preescolar ya forma parte de esa obligatoriedad.

Referencias
1. Evaluating the Negative or Valuing the Positive? Neural Mechanisms Supporting Feedback-Based Learning

across Development en espaol

2. Aportacin a la evaluacin educativa

Bibliografa

Proceso del aprendizaje y cognicin La educacin encierra un tesoro (Jacques Delors) Los siete pilares de la educacin (Edgar Morn) Democracia y educacin (John Dewey) Diez miradas sobre la escuela primaria (Flavia Terigi) Michael Oakeshott (2009). La voz del aprendizaje liberal. Katz Editores. ISBN 9789871566013. http://books.google.es/books?id=YjJanDqwP3oC.

Enlaces externos

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Education
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Jump to: navigation, search "Educate" redirects here. For the journal published by the Institute of Education, see Educate~. For the stained-glass window at Yale University, see Education (Chittenden Memorial Window).

A kindergarten classroom in Afghanistan

An elementary classroom in Mexico

A lecture theater in New York City Education in the largest sense is any act or experience that has a formative effect on the mind, character or physical ability of an individual. In its technical sense, education is the process by which society deliberately transmits its accumulated knowledge, skills and values from one generation to another. Etymologically, the word education is derived from educare (Latin) "bring up", which is related to educere "bring out", "bring forth what is within", "bring out potential" and ducere, "to lead".[1]

Teachers in educational institutions direct the education of students and might draw on many subjects, including reading, writing, mathematics, science and history. This process is sometimes called schooling when referring to the education of teaching only a certain subject, usually as professors at institutions of higher learning. There is also education in fields for those who want specific vocational skills, such as those required to be a pilot. In addition there is an array of education possible at the informal level, such as in museums and libraries, with the Internet and in life experience. Many nontraditional education options are now available and continue to evolve. A right to education has been created and recognized by some jurisdictions: since 1952, Article 2 of the first Protocol to the European Convention on Human Rights obliges all signatory parties to guarantee the right to education. At world level, the United Nations' International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights of 1966 guarantees this right under its Article 13.

Contents
[hide]

1 Systems of formal education

1.1 Preschool education 1.2 Primary education 1.3 Secondary education 1.4 Higher education 1.5 Adult education 1.6 Alternative education 1.7 Indigenous education 2.1 Curriculum 2.2 Learning modalities

2 Process

2.3 Teaching 2.4 Technology

3 Educational theory 4 Economics 5 History 6 Philosophy 7 Psychology 8 Sociology 9 Education in the Developing World

9.1 Internationalization

10 See also 11 References 12 External links

Systems of formal education

Education is the process by which people learn:

Instruction refers to the facilitating of learning, usually by a teacher. Teaching refers to the actions of a real live instructor to impart learning to the student. Learning refers to learning with a view toward preparing learners with specific knowledge, skills, or abilities that can be applied immediately upon completion.

Preschool education
Main article: Preschool education

Primary education
Main article: Primary education

Primary school in open air. Teacher (priest) with class from the outskirts of Bucharest, around 1842. Primary (or elementary) education consists of the first 57 years of formal, structured education. In general, primary education consists of six or eight years of schooling starting at the age of five or six, although this varies between, and sometimes within, countries. Globally, around 89% of primary-age children are enrolled in primary education, and this proportion is rising.[2] Under the Education for All programs driven by UNESCO, most countries have committed to achieving universal enrollment in primary education by 2015, and in many countries, it is compulsory for children to receive primary education. The division between primary and secondary education is somewhat arbitrary, but it generally occurs at about eleven or twelve years of age. Some education systems have separate middle schools, with the transition to the final stage of secondary education taking place at around the age of fourteen. Schools that provide primary education, are mostly referred to as primary schools. Primary schools in these countries are often subdivided into infant schools and junior school.

Secondary education
Main article: Secondary education

Students in a classroom at Samdach Euv High School, Cambodia In most contemporary educational systems of the world, secondary education comprises the formal education that occurs during adolescence. It is characterized by transition from the typically compulsory, comprehensive primary education for minors, to the optional, selective tertiary, "post-secondary", or "higher" education (e.g., university, vocational school for adults. Depending on the system, schools for this period, or a part of it, may be called secondary or high schools, gymnasiums, lyceums, middle schools, colleges, or vocational schools. The exact meaning of any of these terms varies from one system to another. The exact boundary between primary and secondary education also varies from country to country and even within them, but is generally around the seventh to the tenth year of schooling. Secondary education occurs mainly during the teenage years. In the United States, Canada and Australia primary and secondary education together are sometimes referred to as K-12 education, and in New Zealand Year 1-13 is used. The purpose of secondary education can be to give common knowledge, to prepare for higher education or to train directly in a profession. The emergence of secondary education in the United States did not happen until 1910, caused by the rise in big businesses and technological advances in factories (for instance, the emergence of electrification), that required skilled workers. In order to meet this new job demand, high schools were created and the curriculum focused on practical job skills that would better prepare students for white collar or skilled blue collar work. This proved to be beneficial for both the employer and the employee, because this improvement in human capital caused employees to become more efficient, which lowered costs for the employer, and skilled employees received a higher wage than employees with just primary educational attainment.

In Europe, the grammar school or academy existed from as early as the 16th century; public schools or fee-paying schools, or charitable educational foundations have an even longer history.

Higher education
Main article: Higher education

The University of Cambridge is an institute of higher learning. Higher education, also called tertiary, third stage, or post secondary education, is the non-compulsory educational level that follows the completion of a school providing a secondary education, such as a high school, secondary school. Tertiary education is normally taken to include undergraduate and postgraduate education, as well as vocational education and training. Colleges and universities are the main institutions that provide tertiary education. Collectively, these are sometimes known as tertiary institutions. Tertiary education generally results in the receipt of certificates, diplomas, or academic degrees. Higher education includes teaching, research and social services activities of universities, and within the realm of teaching, it includes both the undergraduate level (sometimes referred to as tertiary education) and the graduate (or postgraduate) level (sometimes referred to as graduate school). Higher education generally involves work towards a degree-level or foundation degree qualification. In most developed countries a high proportion of the population (up to 50%) now enter higher education at some time in their lives. Higher education is therefore very important to national economies, both as a significant industry in its own right, and as a source of trained and educated personnel for the rest of the economy.

Adult education

Main article: Adult education Adult education has become common in many countries. It takes on many forms, ranging from formal class-based learning to self-directed learning and e-learning. A number of career specific courses such as veterinary assisting, medical billing and coding, real estate license, bookkeeping and many more are now available to students through the Internet.

Alternative education
Main article: Alternative education Alternative education, also known as non-traditional education or educational alternative, is a broad term that may be used to refer to all forms of education outside of traditional education (for all age groups and levels of education). This may include not only forms of education designed for students with special needs (ranging from teenage pregnancy to intellectual disability), but also forms of education designed for a general audience and employing alternative educational philosophies and methods. Alternatives of the latter type are often the result of education reform and are rooted in various philosophies that are commonly fundamentally different from those of traditional compulsory education. While some have strong political, scholarly, or philosophical orientations, others are more informal associations of teachers and students dissatisfied with certain aspects of traditional education. These alternatives, which include charter schools, alternative schools, independent schools, and home-based learning vary widely, but often emphasize the value of small class size, close relationships between students and teachers, and a sense of community.

Indigenous education
Main article: Indigenous education Increasingly, the inclusion of indigenous models of education (methods and content) as an alternative within the scope of formal and non-formal education systems, has come to represent a significant factor contributing to the success of those members of indigenous communities who choose to access these systems, both as students/learners and as teachers/instructors.

