The history of cognitive assessment in Brazil is described through evolutionary movements or waves, when tests were just imported and translated from other countries, criticized, and later evaluated in laboratories on test construction founded at private and state universities. The presence of high standards for test use place Brazil at the…

The social sciences have traditionally assumed that education is a major determinant of citizens' political orientations and behavior. Several studies have also shown that intelligence has an impact. According to a theory that conceptualizes intelligence as a "burgher" (middle-class, civil) phenomenon--intelligence should promote civil…

The history of intellectual assessment with children and youth in Peru is presented from the foundation of scientific psychology in Peru until now. Current practices are affected by the multicultural ethnolinguistic diversity of the country, the quality of the different training programs, as well as by Peruvian regulations for becoming an academic…

This article provides guidelines for an entry-level course that prepares psychology students and practitioners to acquire entry-level skills, abilities, knowledge, and attitudes important to the individual assessment of intellectual abilities of children and youth. The article reviews prominent international, regional, and national policies,…

The literature on IQ gains in Latin America is sparse. We estimate gains on Raven's Progressive Matrices in the city of La Plata (Argentina) between 1964 and 1998. The gains are robust at the top of the curve as well as at the bottom. Therefore, they are contrary to the hypothesis that nutrition played a major role in recent Argentine IQ gains.…

Despite Kaufman, Raven's Progressive Matrices and the Wechsler subtest Similarities are tests whose gains call for special explanation. The spread of "scientific spectacles" is the key, but its explanatory potential has been exhausted. Three trends force us to look elsewhere: (a) gains on Wechsler subtests such as Picture Arrangement,…

Flynn has proposed a grand integrative theory, which he calls "scientific spectacles," to explain the phenomenon of rising IQ scores across multiple decades known as the Flynn effect (FE). In his theory, he purports that modern society has placed increasing value and emphasis on the application and education of scientific…

Rare gifts and talents often are untapped and untaught, with just a portion of the population who have artistic talent being served. Furthermore, there is still much to be learned in terms of understanding these students' abilities and needs. This article shares current research regarding characteristics of artistically talented students. Usually…

Examined whether Inuit children enter school with reduced intellectual skills and tested the possibility that environmental factors in the educational environment serve to disrupt or slow Inuit children's cognitive development. Findings show no deficiency in intellectual capacity at time of school entry. Factors affecting academic underachievement…