Concerning Hunt's new ways of assessing intelligence

Hunt envisions the automation of intelligence testing (Intelligence, 1982, 6, 231–240), but he appears to be overly optimistic. He neglects to mention conceptual and practical difficulties at the interface of measurement and theory that place psychometry not in the dawn of microcomputerization, but rather more nearly in its primordium.     

Towards truly human-level intelligence in artificial applications

Despite the fact that there are now a large number of successful bio-inspired applications in use in science and technology, we are still quite far removed from creating applications that display human-like intelligence. Putting together successful bio-inspired applications remains something of a black art; this is due to a lack of fundamental understanding of brain function. The causes for these problems were analysed in a ’Roadmap for Neuro-IT’ and were deemed to be sufficiently pressing to motivate one of five ’Grand Challenges’ in Neuro-IT: the ’Constructed Brain’. The challenge argued that one of the main bottlenecks to progress is that data taking and modelling in the neurosciences are being fractured across many research groups and communities; it makes proposals for addressing the issue. Similar observations, raised in two OECD workgroup papers have led to the formation of the International Neuroinformatics Coordinating Facility. As a consequence we can conclude that there is now a much higher awareness of the problems and that in the neurosciences the situation has improved dramatically. I will review recent initiatives to facilitate data management, modelling and simulation in the neurosciences. One problem remains unaddressed, however. The project-based funding of the brain sciences sets an upper limit to the complexity of brain models. Since the brain is truly complex, any individual project will fall short of capturing the brain’s complexity. The creation of a central infrastructure for the brain sciences is inescapable, but is unlikely to be realised soon. I will outline suggestions to handle the current situation.     

Towards assessing the therapeutic value of Rogers's core conditions

Despite the considerable research generated by Roger's hypothesis that the only factor responsible for therapeutic effectiveness is the degree to which the patient perceives the therapist as being unconditionally accepting, empathic and congruent, an adequate test of the causal nature of this proposition has not as yet been carried out. Consequently, the therapeutic value of these core conditions remains unknown. The way in which the causal nature of this hypothesis should be investigated is discussed, pointing out mistaken proposals made by earlier reviewers and drawing attention to the ethical and practical difficulties which manipulation of the core conditions may entail. In the absence of stronger support for the therapeutic role of the core conditions, it is argued that it may be preferable to initially explore the causal nature and relative strengths of their effects by conducting a more naturalistic panel study in which both the core conditions and therapeutic outcome are assessed at two or more points in the course of therapy. The most appropriate statistical techniques for analysing such panel data are outlined.     

New paradigms for assessing emotional intelligence: theory and data

This article describes the development and validation of 2 measures of emotional intelligence (EI): the Situational Test of Emotional Understanding (STEU) and the Situational Test of Emotion Management (STEM). Study 1 (N=207 psychology students) examines multiple sources of validity evidence: relationships with EI, vocabulary, personality, and emotion-related criteria. Study 2 (N=149 white-collar volunteers) relates STEU and STEM scores to clinical symptoms, finding relationships to anxiety and stress for both tests, and to depression for the STEM. It is concluded that new performance-based approaches to test development, such as the present ones, might be useful in distinguishing between test and construct effects. Implications for expanding theory and for developing EI interventions are discussed.     

The Wechsler adult intelligence scale and personality assessment: Towards a biologically based theory of intelligence and cognition

Drawing on findings reported in an earlier paper (Robinson, 1985a), ‘introversion- extraversion’ scores were derived from WAIS-R profile differences. Scores on a ‘psychopathy’ dimension were derived from WAIS-R profiles in similar fashion. Results are described which show that these WAIS-R scores do relate to personality in the predicted fashion. The essential findings are that groups with high and low WAIS-R introversion-extraversion scores obtain significantly different scores on the Extraversion scale of the EPO. Groups with high and low WAIS-R psychopathy scores obtain significantly different scores on the Psychoticism scale of the same questionnaire. Some theoretical and practical implications are discussed. Special reference is made to biologically based explanations for ‘intelligence’ differences and differences in ‘cognition’.     

Towards a new model of science

Journal for General Philosophy of Science - One — Sided understanding of Aristotle led to the view that the principal aim of science is general knowledge. In modern times this view must be...     