Process
Curriculum
Main articles: Curriculum and List of academic disciplines

An academic discipline is a branch of knowledge which is formally taught, either at the university, or via some other such method. Each discipline usually has several sub-disciplines or branches, and distinguishing lines are often both arbitrary and ambiguous. Examples of broad areas of academic disciplines include the natural sciences, mathematics, computer science, social sciences, humanities and applied sciences.[3]

Learning modalities
There has been work on learning styles over the last two decades. Dunn and Dunn[4] focused on identifying relevant stimuli that may influence learning and manipulating the school environment, at about the same time as Joseph Renzulli[5] recommended varying teaching strategies. Howard Gardner[6] identified individual talents or aptitudes in his Multiple Intelligences theories. Based on the works of Jung, the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator and Keirsey Temperament Sorter[7] focused on understanding how people's personality affects the way they interact personally, and how this affects the way individuals respond to each other within the learning environment. The work of David Kolb and Anthony Gregorc's Type Delineator[8] follows a similar but more simplified approach. It is currently fashionable to divide education into different learning "modes". The learning modalities[9] are probably the most common:

Visual: learning based on observation and seeing what is being learned. Auditory: learning based on listening to instructions/information. Kinesthetic: learning based on hands-on work and engaging in activities.

Although it is claimed that, depending on their preferred learning modality, different teaching techniques have different levels of effectiveness,[10] recent research has argued "there is no adequate evidence base to justify incorporating learning styles assessments into general educational practice."[11] A consequence of this theory is that effective teaching should present a variety of teaching methods which cover all three learning modalities so that different students have equal opportunities to learn in a way that is effective for them.[12] Guy Claxton has questioned the extent that learning styles such as VAK are helpful, particularly as they can have a tendency to label children and therefore restrict learning.[13]

Teaching
Teachers need to understand a subject enough to convey its essence to students. While traditionally this has involved lecturing on the part of the teacher, new instructional strategies put the teacher more into the role of course designer,

discussion facilitator, and coach and the student more into the role of active learner, discovering the subject of the course. In any case, the goal is to establish a sound knowledge base and skill set on which students will be able to build as they are exposed to different life experiences. Good teachers can translate information, good judgment, experience and wisdom into relevant knowledge that a student can understand, retain and pass to others. Studies from the US suggest that the quality of teachers is the single most important factor affecting student performance, and that countries which score highly on international tests have multiple policies in place to ensure that the teachers they employ are as effective as possible.[14] With the passing of NCLB in the United States (No Child Left Behind), teachers must be highly qualified.

Technology
Main article: Educational technology Technology is an increasingly influential factor in education. Computers and mobile phones are used in developed countries both to complement established education practices and develop new ways of learning such as online education (a type of distance education). This gives students the opportunity to choose what they are interested in learning. The proliferation of computers also means the increase of programming and blogging. Technology offers powerful learning tools that demand new skills and understandings of students, including Multimedia, and provides new ways to engage students, such as Virtual learning environments. One such tool are virtual manipulatives, which are an "interactive, Webbased visual representation of a dynamic object that presents opportunities for constructing mathematical knowledge" (Moyer, Bolyard, & Spikell, 2002). In short, virtual manipulatives are dynamic visual/pictorial replicas of physical mathematical manipulatives, which have long been used to demonstrate and teach various mathematical concepts. Virtual manipulatives can be easily accessed on the Internet as stand-alone applets, allowing for easy access and use in a variety of educational settings. Emerging research into the effectiveness of virtual manipulatives as a teaching tool have yielded promising results, suggesting comparable, and in many cases superior overall concept-teaching effectiveness compared to standard teaching methods.[citation needed] Technology is being used more not only in administrative duties in education but also in the instruction of students. The use of technologies such as PowerPoint and interactive whiteboard is capturing the attention of students in the classroom. Technology is also being used in the assessment of students. One example is the Audience Response System (ARS), which allows immediate feedback tests and classroom discussions.[15] Information and communication technologies (ICTs) are a diverse set of tools and resources used to communicate, create, disseminate, store, and manage information.[16] These technologies include computers, the Internet, broadcasting technologies (radio and television), and telephony. There is increasing interest in how computers and the Internet can improve education at all levels, in both formal and non-formal settings.[17] Older ICT technologies, such as radio and

television, have for over forty years been used for open and distance learning, although print remains the cheapest, most accessible and therefore most dominant delivery mechanism in both developed and developing countries.[18] In addition to classroom application and growth of e-learning opportunities for knowledge attainment, educators involved in student affairs programming have recognized the increasing importance of computer usage with data generation for and about students. Motivation and retention counselors, along with faculty and administrators, can impact the potential academic success of students by provision of technology based experiences in the University setting.[19] The use of computers and the Internet is in its infancy in developing countries, if these are used at all, due to limited infrastructure and the attendant high costs of access. Usually, various technologies are used in combination rather than as the sole delivery mechanism. For example, the Kothmale Community Radio Internet uses both radio broadcasts and computer and Internet technologies to facilitate the sharing of information and provide educational opportunities in a rural community in Sri Lanka.[20] The Open University of the United Kingdom (UKOU), established in 1969 as the first educational institution in the world wholly dedicated to open and distance learning, still relies heavily on print-based materials supplemented by radio, television and, in recent years, online programming.[21] Similarly, the Indira Gandhi National Open University in India combines the use of print, recorded audio and video, broadcast radio and television, and audio conferencing technologies.[22] The term "computer-assisted learning" (CAL) has been increasingly used to describe the use of technology in teaching.

Educational theory
Main article: Education theory Education theory is the theory of the purpose, application and interpretation of education and learning. Its history begins with classical Greek educationalists and sophists and includes, since the 18th century, pedagogy and andragogy. In the 20th century, "theory" has become an umbrella term for a variety of scholarly approaches to teaching, assessment and education law, most of which are informed by various academic fields, which can be seen in the below sections.

Economics
Main article: Economics of education It has been argued that high rates of education are essential for countries to be able to achieve high levels of economic growth.[23] Empirical analyses tend to support the theoretical prediction that poor countries should grow faster than rich countries because they can adopt cutting edge technologies already tried and tested by rich countries. However, technology

transfer requires knowledgeable managers and engineers who are able to operate new machines or production practices borrowed from the leader in order to close the gap through imitation. Therefore, a country's ability to learn from the leader is a function of its stock of "human capital".[24] Recent study of the determinants of aggregate economic growth have stressed the importance of fundamental economic institutions[25] and the role of cognitive skills.[26] At the individual level, there is a large literature, generally related back to the work of Jacob Mincer,[27] on how earnings are related to the schooling and other human capital of the individual. This work has motivated a large number of studies, but is also controversial. The chief controversies revolve around how to interpret the impact of schooling.[28] Economists Samuel Bowles and Herbert Gintis famously argued in 1976 that there was a fundamental conflict in American schooling between the egalitarian goal of democratic participation and the inequalities implied by the continued profitability of capitalist production on the other.[29]

History
This section needs additional citations for verification. Main article: History of education
Please help improve this article by adding reliable references. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (November 2010)

A depiction of the University of Bologna, Italy

The history of education according to Dieter Lenzen, president of the Freie Universitt Berlin 1994, "began either millions of years ago or at the end of 1770". Education as a science cannot be separated from the educational traditions that existed before. Adults trained the young of their society in the knowledge and skills they would need to master and eventually pass on. The evolution of culture, and human beings as a species depended on this practice of transmitting knowledge. In preliterate societies this was achieved orally and through imitation. Story-telling continued from one generation to the next. Oral language developed into written symbols and letters. The depth and breadth of knowledge that could be preserved and passed soon increased exponentially. When cultures began to extend their knowledge beyond the basic skills of communicating, trading, gathering food, religious practices, etc., formal education, and schooling, eventually followed. Schooling in this sense was already in place in Egypt between 3000 and 500BC.The history of education is the history of man as since its the main occupation of man to pass knowledge, skills and attitude from one generation to the other so is education. Nowadays some kind of education is compulsory to all people in most countries. Due to population growth and the proliferation of compulsory education, UNESCO has calculated that in the next 30 years more people will receive formal education than in all of human history thus far.[30]

