CSSE Seminar Series (CSSESS)
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Seminar
Human Intelligence:
How Nature and Nurture Interact to Shape Intellectual Performance.
Speaker: Prof. Stellan Ohlsson.
Institute: University of Illinois at Chicago.
Time/Place: 2:10 PM, Wed, 26 Nov, in Room 031, Erskine Building.
All are welcome.
Abstract
Although researchers usually talk about specific studies, the ultimate goal of basic research is to provide clarity about the "Big Issues" that recur across time and cultures. One of those is the nature of intelligence and, in particular, how it is related to, on the one hand, the biological, genetic bases for cognition, and, on the other hand, training and experience. In this presentation, I will review and critique the arguments for an innate basis for intelligence, and summarize what those arguments and bodies of evidence do and do not establish. The conclusion disagrees with all the various positions currently held by researchers with respect to this issue. I will end by suggesting a perspective that resolves the "nature-nurture" controversy in its classical form, and also integrates the science-based view with common sense.
Biography
Dr. Stellan Ohlsson has a degree in psychology from the University of Stockholm, where he also studied the philosophy of science. He held teaching and research positions both in Australia and Sweden before emigrating to the U.S.A. in 1983. During the decade 1985-1995 he held a full time research position at the Learning Research and Development Center associated with the University of Pittsburgh. He achieved the rank of Senior Scientist in 1993. He moved to the Department of Psychology at UIC in 1995. Dr. Ohlsson has published approximately 80 scholarly works on a variety of questions related to knowledge, thinking and cognitive change. His research has received support from the National Science Foundation (NSF), the Office of Naval Research (ONR), the Office of Educational Research and Improvement (OERI) and the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Dr. Ohlsson also writes about the history of the cognitive sciences. /p>
View past or future seminars; or view the CSSESS Home Page.