Scott Barry Kaufman

Last updated
Scott Barry Kaufman
Scott Barry Kaufman Aspen.png
Born
NationalityAmerican
Education
Scientific career
Fields Humanistic psychology
Positive psychology
Cognitive science
Educational psychology
Website http://www.scottbarrykaufman.com

Scott Barry Kaufman is an American cognitive scientist, author, podcaster, coach, and popular science writer. His writing and research focuses on intelligence, creativity, and human potential. Most media attention has focused on Kaufman's attempt to redefine intelligence. [1] [2] [3] Kaufman is founder and director of the Center for Human Potential and has taught courses at Columbia, NYU, the University of Pennsylvania, and elsewhere. He is one of the top 20 most cited scientists studying intelligence, [4] and is among the top 1% most cited scientists in the world. [5] In 2015, he was named one of "50 groundbreaking scientists who are changing the way we see the world" by Business Insider,. [6]

Contents

Kaufman has also written a number of books and is host of The Psychology Podcast, which is often ranked as the #1 psychology podcast in the world. [7] In 2021 Louis Vuitton selected him as one of 200 "visionaries" to celebrate Vuitton's 200th birthday. As a result, his "Manifesto for a Human-Centered Education" appeared in "200 Trunks, 200 Visionaries: The Exhibition" around the world. In 2022, he taught a class on gratitude with Oprah. [8]

Education

Kaufman received his B.S. from Carnegie Mellon University, where he double majored in psychology and human-computer interaction, and where he was Herbert A. Simon's last research assistant and a student of Randy Pausch. [9] In 2005, he received his M.Phil. from King's College, Cambridge under a Gates Scholarship, where he worked with Nicholas Mackintosh. [10] After Cambridge, Kaufman earned his Ph.D. in cognitive psychology from Yale University where he was mentored by Robert Sternberg, Jeremy R. Gray, and Jerome L. Singer. [11] From 2009-2010, he was a postdoctoral fellow at the Center Leo Apostel for Interdisciplinary Studies. [12]

Research

The dual-process theory of human intelligence

Most theories of human intelligence and tests of intelligence emphasize controlled and deliberate reasoning as the hallmark of human intelligence. While agreeing that such thought processes are an important component of intelligence, Kaufman argues that spontaneous forms of thinking such as insight, imaginative play, daydreaming, implicit learning, and a reduced latent inhibition are also important contributors to a wide range of intelligent behaviors as well as creativity. [13] [14] Integrating modern dual-process theories of cognition with research on human intelligence, Kaufman proposed the dual-process theory of human intelligence. [15] [16] [17] [18]

The theory emphasizes the importance of adaptation to task demands as the essence of intelligent functioning. At the same time, the theory takes into account an individual's personal goals and accommodates a wide range of intelligent behaviors in a wide range of fields, from the arts to the sciences. A key assumption of the theory is that abilities are not static entities but are constantly changing throughout the life span as the person continually engages with controlled and spontaneous modes of thought. In Ungifted: Intelligence Redefined, Kaufman expanded his dual-process theory to make the point that his theory is also fundamentally developmental, because it views intelligence as the dynamic interplay of engagement and ability over time in the pursuit of personal goals. [19]

Light triad

Influenced by the dark triad theory of antisocial personalities, Kaufman is researching a proposed "light triad" of personality virtues: humanism, Kantianism, and faith in humanity. [20]

Narcissism

Kaufman has also been involved in research examining grandiose and vulnerable subtypes of narcissism. [21] [22]

Tragic optimism

The concept of "tragic optimism" in the phrase coined by the existential-humanistic psychologist and Holocaust survivor Viktor Frankl, has been suggested by Kaufman as a healthy antidote to toxic positivity. [23]

Bibliography

Books

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Intelligence quotient</span> Score from a test designed to assess intelligence

An intelligence quotient (IQ) is a total score derived from a set of standardised tests or subtests designed to assess human intelligence. The abbreviation "IQ" was coined by the psychologist William Stern for the German term Intelligenzquotient, his term for a scoring method for intelligence tests at University of Breslau he advocated in a 1912 book.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Theory of multiple intelligences</span> Theory of multiple types of human intelligence proposed by Howard Gardner

The theory of multiple intelligences proposes the differentiation of human intelligence into specific intelligences, rather than defining intelligence as a single, general ability. The theory has been very popular among educators around the world for 40 years despite being criticized by mainstream psychology for its lack of empirical evidence, its dependence on subjective judgement and its overall unscientific nature.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Creativity</span> Forming something new and somehow valuable

Creativity is a characteristic of someone or some process that forms something new and valuable. The created item may be intangible or a physical object.