Philosophy
Main article: Philosophy of education

John Locke's work Some Thoughts Concerning Education was written in 1693 and still reflects traditional education priorities in the Western world. As an academic field, philosophy of education is a "the philosophical study of education and its problems...its central subject matter is education, and its methods are those of philosophy".[31] "The philosophy of education may be either the philosophy of the process of education or the philosophy of the discipline of education. That is, it may be part of the

discipline in the sense of being concerned with the aims, forms, methods, or results of the process of educating or being educated; or it may be metadisciplinary in the sense of being concerned with the concepts, aims, and methods of the discipline."[32] As such, it is both part of the field of education and a field of applied philosophy, drawing from fields of metaphysics, epistemology, axiology and the philosophical approaches (speculative, prescriptive, and/or analytic) to address questions in and about pedagogy, education policy, and curriculum, as well as the process of learning, to name a few.[33] For example, it might study what constitutes upbringing and education, the values and norms revealed through upbringing and educational practices, the limits and legitimization of education as an academic discipline, and the relation between educational theory and practice.

Psychology
Main article: Educational psychology

A class size experiment in the United States found that attending small classes for 3 or more years in the early grades increased high school graduation rates of students from low income families.[34] Educational psychology is the study of how humans learn in educational settings, the effectiveness of educational interventions, the psychology of teaching, and the social psychology of schools as organizations. Although the terms "educational psychology" and "school psychology" are often used interchangeably, researchers and theorists are likely to

be identified as educational psychologists, whereas practitioners in schools or school-related settings are identified as school psychologists. Educational psychology is concerned with the processes of educational attainment in the general population and in sub-populations such as gifted children and those with specific disabilities. Educational psychology can in part be understood through its relationship with other disciplines. It is informed primarily by psychology, bearing a relationship to that discipline analogous to the relationship between medicine and biology. Educational psychology in turn informs a wide range of specialities within educational studies, including instructional design, educational technology, curriculum development, organizational learning, special education and classroom management. Educational psychology both draws from and contributes to cognitive science and the learning sciences. In universities, departments of educational psychology are usually housed within faculties of education, possibly accounting for the lack of representation of educational psychology content in introductory psychology textbooks (Lucas, Blazek, & Raley, 2006).

Sociology
Main article: Sociology of education The sociology of education is the study of how social institutions and forces affect educational processes and outcomes, and vice versa. By many, education is understood to be a means of overcoming handicaps, achieving greater equality and acquiring wealth and status for all (Sargent 1994). Learners may be motivated by aspirations for progress and betterment. Education is perceived as a place where children can develop according to their unique needs and potentialities.[35] The purpose of education can be to develop every individual to their full potential. The understanding of the goals and means of educational socialization processes differs according to the sociological paradigm used.

Education in the Developing World

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Please help improve this article by adding reliable references. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (April 2010)

World map indicating Education Index (according to 2007/2008 Human Development Report) Universal primary education is one of the eight Millennium Development Goals and great improvements have been achieved in the past decade, yet a great deal remains to be done.[36] Researchers at the Overseas Development Institute indicate the main obstacles to greater funding from donors include: donor priorities, aid architecture, and the lack of evidence and advocacy.[36] Additionally, Transparency International has identified corruption in the education sector as a major stumbling block to achieving Universal primary education in Africa.[37] Furthermore, demand in the developing world for improved educational access is not as high as one would expect as governments avoid the recurrent costs involved and there is economic pressure on those parents who prefer their children making money in the short term over any long-term benefits of education. Recent studies on child labor and poverty have suggested that when poor families reach a certain economic threshold where families are able to provide for their basic needs, parents return their children to school. This has been found to be true, once the threshold has been breached, even if the potential economic value of the children's work has increased since their return to school.

School kids in Tanzania But without capacity, there is no development. A study conducted by the UNESCO International Institute for Educational Planning indicates that stronger capacities in educational planning and management may have an important spill-over effect on the system as a whole.[38] Sustainable capacity development requires complex interventions at the institutional, organizational and individual levels that could be based on some foundational principles: national leadership and ownership should be the touchstone of any intervention; strategies must be context relevant and context specific; they should embrace an integrated set of complementary interventions, though implementation may need to proceed in steps; partners should commit to a long-term investment in capacity development, while working towards some shortterm achievements; outside intervention should be conditional on an impact assessment of national capacities at various levels.

Russia has more academic graduates than any other country in Europe. A lack of good universities, and a low acceptance rate for good universities, is evident in countries with a high population density. In some countries, there are uniform, over structured, inflexible centralized programs from a central agency that regulates all aspects of education.

Due to globalization, increased pressure on students in curricular activities Removal of a certain percentage of students for improvisation of academics (usually practised in schools, after 10th grade)

India is now developing technologies that will skip land based phone and internet lines. Instead, India launched EDUSAT, an education satellite that can reach more of the country at a greatly reduced cost. There is also an initiative started by the OLPC foundation, a group out of MIT Media Lab and supported by several major corporations to develop a $100 laptop to deliver educational software. The laptops are widely available as of 2008. The laptops are sold at cost or given away based on donations. These will enable developing countries to give their children a digital education, and help close the digital divide across the world. In Africa, NEPAD has launched an "e-school programme" to provide all 600,000 primary and high schools with computer equipment, learning materials and internet access within 10 years. Private groups, like The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, are working to give more individuals opportunities to receive education in developing countries through such programs as the Perpetual Education Fund. An International Development Agency project called nabuur.com, started

with the support of former American President Bill Clinton, uses the Internet to allow co-operation by individuals on issues of social development.

Internationalization
Education is becoming increasingly international. Not only are the materials becoming more influenced by the rich international environment, but exchanges among students at all levels are also playing an increasingly important role. In Europe, for example, the Socrates-Erasmus Programme[39] stimulates exchanges across European universities. Also, the Soros Foundation [40] provides many opportunities for students from central Asia and eastern Europe. Programmes such as the International Baccalaureate have contributed to the internationalisation of education. Some scholars argue that, regardless of whether one system is considered better or worse than another, experiencing a different way of education can often be considered to be the most important, enriching element of an international learning experience.[41]

See also
For a topical guide to this subject, see Outline of education.
Education portal Schools portal University portal

Book: Education
Wikipedia Books are collections of articles that can be downloaded or ordered in print.

Academic dishonesty Behavior modification Collaborative learning Dropping out

Educational animation Educational research Indoctrination Learning 2.0 Learning community Lifelong education Online learning community Over-education Remedial education Residential education Single-sex education Synchronous learning Taxonomy of Educational Objectives Traditional knowledge Tutoring Virtual education

References
1. ^ Etymonline.com 2. ^ UNESCO, Education For All Monitoring Report 2008, Net Enrollment Rate in primary education 3. ^ "Examples of subjects". Curriculumonline.gov.uk. http://www.curriculumonline.gov.uk/Default.htm. Retrieved

2009-04-20.
4. ^ "Dunn and Dunn". Learningstyles.net. http://www.learningstyles.net/. Retrieved 2009-04-20.

5. ^ "Biographer of Renzulli". Indiana.edu. http://www.indiana.edu/~intell/renzulli.shtml. Retrieved 2009-04-20. 6. ^ Thomas Armstrong's website detailing Multiple Intelligences 7. ^ "Keirsey web-site". Keirsey.com. http://www.keirsey.com/. Retrieved 2009-04-20. 8. ^ "Type Delineator description". Algonquincollege.com.

http://www.algonquincollege.com/edtech/gened/styles.html. Retrieved 2009-04-20.

