Presents an overview of human evolution and discusses human and animal intelligence, the mechanisms of the brain, memory, sleep, myths and legends about evolution, and the possibility of intelligent extraterrestrial life.

Spurred by the new developments in a rapidly expanding field, Robert Sternberg has brought together a stellar list of contributors to provide a comprehensive, broad and deeply thematic review of intelligence that will be accessible to both scholar and student. The field of intelligence is lively on many fronts, and this volume provides full coverage on topics such as behavior-genetic models, evolutionary models, cognitive models, emotional intelligence, practical intelligence, and group difference. The 28 chapters in the handbook are divided into 9 parts: I. the nature of intelligence and its measurement; II. Development of intelligence; III. Group analyses of intelligence; IV. Biology of intelligence; V. Intelligence and information processing; VI. Kinds of Intelligence; VII. Testing and teaching intelligence; VIII. Intelligence, society, and culture; and IX. Intelligence in relation to allied constructs. The Handbook will serve as an authoritative resource on all aspects of theory, research, and measurement in the field of intelligence. Robert J. Sternberg is IBM Professor of Psychology and Education inthe Department of Psychology at Yale University. He is author of Thinking Styles, Metaphors of Mind, and The Psychologistas Companion, and editor of Handbook of Creativity.

Jensen provides a comprehensive treatment of one of the major constructs of behavioral science―general mental ability―labeled the g factor by its discoverer, Charles Spearman. The g factor is about individual differences in mental abilities. In factor analyses of any and every large and diverse collection of measures of mental abilities, however varied the content of knowledge and skills they call upon, g emerges as the largest, most general source of differences between individuals and between certain subpopulations. Jensen fully and clearly explains the psychometric, statistical, genetic, and physiological basis of g, as well as the major theoretical challenges to the concept. For decades a key construct in differential psychology, the g factor's significance for scholars and researchers in the brain sciences as well as education, sociology, anthropology, evolutionary psychology, economics, and public policy is clearly evident in this, the most comprehensive treatment of g ever published.