In the course of their researches for Mental Imagery in the Child (1971), the authors came to appreciate that action may be more conducive to the formation and conservation of images than is mere perception. This raised the problem of memory and its relation to intelligence, which they examine in this title, originally published in English in 1973. Through the analysis primarily of the child’s capacity for remembering additive and multiplicative logical structures, and his remembrance of causal and spatial structures, the authors investigate whether memories pursue their own course, regardless of the intelligence or whether, in specified conditions, mnemonic improvements may be due to progress in intelligence. They examine the relationship between the memory’s figurative aspects (from perceptive recognition to the memory-image) and its operational aspects (the schemata of the intelligence), and stress the fundamental significance of the mnemonic level known as the ‘reconstructive memory’. This was a pioneering work at the time, presenting illuminating conclusions drawn from extensive research, together with a number of constructive ideas which opened up a fresh approach to an important area of educational psychology.

Born in Vienna in 1864, Bernard Hollander was a London-based psychiatrist. He is best known for being one of the main proponents of phrenology. This title originally published in 1931 looks at the different regions of the brain and their various functions in relation to intelligence. From the preface: "The records of cases collected by the author, including some of his own, point to there being at least three main regions of totally different functions.... Of these three regions, the frontal is by far the largest in man and the most important, being the region for the manifestation of the highest intellectual abilities." Back in print this is a chance to read all about the study of the brain, mind and external signs of intelligence from the early twentieth century.

Originally published in 1926, the first part of this book attempted to formulate a theory of ability in the light of recent experimental results of the time. It discusses the nature of intelligence and the problem of special abilities, and includes a study of some typical forms of genius. The second part gives an account of a three years’ experimental study of special abilities in arts and science respectively, carried out upon university students. Samples of the tests employed are included. The results are presented in non-technical form. Victoria Hazlitt was a pioneer of experimental psychology, which was particularly significant as a woman in the early twentieth century. In many cases her work anticipated later developments in psychology by many years. Today it can be enjoyed in its historical context.

In the course of their researches for Mental Imagery in the Child (1971), the authors came to appreciate that action may be more conducive to the formation and conservation of images than is mere perception. This raised the problem of memory and its relation to intelligence, which they examine in this title, originally published in English in 1973. Through the analysis primarily of the child’s capacity for remembering additive and multiplicative logical structures, and his remembrance of causal and spatial structures, the authors investigate whether memories pursue their own course, regardless of the intelligence or whether, in specified conditions, mnemonic improvements may be due to progress in intelligence. They examine the relationship between the memory’s figurative aspects (from perceptive recognition to the memory-image) and its operational aspects (the schemata of the intelligence), and stress the fundamental significance of the mnemonic level known as the ‘reconstructive memory’. This was a pioneering work at the time, presenting illuminating conclusions drawn from extensive research, together with a number of constructive ideas which opened up a fresh approach to an important area of educational psychology.

Originally published in 1987, the contributors bring their different orientations to the study of child development and genetic epistemology to show the continuing value of Piaget's theory and its fruitfulness in providing insights which permit the advancement of science. This volume contains the proceedings of the VIIth Advanced Course of the "Fondation Archives Jean Piaget", held at the University of Geneva in 1985. The lectures and discussions included in this volume will help the reader to understand Piaget in the context of twentieth-century science and philosophy and to consider the present and future of the theory, as it was seen at the time of original publication.

First published in 1950, this revised edition of The Structure of Human Abilities was published in 1961, but remained largely unchanged from the original save for an additional supplement on the developments in factorial work on human abilities from 1950-1959. Much research had been carried out during the years leading up to publication, in England and America, into mental abilities; and modern methods of statistical treatment, especially factor analysis, had been increasingly used. It was felt that the mass of diverse material was apt to confuse the student of psychology of the time, especially as the results of such research were often apparently conflicting. Professor Vernon, one of the leading experts in this branch of psychology, sifted the material and attempted to provide a consistent picture of our mental structure.

Originally published in English in 1976, the book draws on and extends our knowledge of the process of learning. The subject of the study is the general stage in a child’s development that comes between his successful performance of an activity without knowing how he did it – that is, what he had to do in order to succeed – and the times when he becomes aware of what went into that action. The book reports the results of experiments conducted at the Centre of Genetic Epistemology. Children, ranging in age between four and adolescence, were asked to perform such tasks as walking on all fours, playing tiddlywinks, building a ramp for a toy car. They were then asked to explain how they had performed the task, and in some cases, to instruct the interviewer. Their answers show a number of surprising inaccuracies in the child’s ability to grasp the nature of what he has done. Taking a broad view of his results, Piaget shows that they reveal several stages in the gradual development of the child’s conceptualization of his actions. In analysing each stage, Piaget argues that the child’s concept of his own action cannot be considered a simple matter of ‘enlightenment’, but must actively be reconstructed from his experience. This view has always been at the core of Piaget’s work, and a new area of the child’s mental world is here given definitive treatment.

Psychology considered as the science of human behavior is concerned with man's response to the impressions made upon him by objects, people, and events. They make up the situations that he meets. Behavior--the individual's way of dealing with these situations--if not a complete failure, results finally in some sort of adjustment to the conditions in which one lives; and this adjustment culminates in social and moral habits, in habits of work, in ways of thinking and acting; in short, in habits of life. And through all the adapting process runs the influence of physiological conditions, and the effect of their changes caused by the manner of life and the advance of years. The adjustment may be mechanical and rigid, insensible to misfits, without power to readjust as conditions alter; or, again, it may be flexible and adaptive--capable of new adjustments as circumstances change. This adjustment represents the capacity of man for achievement. It is his efficiency--the strategy and tactics of life. It is well, then, from time to time to take an inventory of stock and try to discover the significance of the facts and principles of human behavior which investigation has revealed. Concerning the more common matters of every-day life, however, psychologists have offered relatively little of interpretative value. Yet these experiences make up the day's work. They determine its quantity and quality. Much has been written about making others efficient, but comparatively little about one's own method of thinking, working, and acting. Yet knowing oneself reaches far into success and failure; and there is no other way of understanding the behavior of others. It is, therefore, in the hope of interpreting a few of these personal experiences of daily life that this book is written. The topics that could be discussed extend far beyond the limits of a single volume. The choice, of course, is largely personal, but the writer has tried to select types of conduct, as well as phases and causes of behavior, that are fundamental to thinking and acting, whether in the life of social intercourse or in the business and professional world. And, after all, thinking and acting determine achievement.

Originally published in 1988, in this personal review of the state of academic psychology, Paul Kline draws attention to the way in which his peers at the time studiously avoided such threatening matters as human feelings and emotions, unconscious ‘complexes’ – in short anything that could be called the human psyche. His erudite, amusing, and provocative text outlines the crucial influence of the development of scientific method before examining key experiments within cognitive psychology and cognitive science, psychometrics, social psychology, and animal behaviour. Is most of experimental psychology trivial, redundant, and irrelevant? The academic subject cannot continue to ignore its critics, he argued, and must solve its problems by means of radical solutions. Whether they support or refute Professor Kline’s arguments, students and professionals alike will still enjoy this original book.