9. ^ Swassing, R. H., Barbe, W. B., & Milone, M. N. (1979). The Swassing-Barbe Modality Index: Zaner-Bloser

Modality Kit. Columbus, OH: Zaner-Bloser.

10. ^ Barbe, W. B., & Swassing, R. H., with M. N. Milone. (1979). Teaching through modality strengths: Concepts

and practices. Columbus, OH: Zaner-Bloser,

11. ^ Pashler, Harold; McDonald, Mark; Rohrer, Doug; Bjork, Robert (2009), "Learning Styles: Concepts and

Evidence", Psychological Science in the Public Interest 9 (3): 105119

12. ^ "Learning modality description from the Learning Curve website". Library.thinkquest.org.

http://library.thinkquest.org/C005704/content_hwl_learningmodalities.php3. Retrieved 2010-06-19.

13. ^ "Guy Claxton speaking on What's The Point of School?". dystalk.com. http://www.dystalk.com/talks/49-whats-

the-point-of-school. Retrieved 2009-04-23.

14. ^ [1] 15. ^ Tremblay, Eric. "(2010) Educating the Mobile Generation using personal cell phones as audience response

systems in post-secondary science teaching. Journal of Computers in Mathematics and Science Teaching, 29(2), 217-227. Chesapeake, VA: AACE.". http://editlib.org/p/32314. Retrieved 2010-11-05.
16. ^ Blurton, Craig. "New Directions of ICT-Use in Education" (PDF).

http://www.unesco.org/education/educprog/lwf/dl/edict.pdf. Retrieved 2007-02-06.

17. ^ ICT in Education 18. ^ Potashnik, M. and Capper, J.. "Distance Education:Growth and Diversity" (PDF).

http://www.worldbank.org/fandd/english/pdfs/0398/0110398.pdf. Retrieved 2007-02-06.

19. ^ Whyte, Cassandra Bolyard (1989) Student Affairs-The Future.Journal of College Student Development, v30 n1

p86-89.
20. ^ Taghioff, Daniel. "Seeds of ConsensusThe Potential Role for Information and Communication Technologies in

Development.". Archived from the original on 2003-10-12. http://web.archive.org/web/20031012140402/http://www.btinternet.com/~daniel.taghioff/index.html. Retrieved 2003-10-12.

21. ^ Open University of the United Kingdom Official website 22. ^ Indira Gandhi National Open University Official website 23. ^ Hanushek, Economic Outcomes and School Quality 24. ^ UCLA Economics 183 Lecture from Professor Boustan 25. ^ Daron Acemoglu, Simon Johnson, and James A. Robinson, "The Colonial Origins of Comparative Development:

An Empirical Investigation." American Economic Review 91,no.5 (December 2001):13691401.

26. ^ Eric A. Hanushek, and Ludger Woessmann, "The role of cognitive skills in economic development." Journal of

Economic Literature 46,no.3 (September 2008):607608.

27. ^ Jacob Mincer, "The distribution of labor incomes: a survey with special reference to the human capital approach."

Journal of Economic Literature 8,no.1 (March 1970):126.

28. ^ See, for example, David Card, "Causal effect of education on earnings," in Handbook of labor economics, edited

by Orley Ashenfelter and David Card. Amsterdam: North-Holland, 1999:18011863; James J. Heckman, Lance J. Lochner, and Petra E. Todd., "Earnings functions, rates of return and treatment effects: The Mincer equation and beyond," in Handbook of the Economics of Education, edited by Eric A. Hanushek and Finis Welch. Amsterdam: North Holland, 2006:307458.
29. ^ Samuel Bowles and Herbert Gintis, Schooling in Capitalist America: Educational Reform and the Contradictions

of Economic Life (Basic Books, 1976)

30. ^ Robinson, K.: Schools Kill Creativity. TED Talks, 2006, Monterrey, CA, USA. 31. ^ Noddings, Nel (1995), Philosophy of Education, Boulder, CO: Westview Press, p. 1, ISBN 0-8133-8429-X

32. ^ Frankena, William K.; Raybeck, Nathan; Burbules, Nicholas (2002), "Philosophy of Education", in Guthrie,

James W., Encyclopedia of Education, 2nd edition, New York, NY: Macmillan Reference, ISBN 0-02-865594-X
33. ^ Noddings 1995, pp. 16 34. ^ Finn, J. D., Gerber, S. B., Boyd-Zaharias, J. (2005). Small classes in the early grades, academic achievement, and

graduating from high school. Journal of Educational Psychology, 97, 214233.

35. ^ Schofield, K. (1999). "The Purposes of Education", Queensland State Education: 2010, [Online] URL:

www.aspa.asn.au/Papers/eqfinalc.PDF [Accessed 2002, Oct 28]

36. ^ a b Liesbet Steer and Geraldine Baudienville 2010. What drives donor financing of basic education? London:

Overseas Development Institute.

37. ^ http://www.transparency.org/news_room/latest_news/press_releases/2010/2010_02_23_aew_launch_en 38. ^ de Grauwe, A. 2009. Without capacity, there is no development. Paris: UNESCO-IIPE [2]. 39. ^ "Socrates-Erasmus Programme". Erasmus.ac.uk. http://www.erasmus.ac.uk. Retrieved 2010-06-19. 40. ^ "Soros Foundation". Soros.org. http://www.soros.org/. Retrieved 2010-06-19. 41. ^ Dubois, H. F. W., Padovano, G., & Stew, G. (2006) Improving international nurse training: an AmericanItalian

case study. International Nursing Review, 53(2): 110116.

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Mind
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Jump to: navigation, search For other uses, see Mind (disambiguation). Mind (pronounced /mand/) is the aspect of intellect and consciousness experienced as combinations of thought, perception, memory, emotion, will, and imagination, including all unconscious cognitive processes. The term is often used to refer, by implication, to the thought processes of reason. Mind manifests itself subjectively as a stream of consciousness. Theories of mind and its function are numerous. Earliest recorded speculations are from the likes of Zoroaster, the Buddha, Plato, Aristotle, Adi Shankara and other ancient Greek, Indian and, later, Islamic philosophers. Pre-scientific theories grounded in theology concentrated on the supposed relationship between the mind and the soul, a human's supernatural, divine or god-given essence. Which attributes make up the mind is much debated. Some psychologists argue that only the higher intellectual functions constitute mind, particularly reason and memory. In this view the emotionslove, hate, fear, joyare more primitive or subjective in nature and should be seen as different from the mind as such. Others argue that various rational and emotional states cannot be so separated, that they are of the same nature and origin, and should therefore be considered all part of what we call the mind. In popular usage mind is frequently synonymous with thought: the private conversation with ourselves that we carry on "inside our heads." Thus we "make up our minds," "change our minds" or are "of two minds" about something. One of the key attributes of the mind in this sense is that it is a private sphere to which no one but the owner has access. No one else can "know our mind." They can only interpret what we consciously or unconsciously communicate.

Contents
[hide]

1 Etymology

2 Mental faculties 3 Brain and mind 4 Philosophy of mind 5 Science of mind

5.1 Psychology 5.2 Evolutionary psychology

6 Evolutionary history of the human mind 7 Mental health 8 Animal intelligence 9 Artificial intelligence 10 Religious perspectives 11 Other perspectives

11.1 Parapsychology 11.2 Memetics

12 See also 13 References 14 External links

Etymology
Further information: Geist The original meaning of Old English gemynd was the faculty of memory, not of thought in general. Hence call to mind, come to mind, keep in mind, to have mind of, etc. Old English had other words to express "mind", such as hyge "mind, spirit".

