HD 6440

The Nature of Human Intelligence

Course Description

Course information provided by the 2025-2026 Catalog.

The course will survey the nature of human intelligence. Examples of topics include: theories of intelligence, measurement of intelligence, development of intelligence, cultural issues regarding intelligence, heritability of intelligence, group differences in intelligence, extremes of intelligence, and improving intelligence. The course will include an independent project plus a midterm and final exam.

Last 4 Terms Offered 2025FA, 2023FA, 2020SP, 2016FA

Outcomes

• Compare and contrast alternative approaches to, and theories of, human intelligence.
• Analyze the strengths and weaknesses of existing measures of intelligence.
• Evaluate claims regarding heritability of, and group differences in, human intelligence.
• Create one's own test of human intelligence.
• Apply what one has learned about human intelligence to one's work and home life.
• Critique research in the field of human intelligence.
• Specify differences between explicit and implicit theories of human intelligence.
• Compare and contrast implicit and explicit theories of human intelligence across cultures.
• Evaluate how the nature of, and levels of human intelligence change over the life course.
• Analyze how intelligence relates to other psychological constructs, such as creativity and wisdom. Relate content of text(s) to students' own research interests. Be able to detect presuppositions underlying different authors' assertions about intelligence.

When Offered Spring.

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