psychology research topics on intelligence

What Is Intelligence In Psychology

Charlotte Ruhl

Research Assistant & Psychology Graduate

BA (Hons) Psychology, Harvard University

Charlotte Ruhl, a psychology graduate from Harvard College, boasts over six years of research experience in clinical and social psychology. During her tenure at Harvard, she contributed to the Decision Science Lab, administering numerous studies in behavioral economics and social psychology.

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Intelligence in psychology refers to the mental capacity to learn from experiences, adapt to new situations, understand and handle abstract concepts, and use knowledge to manipulate one’s environment. It includes skills such as problem-solving, critical thinking, learning quickly, and understanding complex ideas.

Key Takeaways

• Defining and classifying intelligence is extremely complicated. Theories of intelligence range from having one general intelligence (g) to certain primary mental abilities and multiple category-specific intelligences.
• Following the creation of the Binet-Simon scale in the early 1900s, intelligence tests, now referred to as intelligence quotient (IQ) tests, are the most widely-known and used measure for determining an individual’s intelligence.
• Although these tests are generally reliable and valid tools, they have flaws as they lack cultural specificity and can evoke stereotype threats and self-fulfilling prophecies.
• IQ scores are normally distributed , meaning that 95% of the population has IQ scores between 70 and 130. However, some extreme examples exist of people with scores far exceeding 130 or far below 70.

What Is Intelligence?

It might seem useless to define such a simple word. After all, we have all heard this word hundreds of times and probably have a general understanding of its meaning.

However, the concept of intelligence has been a widely debated topic among members of the psychology community for decades.

Intelligence has been defined in many ways: higher level abilities (such as abstract reasoning, mental representation, problem solving, and decision making), the ability to learn, emotional knowledge, creativity, and adaptation to meet the demands of the environment effectively.

Psychologist Robert Sternberg defined intelligence as “the mental abilities necessary for adaptation to, as well as shaping and selection of, any environmental context (1997, p. 1).

History of Intelligence

The study of human intelligence dates back to the late 1800s when Sir Francis Galton (the cousin of Charles Darwin) became one of the first to study intelligence.

Galton was interested in the concept of a gifted individual, so he created a lab to measure reaction times and other physical characteristics to test his hypothesis that intelligence is a general mental ability producing biological evolution (hello, Darwin!).

Galton theorized that because quickness and other physical attributes were evolutionarily advantageous, they would also provide a good indication of general mental ability (Jensen, 1982).

Thus, Galton operationalized intelligence as reaction time.

Operationalization is an important process in research that involves defining an unmeasurable phenomenon (such as intelligence) in measurable terms (such as reaction time), allowing the concept to be studied empirically (Crowthre-Heyck, 2005).

Galton’s study of intelligence in the laboratory setting and his theorization of the heritability of intelligence paved the way for decades of future research and debate in this field.

Theories of Intelligence

Some researchers argue that intelligence is a general ability, whereas others make the assertion that intelligence comprises specific skills and talents. Psychologists contend that intelligence is genetic, or inherited, and others claim that it is largely influenced by the surrounding environment.

As a result, psychologists have developed several contrasting theories of intelligence as well as individual tests that attempt to measure this very concept.

Spearman’s General Intelligence (g)

General intelligence, also known as g factor, refers to a general mental ability that, according to Spearman, underlies multiple specific skills, including verbal, spatial, numerical, and mechanical.

Charles Spearman, an English psychologist, established the two-factor theory of intelligence back in 1904 (Spearman, 1904). To arrive at this theory, Spearman used a technique known as factor analysis.

Factor analysis is a procedure through which the correlation of related variables is evaluated to find an underlying factor that explains this correlation.

In the case of intelligence, Spearman noticed that those who did well in one area of intelligence tests (for example, mathematics) also did well in other areas (such as distinguishing pitch; Kalat, 2014).

In other words, there was a strong correlation between performing well in math and music, and Spearman then attributed this relationship to a central factor, that of general intelligence (g).

Spearman concluded that there is a single g-factor that represents an individual’s general intelligence across multiple abilities and that a second factor, s, refers to an individual’s specific ability in one particular area (Spearman, as cited in Thomson, 1947).

Together, these two main factors compose Spearman’s two-factor theory.