The generalization of mind to include all mental faculties, thought, volition, feeling and memory, gradually develops over the 14th and 15th centuries.[1] The meaning of "memory" is shared with Old Norse, which has munr. The word is originally from a PIE verbal root *men-, meaning "to think, remember", whence also Latin mens "mind", Sanskrit manas "mind" and Greek "mind, courage, anger".

Mental faculties
See also: Reason, Faculty psychology, and Modularity of mind Thought is a mental process which allows individuals to model the world, and so to deal with it effectively according to their goals, plans, ends and desires. Words referring to similar concepts and processes include cognition, idea, and imagination. Thinking involves the cerebral manipulation of information, as when we form concepts, engage in problem solving, reasoning and making decisions. Thinking is a higher cognitive function and the analysis of thinking processes is part of cognitive psychology. Memory is an organism's ability to store, retain, and subsequently recall information. Although traditional studies of memory began in the realms of philosophy, the late nineteenth and early twentieth century put memory within the paradigms of cognitive psychology. In recent decades, it has become one of the principal pillars of a new branch of science called cognitive neuroscience, a marriage between cognitive psychology and neuroscience. Imagination is the ability to generate mental representations of objects or experiences, and is based on internal goals or processes rather than perceptual stimulation by the current environment. The term is technically used in psychology for the process of reviving in the mind percepts of objects formerly given in sense perception. Since this use of the term conflicts with that of ordinary language, some psychologists have preferred to describe this process as "imaging" or "imagery" or to speak of it as "reproductive" as opposed to "productive" or "constructive" imagination. Imagined images are seen with the "mind's eye". Among the many useful applications of imagination is the ability to simulate possible futures, and make decisions that maximize imagined future benefits. Consciousness in mammals (this includes humans) is an aspect of the mind generally thought to comprise qualities such as subjectivity, sentience, and the ability to perceive the relationship between oneself and one's environment. It is a subject of much research in philosophy of mind, psychology, neuroscience, and cognitive science. Some philosophers divide consciousness into phenomenal consciousness, which is subjective experience itself, and access consciousness, which

refers to the global availability of information to processing systems in the brain.[2] Phenomenal consciousness has many different experienced qualities, often referred to as qualia. Phenomenal consciousness is usually consciousness of something or about something, a property known as intentionality in philosophy of mind.

Brain and mind

See also: Cognitive science In animals, the brain, or encephalon (Greek for "in the head"), is the control center of the central nervous system, responsible for thought. In most animals, the brain is located in the head, protected by the skull and close to the primary sensory apparatus of vision, hearing, equilibrioception, taste and olfaction. While all vertebrates have a brain, most invertebrates have either a centralized brain or collections of individual ganglia. Primitive animals such as sponges do not have a brain at all. Brains can be extremely complex. For example, the human brain contains more than 100 billion neurons, each linked to as many as 10,000 others[citation needed]. Understanding the relationship between the brain and the mind mind-body problem is one of the central issues in the history of philosophy is a challenging problem both philosophically and scientifically.[3] There are three major philosophical schools of thought concerning the answer: dualism, materialism, and idealism. Dualism holds that the mind exists independently of the brain;[4] materialism holds that mental phenomena are identical to neuronal phenomena;[5] and idealism holds that only mental phenomena exist.[5] The most straightforward scientific evidence that there is a strong relationship between the physical brain matter and the mind is the impact physical alterations to the brain have on the mind, such as with traumatic brain injury and psychoactive drug use.[6] In addition to the philosophical questions, the relationship between mind and brain involves a high number of scientific questions, including understanding the relationship between mental activity and brain activity, the exact mechanisms by which drugs influence cognition, and the neural correlates of consciousness. Through most of history many philosophers found it inconceivable that cognition could be implemented by a physical substance such as brain tissue (that is neurons and synapses).[7] Philosophers such as Patricia Churchland posit that the drug-mind interaction is indicative of an intimate connection between the brain and the mind, not that the two are the same entity.[8] Descartes, who thought extensively about mind-brain relationships, found it possible to explain reflexes and other

simple behaviors in mechanistic terms, although he did not believe that complex thought, and language in particular, could be explained by reference to the physical brain alone.[9]

Philosophy of mind
See also: Philosophy of mind Philosophy of mind is the branch of philosophy that studies the nature of the mind, mental events, mental functions, mental properties, consciousness and their relationship to the physical body. The mind-body problem, i.e. the relationship of the mind to the body, is commonly seen as the central issue in philosophy of mind, although there are other issues concerning the nature of the mind that do not involve its relation to the physical body.[10] "Aristotelian thought has permeated most Occidental philosophical system until modern times, and the classification of man's function as vegetative, sensitive, and rational is still useful. In present popular usage, soul and mind are not clearly differentiated and some people, more or less consciously, still feel that the soul, and perhaps the mind are not clearly differentiated and some people, more or less consciously, still feel that the soul, and perhaps the mind, may enter or leave the body as independent entities. "- Jose M.R. Delgado [11] Dualism and monism are the two major schools of thought that attempt to resolve the mind-body problem. Dualism is the position that mind and body are in some way separate from each other. It can be traced back to Plato,[12] Aristotle[13][14][15] and the Samkhya and Yoga schools of Hindu philosophy,[16] but it was most precisely formulated by Ren Descartes in the 17th century.[17] Substance dualists argue that the mind is an independently existing substance, whereas Property dualists maintain that the mind is a group of independent properties that emerge from and cannot be reduced to the brain, but that it is not a distinct substance.[18] Monism is the position that mind and body are not physiologically and ontologically distinct kinds of entities. This view was first advocated in Western Philosophy by Parmenides in the 5th Century BC and was later espoused by the 17th Century rationalist Baruch Spinoza.[19] According to Spinoza's dual-aspect theory, mind and body are two aspects of an underlying reality which he variously described as "Nature" or "God". Physicalists argue that only the entities postulated by physical theory exist, and that the mind will eventually be explained in terms of these entities as physical theory continues to evolve. Idealists maintain that the mind is all that exists and that the external world is either mental itself, or an illusion created by the mind. Neutral monists adhere to the position that perceived things in the world can be regarded as either physical or mental depending on whether one is interested in their relationship to other things in the world or their relationship to the perceiver. For example, a red spot on a wall is physical in its dependence on the wall and the pigment of

which it is made, but it is mental in so far as its perceived redness depends on the workings of the visual system. Unlike dual-aspect theory, neutral monism does not posit a more fundamental substance of which mind and body are aspects. The most common monisms in the 20th and 21st centuries have all been variations of physicalism; these positions include behaviorism, the type identity theory, anomalous monism and functionalism.[20] Many modern philosophers of mind adopt either a reductive or non-reductive physicalist position, maintaining in their different ways that the mind is not something separate from the body.[20] These approaches have been particularly influential in the sciences, particularly in the fields of sociobiology, computer science, evolutionary psychology and the various neurosciences.[21][22][23][24] Other philosophers, however, adopt a non-physicalist position which challenges the notion that the mind is a purely physical construct. Reductive physicalists assert that all mental states and properties will eventually be explained by scientific accounts of physiological processes and states.[25][26][27] Non-reductive physicalists argue that although the brain is all there is to the mind, the predicates and vocabulary used in mental descriptions and explanations are indispensable, and cannot be reduced to the language and lower-level explanations of physical science.[28] [29] Continued neuroscientific progress has helped to clarify some of these issues. However, they are far from having been resolved, and modern philosophers of mind continue to ask how the subjective qualities and the intentionality (aboutness) of mental states and properties can be explained in naturalistic terms.[30][31]

Science of mind
Psychology
See also: Sigmund Freud, Carl Jung, and Unconscious mind Psychology is the scientific study of human behaviour, mental functioning, and experience; noology, the study of thought. As both an academic and applied discipline, Psychology involves the scientific study of mental processes such as perception, cognition, emotion, personality, as well as environmental influences, such as social and cultural influences, and interpersonal relationships, in order to devise theories of human behaviour. Psychology also refers to the application of such knowledge to various spheres of human activity, including problems of individuals' daily lives and the treatment of mental health problems. Psychology differs from the other social sciences (e.g., anthropology, economics, political science, and sociology) due to its focus on experimentation at the scale of the individual, or individuals in small groups as opposed to large groups,

institutions or societies. Historically, psychology differed from biology and neuroscience in that it was primarily concerned with mind rather than brain. Modern psychological science incorporates physiological and neurological processes into its conceptions of perception, cognition, behaviour, and mental disorders.