Human intelligence is the intellectual capability of humans, which is marked by complex cognitive feats and high levels of motivation and self-awareness. Using their intelligence, humans are able to learn, form concepts, understand, and apply logic and reason. Human intelligence is also thought to encompass their capacities to recognize patterns, plan, innovate, solve problems, make decisions, retain information, and use language to communicate.

The g factor is a construct developed in psychometric investigations of cognitive abilities and human intelligence. It is a variable that summarizes positive correlations among different cognitive tasks, reflecting the fact that an individual's performance on one type of cognitive task tends to be comparable to that person's performance on other kinds of cognitive tasks. The g factor typically accounts for 40 to 50 percent of the between-individual performance differences on a given cognitive test, and composite scores based on many tests are frequently regarded as estimates of individuals' standing on the g factor. The terms IQ, general intelligence, general cognitive ability, general mental ability, and simply intelligence are often used interchangeably to refer to this common core shared by cognitive tests. However, the g factor itself is a mathematical construct indicating the level of observed correlation between cognitive tasks. The measured value of this construct depends on the cognitive tasks that are used, and little is known about the underlying causes of the observed correlations.

Intellectual giftedness is an intellectual ability significantly higher than average. It is a characteristic of children, variously defined, that motivates differences in school programming. It is thought to persist as a trait into adult life, with various consequences studied in longitudinal studies of giftedness over the last century. These consequences sometimes include stigmatizing and social exclusion. There is no generally agreed definition of giftedness for either children or adults, but most school placement decisions and most longitudinal studies over the course of individual lives have followed people with IQs in the top 2.5 percent of the population—that is, IQs above 130. Definitions of giftedness also vary across cultures.

Intelligence has been defined in many ways: the capacity for abstraction, logic, understanding, self-awareness, learning, emotional knowledge, reasoning, planning, creativity, critical thinking, and problem-solving. It can be described as the ability to perceive or infer information; and to retain it as knowledge to be applied to adaptive behaviors within an environment or context.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Robert Sternberg</span> American psychologist & scholar

Robert J. Sternberg is an American psychologist and psychometrician. He is a Professor of Human Development at Cornell University.

Computational cognition is the study of the computational basis of learning and inference by mathematical modeling, computer simulation, and behavioral experiments. In psychology, it is an approach which develops computational models based on experimental results. It seeks to understand the basis behind the human method of processing of information. Early on computational cognitive scientists sought to bring back and create a scientific form of Brentano's psychology.

The Differential Ability Scales (DAS) is a nationally normed, and individually administered battery of cognitive and achievement tests. Into its second edition (DAS-II), the test can be administered to children ages 2 years 6 months to 17 years 11 months across a range of developmental levels.

James C. Kaufman is an American psychologist known for his research on creativity. He is a Professor of Educational Psychology at the University of Connecticut in Storrs, Connecticut. Previously, he taught at the California State University, San Bernardino, where he directed the Learning Research Institute. He received his Ph.D. from Yale University in Cognitive Psychology, where he worked with Robert J. Sternberg.

Evolutionary educational psychology is the study of the relation between inherent folk knowledge and abilities and accompanying inferential and attributional biases as these influence academic learning in evolutionarily novel cultural contexts, such as schools and the industrial workplace. The fundamental premises and principles of this discipline are presented below.

The Culture Fair Intelligence Test (CFIT) was created by Raymond Cattell in 1949 as an attempt to measure cognitive abilities devoid of sociocultural and environmental influences. Scholars have subsequently concluded that the attempt to construct measures of cognitive abilities devoid of the influences of experiential and cultural conditioning is a challenging one. Cattell proposed that general intelligence (g) comprises both fluid intelligence (Gf) and crystallized intelligence (Gc). Whereas Gf is biologically and constitutionally based, Gc is the actual level of a person's cognitive functioning, based on the augmentation of Gf through sociocultural and experiential learning.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cattell–Horn–Carroll theory</span> Psychological theory

The Cattell–Horn–Carroll theory, is a psychological theory on the structure of human cognitive abilities. Based on the work of three psychologists, Raymond B. Cattell, John L. Horn and John B. Carroll, the Cattell–Horn–Carroll theory is regarded as an important theory in the study of human intelligence. Based on a large body of research, spanning over 70 years, Carroll's Three Stratum theory was developed using the psychometric approach, the objective measurement of individual differences in abilities, and the application of factor analysis, a statistical technique which uncovers relationships between variables and the underlying structure of concepts such as 'intelligence'. The psychometric approach has consistently facilitated the development of reliable and valid measurement tools and continues to dominate the field of intelligence research.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">IQ classification</span> Categorisation of peoples intelligence based on IQ

IQ classification is the practice of categorizing human intelligence, as measured by intelligence quotient (IQ) tests, into categories such as "superior" or "average".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Peter Carruthers (philosopher)</span> American philosopher

Peter Carruthers is a British-American philosopher and cognitive scientist working primarily in the area of philosophy of mind, though he has also made contributions to philosophy of language and ethics. He is a professor of philosophy at the University of Maryland, College Park, an associate member of Neuroscience and Cognitive Science Program, and a member of the Committee for Philosophy and the Sciences.

