Sense and Nonsense about IQ: The Case for Uniqueness

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This fascinating, well-written, and potentially controversial book is a wide-ranging exploration of the essential issues relevant to IQ. Charles Locurto examines data on the effectiveness of preschools; the impacts of adoption, heredity, and the role of environment; he evaluates the possibility of enhancing IQ in the early years; and he brilliantly describes and analyzes the major cases relevant to IQ research. Sense and Nonsense about IQ is truly an excellent sourcebook on the subject of human intelligence and its measurement. Locurto reaches conclusions about the benefits of preschools, adoptions, social class, and family events that will gain attention and evoke discussion. The balance of the work, neither identifying with those who follow the extremes of hereditarianism or of environmentalism, ensures that Locurto's volume will be a most valuable resource for all with a serious interest in this subject which has so many far-reaching implications.

Reviews

Locurto's theme is the nature and nurture of intelligence, specifically, the malleability of the IQ. He reviews the history of this debate in eight chapters, with detailed data supporting the extremist positions of heredity (genetic studies) and environment (preschool, adoption, and social class studies). He then presents his own case for uniqueness and "the certainty that the particular array of abilities that constitutes intelligence is very much the product of our own idiosyncratic pathways and less the result of imposed common experience" (p. xviii). Although this does not sound new, his emphasis is on the unrecognized appreciation for small cumulative influences that, he claims, account for almost half of the variations in adult intelligence. His treatise is clearly made.-Choice
The comfortably engaging style in which this book is written reflects the depth of Locurto's knowledge of the relevant literature and issues and his ability to place them in appropriate literary as well as historical and scientific contexts. That quality will certainly help make this book interesting and understandable to intelligent lay people and most undergraduate students.-Contemporary Psychology
"The comfortably engaging style in which this book is written reflects the depth of Locurto's knowledge of the relevant literature and issues and his ability to place them in appropriate literary as well as historical and scientific contexts. That quality will certainly help make this book interesting and understandable to intelligent lay people and most undergraduate students."-Contemporary Psychology
"Locurto's theme is the nature and nurture of intelligence, specifically, the malleability of the IQ. He reviews the history of this debate in eight chapters, with detailed data supporting the extremist positions of heredity (genetic studies) and environment (preschool, adoption, and social class studies). He then presents his own case for uniqueness and "the certainty that the particular array of abilities that constitutes intelligence is very much the product of our own idiosyncratic pathways and less the result of imposed common experience" (p. xviii). Although this does not sound new, his emphasis is on the unrecognized appreciation for small cumulative influences that, he claims, account for almost half of the variations in adult intelligence. His treatise is clearly made."-Choice

Author Bio

CHARLES LOCURTO is Associate Professor and Chair of the Department of Psychology at the College of the Holy Cross. He is Senior Editor of Autoshaping and Conditioning Theory. Dr. Locurto has also contributed articles to Animal Learning and Behavior, Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior, and Intelligence.