Evolutionary psychology
Evolutionary psychology (EP) is an approach within psychology that examines psychological traits such as memory, perception, or language from a Darwinian evolutionary perspective. It seeks to explain how many human psychological traits are evolved adaptations, that is, the functional products of natural selection or sexual selection. Adaptationist thinking about physiological mechanisms, such as the heart, lungs, and immune system, is common in evolutionary biology. Evolutionary psychology applies the same thinking to psychology. Evolutionary psychologists argue that much of human behavior is originates as psychological adaptations that evolved to solve recurrent problems in human ancestral environments.[32] Further information: Evolutionary neuroscience, Konrad Lorentz, E O Wilson, The Adapted Mind, and Steven Pinker

Evolutionary history of the human mind

The evolution of human intelligence refers to a set of theories that attempt to explain how human intelligence has evolved. The question is closely tied to the evolution of the human brain, and to the emergence of human language. The timeline of human evolution spans some 7 million years, from the separation of the Pan genus until the emergence of behavioral modernity by 50,000 years ago. Of this timeline, the first 3 million years concern Sahelanthropus, the following 2 million concern Australopithecus, while the final 2 million span the history of actual human species (the Paleolithic). Many traits of human intelligence, such as empathy, theory of mind, mourning, ritual, and the use of symbols and tools, are already apparent in great apes although in lesser sophistication than in humans. There is a debate between supporters of the idea of a sudden emergence of intelligence, or "Great leap forward" and those of a gradual or continuum hypothesis. Theories of the evolution of intelligence include:

Robin Dunbar's social brain hypothesis[33] Geoffrey Miller's sexual selection hypothesis[34]

The ecological dominance-social competition (EDSC) [35] explained by Mark V. Flinn, David C. Geary and Carol V. Ward based mainly on work by Richard D. Alexander. The idea of intelligence as a signal of good health and resistance to disease. The Group selection theory contends that organism characteristics that provide benefits to a group (clan, tribe, or larger population) can evolve despite individual disadvantages such as those cited above. The idea that intelligence is connected with nutrition, and thereby with status[36] A higher IQ could be a signal that an individual comes from and lives in a physical and social environment where nutrition levels are high, and vice versa.

Mental health
Main article: Mental health By analogy with the health of the body, one can speak metaphorically of a state of health of the mind, or mental health. Merriam-Webster defines mental health as "A state of emotional and psychological well-being in which an individual is able to use his or her cognitive and emotional capabilities, function in society, and meet the ordinary demands of everyday life." According to the World Health Organization (WHO), there is no one "official" definition of mental health. Cultural differences, subjective assessments, and competing professional theories all affect how "mental health" is defined. In general, most experts agree that "mental health" and "mental illness" are not opposites. In other words, the absence of a recognized mental disorder is not necessarily an indicator of mental health. One way to think about mental health is by looking at how effectively and successfully a person functions. Feeling capable and competent; being able to handle normal levels of stress, maintaining satisfying relationships, and leading an independent life; and being able to "bounce back," or recover from difficult situations, are all signs of mental health. Psychotherapy is an interpersonal, relational intervention used by trained psychotherapists to aid clients in problems of living. This usually includes increasing individual sense of well-being and reducing subjective discomforting experience. Psychotherapists employ a range of techniques based on experiential relationship building, dialogue, communication and behavior change and that are designed to improve the mental health of a client or patient, or to improve group relationships (such as in a family). Most forms of psychotherapy use only spoken conversation, though some also use various other forms of communication such as the written word, art, drama, narrative story, or therapeutic touch. Psychotherapy occurs within a structured encounter between a trained therapist and client(s). Purposeful, theoretically based psychotherapy

began in the 19th century with psychoanalysis; since then, scores of other approaches have been developed and continue to be created.

Animal intelligence
Animal cognition, or cognitive ethology, is the title given to a modern approach to the mental capacities of animals. It has developed out of comparative psychology, but has also been strongly influenced by the approach of ethology, behavioral ecology, and evolutionary psychology. Much of what used to be considered under the title of animal intelligence is now thought of under this heading. Animal language acquisition, attempting to discern or understand the degree to which animal cognition can be revealed by linguistics-related study, has been controversial among cognitive linguists.

Artificial intelligence
This section needs additional citations for verification. Main article: Philosophy of artificial intelligence In 1950 Alan M. Turing published "Computing machinery and intelligence" in Mind, in which he proposed that machines could be tested for intelligence using questions and answers. This process is now named the Turing Test. The term Artificial Intelligence (AI) was first used by John McCarthy who considers it to mean "the science and engineering of making intelligent machines".[37] It can also refer to intelligence as exhibited by an artificial (man-made, non-natural, manufactured) entity. AI is studied in overlapping fields of computer science, psychology, neuroscience and engineering, dealing with intelligent behavior, learning and adaptation and usually developed using customized machines or computers. Research in AI is concerned with producing machines to automate tasks requiring intelligent behavior. Examples include control, planning and scheduling, the ability to answer diagnostic and consumer questions, handwriting, natural language, speech and facial recognition. As such, the study of AI has also become an engineering discipline, focused on providing solutions to real life problems, knowledge mining, software applications, strategy games like computer chess and other video games. One of the biggest difficulties with AI is that of comprehension. Many devices have been created that can do amazing things, but critics of AI claim that no actual comprehension by the AI machine has taken place. The debate about the nature of the mind is relevant to the development of artificial intelligence. If the mind is indeed a thing separate from or higher than the functioning of the brain, then hypothetically it would be much more difficult to
Please help improve this article by adding reliable references. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (September 2007)

recreate within a machine, if it were possible at all. If, on the other hand, the mind is no more than the aggregated functions of the brain, then it will be possible to create a machine with a recognisable mind (though possibly only with computers much different from today's), by simple virtue of the fact that such a machine already exists in the form of the human brain.

Religious perspectives
Various religious traditions have contributed unique perspectives on the nature of mind. In many traditions, especially mystical traditions, overcoming the ego is considered a worthy spiritual goal. Judaism teaches that "moach shalit al halev", the mind rules the heart. Humans can approach the Divine intellectually, through learning and behaving according to the Divine Will as enclothed in the Torah, and use that deep logical understanding to elicit and guide emotional arousal during prayer. Christianity has tended to see the mind as distinct from the soul (Greek nous) and sometimes further distinguished from the spirit. Western esoteric traditions sometimes refer to a mental body that exists on a plane other than the physical. Hinduism's various philosophical schools have debated whether the human soul (Sanskrit atman) is distinct from, or identical to, Brahman, the divine reality. Buddhism posits that there is actually no distinct thing as a human being, who merely consists of five aggregates, or skandhas. According to Buddhist philosopher Dharmakirti, mind is defined as "that which is clarity and cognizes"where 'clarity' refers to the formless nature of the mind and 'cognizes' to the function of mind, namely that every mind must cognize an object.[38] The Indian philosopher-sage Sri Aurobindo attempted to unite the Eastern and Western psychological traditions with his integral psychology, as have many philosophers and New religious movements. Taoism sees the human being as contiguous with natural forces, and the mind as not separate from the body. Confucianism sees the mind, like the body, as inherently perfectible. See also: Buddhism and psychology

Other perspectives
Parapsychology
Parapsychology is the scientific study of certain types of paranormal phenomena, or of phenomena which appear to be paranormal.,[39] for instance precognition, telekinesis and telepathy. The term is based on the Greek para (beside/beyond), psyche (soul/mind), and logos (account/explanation) and was coined by psychologist Max Dessoir in or before 1889.[40] J.

