思考力に個人差があるのはなぜなのでしょうか。改訂第2版は膨大なデータから知能にはどのような種類があり、それが年齢とともにどう変化するのかを読み解き心理学者たちが辿りついた答えをまとめていきます。そのなかで大きな脳の持ち主ほど知能が高いのか、遺伝子と環境が人の知能の違いにどのような影響を与えるのか、といった火急の問題に取り組みます。また、知能と健康、長寿との関係性を研究する新しい研究領域の認知疫学や、知能の性差のような物議を醸すトピックも取り上げて考察します。
  

• Describes what psychologists have discovered about how and why people differ in their thinking powers
• Includes a new chapter on sex differences in intelligence
• Considers the new field of cognitive epidemiology, which draws links between intelligence and better health, less illness, and longer life
• Includes new work on DNA testing and intelligence genetics

    
Some people are cleverer than others. This everyday observation is the subject of an academic field that is often portrayed as confused and controversial, when in fact, the field of intelligence holds some of psychology's best-replicated findings.
          
This Very Short Introduction describes what psychologists have discovered about how and why people differ in their thinking powers. Drawing on large scale data Ian Deary considers how many types of intelligence there are, and how intelligence changes with age. Along the way he tackles some of the most burning questions surrounding intelligence, such as whether larger brains are cleverer, and how genes and environments contribute to people's intelligence differences. He also considers the new field of cognitive epidemiology, which draws links between intelligence and better health, less illness, and longer life, and asks whether intelligence is increasing. In this new edition Deary also addresses the controversial question of whether men and women differ in intelligence. Throughout he provides a clear description of the data we can use to answer these questions and more.