The g Factor The Science of Mental Ability

Subjects:

• Psychology » Cognitive Psychology
• Education » Tests & Measurements

Reviews:

• Jensen does the impossible by making a book about psychological measurement interesting. Though the book will no doubt be politically controversial, readers will have difficulty arguing with Jensen's scholarly, scientific approach. To deny the rationality of Jensen's treatment is to admit a lack of objectivity on the part of the reader.
  —Choice
• Jensen's diligence in resolving one of the more treacherous issues in psychological research-the nature of human differences in mental ability-may finally settle the critical aspects of this complex issue once and for all.
  —Society
• In this great brick of a book (Jensen) has marshaled three decades of research to make his complex case about intelligence....(It) makes The Bell Curve, to which it will inevitably be compared, look like a biography of Leonardo DiCaprio. Still, it is lucid and for the most part carefully argued. Those who are inclined to disagree with Mr. Jensen will find that they have quite a challenge on their hands.
  —Wall Street Journal
• The issue of male/female intelligence has never before been dispositively resolved. And in recent years a number of scholars have mounted a powerful and facially plausible argument for an average male superiority....I had observed that scholars on both sides of the argument seemed intensely interested in one question: What does Art Jensen think?....Jensen's new book...is a 650-page blockbuster that summarizes Art's work on scores of issues, and leaves you thinking that g is not just some academic construct but a biological phenomenon with vast explanatory power....He conclude(s): 'The sex difference in psychometric g is either totally nonexistent or is of uncertain direction and inconsequential magnitude.' That settles it: On average the sexes are equally smart. And yes, that's news.
  —Forbes
• Arthur R. Jensen's tome-like salvo in the race and intelligence debate....explains the bases of his system for intelligence measurement, and why he believes that his results indicate a significant difference among the races.
  —Publishers Weekly
• A deep, scholarly work....It is balanced and comprehensive, summarizing virtually all the relevant studies on the nature of intelligence and demolishing most of the challenges and alternative explanations of the major findings....These chapters put general intelligence as a psychological trait on a more solid foundation than is enjoyed by any other aspect of personality or behavior. They also speak persuasively to the issue of heritability, the argument for which becomes more plausible to the extent that intelligence can be associated with biological correlates.
  —Commentary
• This is a challenging book to review. To my knowledge there is nothing comparable to it in print....it may well be the needed bridge between the traditional research program in psychology on intelligence and the research programs of the future. This book makes a convincing argument not only for the practical importance of the g factor, but for the position that it is perhaps the greatest scientific mystery and puzzle in psychology.
  —Personality and Individual Differences
• This tome surely must be considered as the ultimate summary of research on the general factor g, thought to underlie human mental ability. Simply put, Jensen organizes several lifetimes of research and thinking in evaluating the evidence for this concept, its likely hereditary basis, as well as its implications for differences among individuals, between the sexes, racial groups, and for social policy at all these levels. One does not have to agree with the author to find the presentation extremely interesting.
  —Psychological Reports
• [T]he book is full of highly technical information, but it is presented so that a scientifically minded lay audience can understand. He also presents a wealth of citations to original research and extensive technical notes....If a reader starts with the notion that general intelligence is a fictional concept, this work will easily dispel such a belief.
  —The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science
• [I]t is futile to study human ability without this book. To everyone studying human ability, The g Factor is the indispensible compendium....Even those who disagree with most of what Arthur Jensen says in The g Factor, such as myself, have to admire the sheer dedication, pertinacity, and tireless scholarship that must have gone into a work of this scope.
  —Personnel Psychology
• The g Factor presents a wealth of fascinating data.
  —Galton Institute Newsletter
• Author Arthur Jensen is arguably the world's leading expert on intelligence (over 300 papers published) and this book summarizes his life's work. This makes it a major and one that will be used for years.
  —The Mankind Quarterly
• ...[J]ensen provides a rigorous and persuasive case that the measurement of g is, contrary to the arguments of many critics..., a highly objective enterprise....One of my distinguished colleagues recently told me that every time he read anything by Arthur Jensen, it was a joy to read and he learned something new. The g Factor continues this tradition. It is a joy to read and is also full of new ideas. It is the work of a master scientist.
  —Contemporary Psychology

• Endorsement From Charles Murray, in National Review: The g Factor is a book that an academic publisher should kill for. Arthur Jensen is among the pre-eminent psychometricians of the last half-century....It is a book that every scholar working in the area will have to read. An indispensable reference in every psychology library. A book to hold up to young scholars as an example of why a lifetime of patient and meticulous scholarship is worth while.

Table of Contents:

• Preface
• A Little History
• The Discovery of g
• The Trouble with "Intelligence"
• Models and Characteristics of g
• Challenges to g
• Biological Correlates to g
• The Heritability of g
• Information Processing and g
• The Practical Validity of g
• Construct, Vehicles, and Measurements
• Population Differences in g
• Population Differences in g: Hypothesized Causes
• Sex Differences in g
• The g Nexus
• Appendix A: Spearman's "Law of Diminishing Returns"
• Appendix B: Method of Correlated Vectors
• Appendix C: Multivariate Analyses of a Nexus
• References
• Index