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The g Factor: The Science of Mental Ability
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.
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.
664 pages, Hardcover
First published February 28, 1998
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About the author
Arthur R. Jensen
14 books24 followersArthur Robert Jensen was born August 24, 1923, in San Diego, California, the son of Linda Mary (née Schachtmayer) and Arthur Alfred Jensen, who operated and owned a lumber and building materials company. His paternal grandparents were Danish immigrants and his mother was of half Polish Jewish and half German descent. He studied at University of California, Berkeley (B.A. 1945), San Diego State College (M.A., 1952) and Columbia University (Ph.D., 1956), and did his doctoral thesis with Percival Symonds on the Thematic Apperception Test. From 1956 through 1958, he did his postdoctoral research at the University of London, Institute of Psychiatry with Hans Eysenck.
Upon returning to the United States he became a researcher and professor at the University of California, Berkeley, where he focused on individual differences in learning, especially the influences of culture, development, and genetics on intelligence and learning. He received tenure at Berkeley in 1962. He has concentrated much of his work on the learning difficulties of students in culturally disadvantaged environments. In 2003 he was awarded the Kistler Prize for original contributions to the understanding of the connection between the human genome and human society. In 2006 the International Society for Intelligence Research awarded Jensen its Lifetime Achievement Award. During Jensen's period in San Diego he spent time working as a social worker with the San Diego Department of Public Welfare.
Upon returning to the United States he became a researcher and professor at the University of California, Berkeley, where he focused on individual differences in learning, especially the influences of culture, development, and genetics on intelligence and learning. He received tenure at Berkeley in 1962. He has concentrated much of his work on the learning difficulties of students in culturally disadvantaged environments. In 2003 he was awarded the Kistler Prize for original contributions to the understanding of the connection between the human genome and human society. In 2006 the International Society for Intelligence Research awarded Jensen its Lifetime Achievement Award. During Jensen's period in San Diego he spent time working as a social worker with the San Diego Department of Public Welfare.
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