Illiterate people’s thinking probably remains grounded in their everyday experience. When these people take a test that solely measures abstract thinking, they perform poorly. This does not make them stupid. Instead, it shows the disconnect between their natural mode of thought and the unfamiliar test content.
It’s time for a thought experiment! Imagine what would happen if most people working in engineering did not have a correct understanding of the basic principles of physics. Alternatively, ponder what would happen if a majority of physicians had incorrect ideas about biology and the causes of disease. Of course, the result would be disastrous.…
Exactly two years ago today, my colleagues and I published an article in Archives of Scientific Psychology in which we analyzed the discussion about intelligence in each book and screened it for inaccuracies and logical fallacies (Warne et al., 2018). We found that over three-quarters of introductory psychology textbooks had at least one factual error…
Last week, I had a new article published by the American Psychological Association in Teaching of Psychology (Burton & Warne, in press). The article has two parts: an analysis of course catalogs, and an outline for a university-level intelligence course. Course Catalog Analysis My then-student, Jared Z. Burton, identified 303 of the top universities in…
