Not serious ones, I imagine, though serious psychology strikes me as a philosopher as a sort of joke. Psychology's history is mostly philosophy of mind without the possibility of falsification; I am told it's gotten better of late, but the replication crisis doesn't inspire a lot of faith in that assertion. All things equal, though, let's assume 'not the more serious psychologists.'
One of the very replicable findings about at least one measure of intelligence -- reading comprehension -- is that girls get it faster than boys. My elementary school broke the law (such differences already being forbidden) by sorting classes by reading comprehension level, so we had what the kids knew as and referred to as the 'high' 'middle,' and 'low' classes of intelligence. Since I learned to read well fairly early, my classmates were 26 girls and 3 boys, plus myself. The effects of that approximately 9-1 ratio, combined with alphabetical arrangement of students, were that I learned to talk to girls early. This has been an accidental but entirely beneficial outcome, as human beings sort by sex and by age cohort more than is rational. My friendships with women and with people much older than myself have been especially enlightening.
But it's not true, not remotely true, that anyone can learn anything. Try teaching anything. You'd think that one wouldn't get headway among educators, but somehow it has.
I think you'll find this interesting. 0>:~}
ReplyDeleteI am not "wired" for visualizing certain spatial things, such as where my plane is in the air, relative to the navigation aids and the ground, while on an instrument approach. I learned how to compensate, but it remained very difficult while I was flying full time. However, I have a gift for languages, and can "flip" from one to another in mid-stream, even though I'm not trained as an interpreter, but as a translator.
ReplyDeleteAre there things I just cannot learn? I'm certain there are. Electronics (trouble shooting wiring and other electronics problems past the most basic of problems) is one of them. Computer programming more advanced than very simple BASIC is another. My brain doesn't work that way.
LittleRed1
Yes, the military administers a test called the ASVAB that has a section on mechanical comprehension. There is a practice test here:
ReplyDeletehttps://www.asvabpracticetests.com/asvab-mechanical-comprehension-practice-test/
When he was a child, I would bring my son out to the truck I was working on to have him tell me how to fit a new serpentine belt on it. He could do it from a very young age perfectly. I can do it, but I have to think carefully every time. It's still that way: I do a lot of mechanical work, but it's not a natural aptitude for me.
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DeleteA lot of talents do seem to skip generationally. Dad was a CPA and good with numbers- Me, not so much.
DeleteI assume people who utter nonsense like "there's no such thing as intelligence" know better, but find the fiction useful. It's much like saying a trans woman is the same as a woman. The crazier the statement, the more useful it is as a gauge of how much control they can exert over other people to join in patent fictions. Denying the existence of intelligence also has the advantage of excusing a denial of any system of merit, to be replaced by patronage.
ReplyDeleteMy elementary school broke the law (such differences already being forbidden) by sorting classes by reading comprehension level, so we had what the kids knew as and referred to as the 'high' 'middle,' and 'low' classes of intelligence.
ReplyDeleteI am reminded of a nearby elementary school which had two fifth grade classes. The two teachers decided to sort the students, with higher-ability students in one class and lower-ability in the other. It didn't take long for the 5th grade students to refer to "the dumb class" and "the smart class."
No such thing as intelligence, or if there is, it can't be measured? I am reminded of the NYT article which informed us that blacks comprised only 0.7% of tenured math professors at the top 50 universities. She informed her readers that this low percentage was a result of "racial exclusion" or "unconscious bias." And so forth. An article in the Journal of Blacks in Higher Education informed us that in 2005, blacks comprised 0.7% of students scoring 750 or above on the Math SAT. It's a fair guess---a rough estimate--- that those who got doctorates in Math scored 750 or above on the Math SAT. Same percentage as blacks who are tenured math professors. Which indicates that SAT scores tracks the percentage of blacks who are tenured math professors than "racial exclusion."
The testing programs of the Armed Forces have a good record of identifying recruits who have the capabilities for specialized jobs. Consider pilots. Neither Ted Williams nor a cousin by marriage had college degrees, but testing correctly identified them as having the capabilities for pilots during WW2. Similarly, a college dropout neighbor of mine became a helicopter pilot in Vietnam. After the army, he became a helicopter pilot entrepreneur.
Gringo