B. Rhine later popularized "parapsychology" as a replacement for the earlier term "psychical research", during a shift in methodologies which brought experimental methods to the study of psychic phenomena.[40] Parapsychology is controversial, with many scientists believing that psychic abilities have not been demonstrated to exist.[41][42][43][44][45] The status of parapsychology as a science has also been disputed,[46] with many scientists regarding the discipline as pseudoscience.[47][48][49]

Memetics
Memetics is a theory of mental content based on an analogy with Darwinian evolution, which was originated by Richard Dawkins and Douglas Hofstadter in the 1980s. It purports to be an approach to evolutionary models of cultural information transfer. A meme, analogous to a gene, is an idea, belief, pattern of behaviour (etc.) which is "hosted" in one or more individual minds, and which can reproduce itself from mind to mind. Thus what would otherwise be regarded as one individual influencing another to adopt a belief is seen memetically as a meme reproducing itself. As with genetics, particularly under Dawkins's interpretation, a meme's success may be due its contribution to the effectiveness of its host (i.e., a the meme is a useful, beneficial idea), or may be "selfish", in which case it could be considered a "virus of the mind".

See also
Philosophy portal Mind and Brain portal

Cognitive sciences Conscience Mental state Mental energy Mind at Large Neural Darwinism

Subjective character of experience Theory of mind Skandha

References
1. ^ OED; etymonline.com 2. ^ Ned Block: On a Confusion about a Function of Consciousness" in: The Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 1995. 3. ^ Churchland, Neurophilosophy 4. ^ Hart, 1996 5. ^ a b Lacey, 1996 6. ^ Boake and Diller, 2005 7. ^ Neurophilosophy, Ch. 6 8. ^ Neurophilosophy, Ch. 8 9. ^ Descartes, Description of the human body 10. ^ Kim, J. (1995). Honderich, Ted. ed. Problems in the Philosophy of Mind. Oxford Companion to Philosophy.

Oxford: Oxford University Press.

11. ^ James M.R. Delgado (1969). Physical control of the mind; towards a psycho civilized society. Fitzhenry &

Whiteside Limited, Toronto citebook. p. 25.

12. ^ Plato (1995). E.A. Duke, W.F. Hicken, W.S.M. Nicoll, D.B. Robinson, J.C.G. Strachan. ed. Phaedo. Clarendon

Press.
13. ^ Robinson, H. (1983): Aristotelian dualism, Oxford Studies in Ancient Philosophy 1, 12344. 14. ^ Nussbaum, M. C. (1984): Aristotelian dualism, Oxford Studies in Ancient Philosophy, 2, 197207. 15. ^ Nussbaum, M. C. and Rorty, A. O. (1992): Essays on Aristotle's De Anima, Clarendon Press, Oxford.

16. ^ Sri Swami Sivananda. "Sankhya:Hindu philosophy: The Sankhya".

http://www.experiencefestival.com/a/Sankhya/id/23117.
17. ^ Descartes, Ren (1998). Discourse on Method and Meditations on First Philosophy. Hacket Publishing

Company. ISBN 0-87220-421-9.

18. ^ Hart, W.D. (1996) "Dualism", in Samuel Guttenplan (org) A Companion to the Philosophy of Mind, Blackwell,

Oxford, 2657.
19. ^ Spinoza, Baruch (1670) Tractatus Theologico-Politicus (A Theologico-Political Treatise). 20. ^ a b Kim, J., "Mind-Body Problem", Oxford Companion to Philosophy. Ted Honderich (ed.). Oxford:Oxford

University Press. 1995.

21. ^ Pinel, J. Psychobiology, (1990) Prentice Hall, Inc. ISBN 8815071741 22. ^ LeDoux, J. (2002) The Synaptic Self: How Our Brains Become Who We Are, New York: Viking Penguin. ISBN

8870787958
23. ^ Russell, Stuart J.; Norvig, Peter (2003), Artificial Intelligence: A Modern Approach (2nd ed.), Upper Saddle

River, New Jersey: Prentice Hall, ISBN 0-13-790395-2, http://aima.cs.berkeley.edu/

24. ^ Dawkins, R. The Selfish Gene (1976) Oxford:Oxford University Press. ISBN 25. ^ Churchland, Patricia (1986). Neurophilosophy: Toward a Unified Science of the Mind-Brain.. MIT Press.

ISBN 0-262-03116-7.
26. ^ Churchland, Paul (1981). "Eliminative Materialism and the Propositional Attitudes". Journal of Philosophy

(Journal of Philosophy, Inc.) 78 (2): 6790. doi:10.2307/2025900. http://jstor.org/stable/2025900.

27. ^ Smart, J.J.C. (1956). "Sensations and Brain Processes". Philosophical Review. 28. ^ Donald Davidson (1980). Essays on Actions and Events. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-924627-0. 29. ^ Putnam, Hilary (1967). "Psychological Predicates", in W. H. Capitan and D. D. Merrill, eds., Art, Mind and

Religion Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press.

30. ^ Dennett, Daniel (1998). The intentional stance. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press. ISBN 0-262-54053-3.

31. ^ Searle, John (2001). Intentionality. A Paper on the Philosophy of Mind. Frankfurt a. M.: Nachdr. Suhrkamp.

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33. ^ The Social Brain Hypothesis 34. ^ Miller. The Mating Mind. ISBN 0805857494. 35. ^ "Flinn, M. V., Geary, D. C., & Ward, C. V. (2005). Ecological dominance, social competition, and coalitionary

arms races: Why humans evolved extraordinary intelligence". http://web.missouri.edu/~gearyd/Flinnetal2005.pdf. Retrieved 2007-05-05.
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41. ^ Science Framework for California Public Schools. California State Board of Education. 1990. 42. ^ Wheeler, J. A. (1979). "Point of View: Drive the Pseudos Out...". Skeptical Inquirer 3: 1213. 43. ^ Kurtz, P. (1978). "Is Parapsychology a Science?". Skeptical Inquirer 3: 1432. 44. ^ Druckman, D. and Swets, J. A. eds. (1988). Enhancing Human Performance: Issues, Theories and Techniques.

National Academy Press, Washington, D.C.. p. 22. ISBN 0-309-07465-7.

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"Despite decades of experimental research ... there is still no proof that gifts such as telepathy and the ability to see the future exist, mainstream scientists say."
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Moral character
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Jump to: navigation, search This article's citation style may be unclear. The references used may be made clearer with a different or consistent style of citation, footnoting, or external linking. Moral character or character is an evaluation of a particular individual's durable moral qualities. The concept of character can imply a variety of attributes including the existence or lack of virtues such as integrity, courage, fortitude, honesty, and loyalty, or of good behaviors or habits. Moral character primarily refers to the assemblage of qualities that distinguish one individual from another - although on a cultural level, the set of moral behaviors to which a social group adheres can be said to unite and define it culturally as distinct from others. Psychologist Lawrence Pervin defines moral character as "a disposition to express behavior in consistent patterns of functions across a range of situations" (Pervin 1994, p. 108).

