How Intelligence Can Be a Solution to Consequential World Problems

Dear Colleagues,

The idea of the proposed symposium is to ask major contributors to the field of intelligence to take one consequential real-world problem—a problem of their choice—and to write about how what we know about intelligence could help us to solve the problem. What is, has been, or could be the role of human intelligence in solving a consequential problem the world faces?

A large proportion of intelligence research is devoted to basic issues; for example, what is the psychometric structure of intelligence? What are the cognitive bases of intelligence? What are the brain-based correlates (or even causes) of intelligence? What does intelligence predict? What are the validity and reliability of a certain kind of intelligence test, compared with those of other such tests? What makes a particular theory valid?

Such research is needed, but there are also problems larger than those presented in intelligence tests, including problems of today. Some of those larger problems have also become world problems. Here is a sample of such problems, some of which are new, while other problems are not: the pandemic, polarization and immobilization in democratic systems, human-rights violations, unequal opportunities, social media as a possible outlet for disinformation, air pollution, water pollution, violence, terrorism, wars, starvation, racism and xenophobia, the use of technology for surveillance, etc. Intelligence has traditionally been defined as the ability to adapt to the environment, so how can intelligence enlighten societies’ approaches to defining and solving these pressing world problems?  Are the intellectual and other mechanisms different for individual versus group adaptation?

One of the goals of the symposium would be to show that intelligence research can rise to the challenge of addressing real-world problems (a point that Ulric Neisser made years ago), and another goal would be to show that different investigators, despite their rather radical differences in approaches, can come together to address the role of intelligence in addressing everyday problems of scope and importance.

The idea would be to keep this symposium completely nonideological with respect to the theories of and methods for studying intelligence. That is, it would not be the place to argue for the superiority of this theory or that theory but rather a place to take whatever theory one has or, really, no theory at all and address how research on intelligence can help us understand the problem, how to approach it, and possibly how to reach a solution. The arguments should be about solving real-world problems through intelligence, however defined, not academic problems regarding theories, methods, or research paradigms.

The symposium would also be nonideological with regard to political issues, recognizing that people have different values that lead to different political choices. The goal would be to take on world problems that can be scientifically and objectively defined, such as climate change (rising temperatures, melting ice, and otherwise inexplicable increases in very rare weather events), income disparities (Gini coefficient), air pollution (the density of PM2.5 particles in the air), or pandemics (the number of cases of illness per 100,000 population or excess death rate since the inception of the pandemic).

The contributions would be theory- and research-based.  That is, the authors would be asked to base their papers on the existing body of scholarly literature. In particular, the contributors would be asked to address, at a minimum:

1. What is the problem you seek to address?
2. Why is the problem important to the world?
3. What theory of, and research on, intelligence would you use to address it?
4. How would intelligence address the problem?

All contributions must be original—that is, not previously published elsewhere or submitted elsewhere.

All contributions would be peer-reviewed, of course. The authors would be expected to revise as needed. The authors would understand that there is a possibility that their paper would be declined, as is the case for any peer-reviewed paper, but we would try to see the paper through to publication if possible.

The paper should not be used as an attempt to argue for one position on intelligence as opposed to another, but rather, it should focus on how intelligence can be used to solve the chosen problem. Neither should the paper take a political or ideological stand.

The papers would be short, with a recommended word length of 2000–3000 words. Thus, the idea would not be to expatiate but, rather, to succinctly state the problem, applicable theory and research, and where it leads in terms of defining the problem, addressing it, and solving it. 

We would request a title and abstract within 1 month. These would be evaluated to ensure they fit the symposium.  Papers would then be due 8 months after the invitation is issued. This is sufficient time, given the length of the papers.

Co-authors would be allowed, but the invitee must be the senior author.

James Flynn, a “giant” in the field of intelligence and its application to the everyday world, is very ill (probably terminally so), and I thought it would be appropriate to dedicate the symposium to him.

Prof. Dr. Robert J. Sternberg
Prof. Dr. Andrew Conway
Prof. Dr. Diane Halpern
Guest Editors

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