Towards a new functional anatomy of language

The classical brain-language model derived from the work of Broca, Wernicke, Lichtheim, Geschwind, and others has been useful as a heuristic model that stimulates research and as a clinical model that guides diagnosis. However, it is now uncontroversial that the classical model is (i) empirically wrong in that it cannot account for the range of aphasic syndromes, (ii) linguistically underspecified to an extent that prohibits contact with the language sciences, and (iii) anatomically underspecified. We briefly summarize some of the central issues that motivate why a new functional anatomy of language is necessary, in the context of introducing a collection of articles that describe systematic new attempts at specifying the new functional anatomy. The major convergent observations are highlighted and the emergent conceptual and empirical trends are identified.     

Towards a new epistemology of moral progress

Abstract: Awareness that moral beliefs and practices have changed across time threatens our confidence in our current moral beliefs: if past moral beliefs turned out to be wrong, how can we be sure ours aren't likewise mistaken? In this paper, I set up four desiderata for a successful theory of moral progress: it must allow us to judge that progress has occurred, avoid the image of increasing correspondence towards ahistorical truthmakers, allow for revision in belief, and yet not be disobligating. Rorty's pragmatist account of moral progress delivers on the first three, but at the cost of failing to meet the fourth: it drains moral beliefs of their categorical force. I then outline K.E. Løgstrup's understanding of the relation between the ‘ethical demand’ and changing, socially mediated norms. While Løgstrup does posit an unchanging ground of normativity ‐ the “ethical demand” to act for the sake of the other whose welfare is in our hands – he also thinks that changing social norms are an indispensable part of ethical life. I argue that Løgstrup's discussion of the ‘refraction‘ of the ethical demand through changing social norms provides resources for an account of moral progress that fulfils these four desiderata.     

Visual-object ability: a new dimension of non-verbal intelligence

The goal of the current research was to introduce a new component of intelligence: visual-object intelligence, that reflects one's ability to process information about visual appearances of objects and their pictorial properties (e.g., shape, color and texture) as well as to demonstrate that it is distinct from visual-spatial intelligence, which reflects one's ability to process information about spatial relations and manipulate objects in space. Study 1 investigated the relationship between performance on various measures of visual-object and visual-spatial abilities, and areas of specialization (visual art, science and humanities). Study 2 examined qualitative differences in approaches to interpreting visual abstract information between visual artists, scientists and humanities/social science professionals. Study 3 investigated qualitative differences in visual-object versus visual-spatial processing by examining how members of different professions generate, transform, inspect, and manipulate visual images. The results of the three studies demonstrated that visual-object ability satisfies the requirements of an independent component of intelligence: (1) it uniquely relates to specialization in visual art; (2) it supports processing of abstract visual-object information; and (3) it has unique quantitative and qualitative characteristics, distinct from those of visual-spatial processing.     

Chinese sex differences in intelligence: Some new evidence

Sex differences on the WISC-R in Chinese children were examined in a sample of 788 aged 12 years. Boys obtained a higher mean full scale IQ than girls of 3.75 IQ points, a higher performance IQ of 4.20 IQ points, and a higher verbal IQ of 2.40 IQ points. Boys obtained significantly higher means on the information, picture arrangement, picture completion, block design, and object assembly subtests, while girls obtained a significantly higher mean on coding. The results were in general similar to the sex differences in the United States standardisation sample of the WISC-R. Boys showed greater variability than girls.     

Towards new work arrangements: The case of telecommuting

Telecommuting is an example of novel ways of organizing work now being implemented in technologically advanced nations. It is the major industrialized countries that have provided the circumstances and the incentives to experiment with new approaches. These approaches were created within, and co‐exist with these models of social organization. They also embrace some elements that undermine basic tenets of industrial models. Telecommuting is discussed below as an example of newly evolving work arrangements which illustrates the interplay of tensions between existing models of work organization and innovative ways of ordering tasks. This paper is based upon graduate research in Rural Extension. The conceptual framework was created by synthesizing material from interdisciplinary sources and primary data collection included in‐depth interviews with key informants engaged in telecommuting.     

人工智能辅助下的心理健康新型测评

近年来,人工智能技术的飞速发展及应用催生了"智能化心理健康测评"这一领域。智能化心理健康测评能够弥补传统方法的不足,降低漏诊率并提高诊断效率,这对于心理健康问题的普查及预警具有重大意义。目前,智能化心理健康测评处于初步发展阶段,研究者基于在线行为数据、便携式设备数据等开展主要以数据驱动为导向的探索研究,旨在实现更高的预测准确率,但是测评结果的可解释性等指标尚不够理想。未来的智能化心理健康测评需要强调心理学领域知识和经验的深度介入,提高测评的针对性和精细化程度,加强信效度检验,这对于智能化心理健康测评工具的进一步发展和应用至关重要。