Contents
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1 Overview 2 History 3 Biblical Definition 4 Scientific Experiments Disputing the Existence of Moral Character 5 Criticism 6 References and further reading

Overview
The word "character" is derived from the Greek word charaktr, which was originally used of a mark impressed upon a coin. Later and more generally, it came to mean a point by which one thing was told apart from others (Timpe 2007). There are two approaches when dealing with moral character: Normative ethics involve moral standards that exhibit right and wrong conduct. It is a test of proper behavior and determining what is right and wrong. Applied ethics involve specific and

controversial issues along with a moral choice, and tend to involve situations where people are either for or against the issue (Timpe 2007). In 1982, Campbell and Bond proposed the following as major factors in influencing character and moral development: heredity, early childhood experience, modeling by important adults and older youth, peer influence, the general physical and social environment, the communications media, what is taught in the schools and other institutions, and specific situations and roles that elicit corresponding behavior (Huitt 2004, Impacting Moral and Character Development). The field of business ethics examines moral controversies relating to the social responsibilities of capitalist business practices, the moral status of corporate entities, deceptive advertising, insider trading, basic employee rights, job discrimination, affirmative action and drug testing.

History
The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy provides a historical account of some important developments in philosophical approaches to moral character. A lot of attention is given to Plato, Aristotle and Karl Marx's views, since they all follow the idea of moral character after the Greeks. Marx accepts Aristotle's insight that virtue and good character are based on a sense of self-esteem and self-confidence. Plato believed that the soul is divided into three parts of desire: Rational, Appetitive, or Spirited. [1] In order to have moral character, we must understand what contributes to our overall good and have our spirited and appetitive desires educated properly, so that they can agree with the guidance provided by the rational part of the soul. Aristotle tells us that there are two different kinds of human excellences, excellences of thought and excellences of character. His phrase for excellences of character -- thikai aretai -- we usually translate as moral virtue or moral excellence. When we speak of a moral virtue or an excellence of character, the emphasis is on the combination of qualities that make an individual the sort of ethically admirable person that he is [2]. Aristotle defines virtuous character at the beginning of Book II in Nicomachean Ethics: Excellence of character, then, is a state concerned with choice, lying in a mean relative to us, this being determined by reason and in the way in which the man of practical wisdom would determine it. Now it is a mean between two vices, that which depends on excess and that which depends on defect. On Aristotle's view, good character is based on two naturally occurring psychological responses which most people experience without difficulty: our tendency to take pleasure from self-realizing activity and our tendency to form friendly feelings toward others under specific circumstances. Based on his view, virtually everyone is capable of becoming better and they are the ones responsible for actions that express (or could express) their character. [3]

Abraham Lincoln once said, "Character is like a tree and reputation like its shadow. The shadow is what we think of it; the tree is the real thing." [4]

Biblical Definition
The Bible defines character as any behavior or activity that reflects the character of God. The Book of Genesis says that God created man in his own image. Modern Christian Theology states that this means that humans are created to act in accordance to the will of their creator. In general, Christians believe that this means that the morally correct thing to do is reflect the character of the creator. (Note, this article requires more information)

Scientific Experiments Disputing the Existence of Moral Character

The Milgram experiment was a study done in the early 1960s that helped measure a persons moral character. Subjects from different socioeconomic groups were tested on their willingness to press a buzzer that caused the subject in another room to experience great pain and distress for giving a wrong answer to a test question. When the subjects raised questions about what they are being asked to do, the experimenter applied mild pressure in the form of appealing to the need to complete the experiment. The Milgram experiment caused a huge amount of criticism among individuals.In postexperiment interviews with subjects Milgram noted that many were completely convinced of the wrongness of what they were doing. Although the subjects may have had moral values, many were criticized on whether they were a truly moral character. [5] In one experiment that was done, the moral character of a person was based on whether or not a person had found a dime in a public phone booth. The findings were that 87% of subjects who found a dime in a phone booth helped somebody in need, while only 4% of those who did not find a dime helped. It is very troubling that people would be influenced by such morally trivial factors in their choice whether to provide low-cost assistance to others. Doris raises the issue of ecological validitydo experimental findings reflect phenomena found in natural contexts. He recognizes that these results are counterintuitive to the way most of us think about morally relevant behavior.[6] Another experiment that was done that asked college students at Cornell to predict how they would behave when faced with one of several moral dilemmas, and to make the same predictions for their peers. Again and again, people predicted that they would be more generous and kind than others. Yet when the time came to put their money where their mouths were, most kept their wallet in their pockets. In psychological terms, the experimental subjects were successfully

anticipating the base rate of moral behavior and accurately predicting how often others, in general, would be selfsacrificing.[7]

Criticism
Recently, a number of philosophers and social scientists have begun to question the very presuppositions that theories of moral character and moral character traits are based on. Due to the importance of moral character to issues in philosophy, it is unlikely that the debates over the nature of moral character will disappear anytime soon.[8] Situationism can be understood as composed of three central claims [9]: Non-robustness Claim: moral character traits are not consistent across a wide spectrum of trait-relevant situations. Whatever moral character traits an individual has are situation specific. Consistency Claim: while a persons moral character traits are relatively stable over time, this should be understood as consistency of situation specific traits, rather than robust traits. Fragmentation Claim: a persons moral character traits do not have the evaluative integrity suggested by the Integrity Claim. There may be considerable disunity in a persons moral character among her situation-specific character traits. According to Situationists, the empirical evidence favors their view of moral character over the Traditional View. Hugh Hartshorne and M. A. Mays study of the trait of honesty among school children found no cross-situational correlation. A child may be consistently honest with his friends, but not with his parents or teachers. From this and other studies, Hartshorne and May concluded that character traits are not robust but rather specific functions of life situations [10] A second challenge to the traditional view can be found in the idea of moral luck. This idea is that moral luck occurs when the moral judgment of an agent depends on factors beyond the agents control. There are number of ways that moral luck can motivate criticisms of moral character. It is similar to the kind of problems and situations one faces [Nagel, Thomas (1993). "Moral Luck," in Moral Luck, ed. Daniel Statman (State University of New York Press): 57-61].If all of an agents moral character traits are situation-specific rather than robust, what traits an agent manifests will depend on the situation that she finds herself in. But what situations an agent finds herself in is often beyond her control and thus a matter of situational luck. Whether moral character traits are robust or situation-specific, some have suggested that what character traits one has is itself a matter of luck. If our having certain traits is itself a matter of luck, this would seem to undermine ones moral responsibility for ones moral character, and thus the concept of moral character altogether. As Owen Flanagan and Amlie Oksenberg Rorty write [11]: It [the morality and meaning of an individuals life] will depend on luck in an individuals upbringing, the values she is taught, the self-controlling and self-constructing capacities her social

environment enables and encourages her to develop, the moral challenges she faces or avoids. If all her character, not just temperamental traits and dispositions but also the reflexive capacities for self-control and self-construction, are matters of luck, then the very ideas of character and agency are in danger of evaporation A moral character trait is a character trait for which the agent is morally responsible. If moral responsibility is impossible, however, then agents cannot be held responsible for their character traits or for the behaviors that they do as a result of those character traits. A similar argument has also recently been advocated by Bruce Waller According to Waller, no one is "morally responsible for her character or deliberative powers, or for the results that flow from them. Given the fact that she was shaped to have such characteristics by environmental (or evolutionary) forces far beyond her control, she deserves no blame [nor praise]"[12].

References and further reading

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Character

Blum, Lawrence (2003). "Review of Doris's Lack of Character" Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews. link Homiak, Marcia (2008). "Moral Character", The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Fall Edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed.). link Huitt, W. (2004). "Moral and character development", Educational Psychology Interactive, Valdosta, GA: Valdosta State University. Retrieved 10 Oct. 2008. link Pervin, Lawrence (1994). "A Critical Analysis of Current Trait Theory", Psychological Inquiry 5, pp. 103-113. Timpe, Kevin (2007). "Moral Character", The Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy, J. Fieser & B. Dowden (eds.). link

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moral_character" Categories: Theology | Morality | Virtue ethics Hidden categories: Wikipedia references cleanup
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