
Rationality and Intelligence by Jonathan Baron
What is intelligence? Can it be increased by teaching? If so, how, and what difference would an increase make? Before we can answer these questions, we need to clarify them. Jonathan Baron argues that when we do so we find that intelligence has much to do with rational thinking, and that the skills involved in rational thinking are in fact teachable, at least to some extent. Rationality and Intelligence develops and justifies a prescriptive theory of rational thinking in terms of utility theory and the theory of rational life plans. The prescriptive theory, buttressed by other assumptions, suggests that people generally think too little and in a way that is insufficiently critical of the initial possibilities that occur to them. However these biases can be - and sometimes are - corrected by education.
Baron, Jonathan: - Jonathan Baron is Professor of Psychology at the University of Pennsylvania. Baron's research is based on the utilitarian idea that society should be organized to do the most good (or to maximize utility). Some of his research examines people's intuitive principles for decision-making and moral judgement, and explores how these principles can stand in the way of doing the most good. Baron is the author of Rationality and Intelligence (1985); Thinking and Deciding (1988, 1994, 2000), a widely used textbook for advanced undergraduates and beyond; Morality and Rational Choice (1993), Judgement Misguided: Intuition and Error in Public Decision Making (1998); and Against Bioethics (2006). He has also co-edited three books and published over 175 papers and chapters. He is the editor of the journal Judgement and Decision Making, and he is currently president of the Society for Judgement and Decision Making. He holds a BA from Harvard and a PhD from Michigan and is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and of the American Psychological Society.
| SKU | Unavailable |
| ISBN 13 | 9780521017237 |
| ISBN 10 | 0521017238 |
| Title | Rationality and Intelligence |
| Author | Jonathan Baron |
| Condition | Unavailable |
| Binding Type | Paperback |
| Publisher | Cambridge University Press |
| Year published | 2005-07-07 |
| Number of pages | 308 |
| Cover note | Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary. |
| Note | Unavailable |