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Intelligence: The Psychological View

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Intelligence - Theories and Applications

Abstract

This chapter presents a small sample of psychological research on the topic of “human intelligence.” Intelligence is a central construct in modern psychology for describing differences in cognitive performance. Somewhat broader conceptualizations view human adaptation to the environment and shaping the environment to our advantage as central to intelligent action. A brief overview of different conceptions of intelligence is given. The “dark side” of intelligence (the destructive potential) is also addressed. The peculiarities of human intelligence compared to artificial intelligence are emphasized.

The text is based on a talk given as the opening lecture at the 145th Annual Conference of the Evangelical Research Academy on Jan. 8, 2021, at Berlin, and published in their 2021 conference proceedings under the title “Was ist Intelligenz? Die psychologische Sicht”.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    “Mainstream science on intelligence”, December 13, 1994. Wall Street Journal, p. A18.

  2. 2.

    The abbreviation g (for ““general intelligence”) has become accepted as an acronym. Malicious tongues claim that g is to psychology what C (carbon) is to chemistry (Ree & Earles, 1993).

  3. 3.

    Ethics often show themselves only in the breaking of rules, e.g., in the murder of tyrants.

  4. 4.

    See https://retractionwatch.com/2021/02/17/publisher-retracting-five-papers-because-of-clearevidence-that-they-were-computer-generated/. Retrieved 10.08.2021.

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Acknowledgment

I sincerely thank Dr. Marlene Endepohls (Heidelberg) for her comments and remarks.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, University of Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany

    Joachim Funke

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  1. Joachim Funke
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Correspondence to Joachim Funke .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. University of Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany

    Rainer M. Holm-Hadulla

  2. Department of Psychology, University of Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany

    Joachim Funke

  3. Institute of Pharmacy and Molecular Biotechnology, University of Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany

    Michael Wink

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Funke, J. (2022). Intelligence: The Psychological View. In: Holm-Hadulla, R.M., Funke, J., Wink, M. (eds) Intelligence - Theories and Applications. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-04198-3_7

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