The Woodcock–Johnson Tests of Cognitive Abilities is a set of intelligence tests first developed in 1977 by Richard Woodcock and Mary E. Bonner Johnson. It was revised in 1989, again in 2001, and most recently in 2014; this last version is commonly referred to as the WJ IV. They may be administered to children from age two right up to the oldest adults. The previous edition WJ III was praised for covering "a wide variety of cognitive skills".

The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to human intelligence:

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jonathan Schooler</span> American professor of psychology

Jonathan Schooler, is an American psychologist and Distinguished Professor of Psychological and Brain Sciences at the University of California, Santa Barbara, who researches various topics that intersect aspects of both cognitive psychology and philosophy such as: Belief in free will, Meta-awareness, Mindfulness, Mind-Wandering, Memory, Creativity, and Emotion. Schooler is also known for his sometimes controversial research on topics such as Anomalous Cognition and the decline effect.

Gregory John Feist is an American psychologist and Professor of Psychology at San Jose State University. He has published in the psychology of creativity, personality, psychology of science, motivated reasoning, the psychology of science, and the development of scientific talent.

References

  1. Why We Need to Redefine Intelligence, Harvard Business Review IdeaCast, 13 June 2013.
  2. Redefining Intelligence Archived 2013-06-18 at the Wayback Machine , The Leonard Lopate Show- WNYC, 13 June 2013.
  3. Beyond IQ: 5 Ways to Reframe Success and Smarts, Fast Co.Create, 13 June 2013.
  4. Sternberg, Robert (2018). The Nature of Human Intelligence. Cambridge University Press. ISBN   978-1316629642.
  5. https://elsevier.digitalcommonsdata.com/datasets/btchxktzyw/6
  6. Martin, Jessica Orwig, Emmie. "50 groundbreaking scientists who are changing the way we see the world". Business Insider. Retrieved 2020-06-21.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  7. https://podcastle.ai/blog/best-psychology-podcasts/
  8. https://www.oprahdaily.com/life/a41441542/watch-oprahs-the-life-you-want-class-on-gratitude-dr-scott-barry-kaufman/
  9. "Scott Kaufman | BHCI Alumni | Class of 2003".
  10. "Scott Kaufman | Gates Cambridge Alumni".
  11. "Yale Psychology Dept. Ph.D. Graduates | Department of Psychology".
  12. "People | CLEA".
  13. Dreams of Glory, Psychology Today, March 2014.
  14. Why Daydreamers Are More Creative, Beautiful Minds, 27 February 2011.
  15. Kaufman, S. B. (2009). Beyond general intelligence: The dual-process theory of human intelligence (Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation). Yale University, New Haven, CT.
  16. Kaufman, S.B. (2011). Intelligence and the cognitive unconscious. In R.J. Sternberg & S.B. Kaufman (Eds.), The Cambridge Handbook of Intelligence (pp. 442-467). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
  17. Kaufman, J.C., Kaufman, S.B., & Plucker, J.A. (2013). Contemporary theories of intelligence. In J. Reisberg (Ed.), The Oxford Handbook of Cognitive Psychology (pp. 811-822). New York, NY: Oxford University Press
  18. 6 Clues to Character, Psychology Today, 15 December 2011.
  19. Book Review - Ungifted: Intelligence Redefined, Creativity Post, June 14, 2013
  20. Oakes, Kelly. "The 'light triad' that can make you a good person". BBC . Retrieved 29 June 2019.
  21. Ellwood, Beth (2022-04-12). "Narcissism study sheds new light on the relationship between grandiose and vulnerable subtypes". PsyPost. Retrieved 2023-04-05.
  22. Kaufman, Scott Barry; Weiss, Brandon; Miller, Joshua D.; Campbell, W. Keith (February 2020). "Clinical Correlates of Vulnerable and Grandiose Narcissism: A Personality Perspective". Journal of Personality Disorders. 34 (1): 107–130. doi: 10.1521/pedi_2018_32_384 . ISSN   0885-579X. PMID   30179576. S2CID   52154467.
  23. Kaufman, Scott Barry (2021-08-18). "The Opposite of Toxic Positivity". The Atlantic. Retrieved 2023-01-06.