Thurstone’s Primary Mental Abilities

Thurstone (1938) challenged the concept of a g-factor. After analyzing data from 56 different tests of mental abilities, he identified a number of primary mental abilities that comprise intelligence as opposed to one general factor.

The seven primary mental abilities in Thurstone’s model are verbal comprehension, verbal fluency, number facility, spatial visualization, perceptual speed, memory, and inductive reasoning (Thurstone, as cited in Sternberg, 2003).

Although Thurstone did not reject Spearman’s idea of general intelligence altogether, he instead theorized that intelligence consists of both general ability and a number of specific abilities, paving the way for future research that examined the different forms of intelligence.

Gardner’s Multiple Intelligences

Following the work of Thurstone, American psychologist Howard Gardner built off the idea that there are multiple forms of intelligence.

He proposed that there is no single intelligence, but rather distinct, independent multiple intelligences exist, each representing unique skills and talents relevant to a certain category.

Gardner (1983, 1987) initially proposed seven multiple intelligences : linguistic, logical-mathematical, spatial, musical, bodily-kinesthetic, interpersonal, and intrapersonal, and he has since added naturalist intelligence.

Gardner holds that most activities (such as dancing) will involve a combination of these multiple intelligences (such as spatial and bodily-kinesthetic intelligences). He also suggests that these multiple intelligences can help us understand concepts beyond intelligence, such as creativity and leadership .

And although this theory has widely captured the attention of the psychology community and the greater public, it does have its faults.

There have been few empirical studies that actually test this theory, and this theory does not account for other types of intelligence beyond the ones Gardner lists (Sternberg, 2003).

Triarchic Theory of Intelligence

Just two years later, in 1985, Robert Sternberg proposed a three-category theory of intelligence, integrating components that were lacking in Gardner’s theory. This theory is based on the definition of intelligence as the ability to achieve success based on your personal standards and your sociocultural context.

According to the triarchic theory, intelligence has three aspects: analytical, creative, and practical (Sternberg, 1985).

Analytical intelligence , also referred to as componential intelligence, refers to intelligence that is applied to analyze or evaluate problems and arrive at solutions. This is what a traditional IQ test measures.

Creative intelligence is the ability to go beyond what is given to create novel and interesting ideas. This type of intelligence involves imagination, innovation, and problem-solving.

Practical intelligence is the ability that individuals use to solve problems faced in daily life when a person finds the best fit between themselves and the demands of the environment.

Adapting to the demands of the environment involves either utilizing knowledge gained from experience to purposefully change oneself to suit the environment (adaptation), changing the environment to suit oneself (shaping), or finding a new environment in which to work (selection).

Other Types of Intelligence

After examining the popular competing theories of intelligence, it becomes clear that there are many different forms of this seemingly simple concept.

On the one hand, Spearman claims that intelligence is generalizable across many different areas of life, and on the other hand, psychologists such as Thurstone, Gardener, and Sternberg hold that intelligence is like a tree with many different branches, each representing a specific form of intelligence.

To make matters even more interesting, let’s throw a few more types of intelligence into the mix!

Emotional Intelligence

Emotional Intelligence is the “ability to monitor one’s own and other people’s emotions, to discriminate between different emotions and label them appropriately, and to use emotional information to guide thinking and behavior” (Salovey and Mayer, 1990).

Emotional intelligence is important in our everyday lives, seeing as we experience one emotion or another nearly every second of our lives. You may not associate emotions and intelligence with one another, but in reality, they are very related.

Emotional intelligence refers to the ability to recognize the meanings of emotions and to reason and problem-solve on the basis of them (Mayer, Caruso, & Salovey, 1999). The four key components of emotional Intelligence are (i) self-awareness, (ii) self-management, (iii) social awareness, and (iv) relationship management.

In other words, if you are high in emotional intelligence, you can accurately perceive emotions in yourself and others (such as reading facial expressions), use emotions to help facilitate thinking, understand the meaning behind your emotions (why are you feeling this way?), and know how to manage your emotions (Salovey & Mayer, 1990).

Fluid vs. Crystallized Intelligence

Raymond Cattell (1963) first proposed the concepts of fluid and crystallized intelligence and further developed the theory with John Horn.

Fluid intelligence is the ability to problem solve in novel situations without referencing prior knowledge, but rather through the use of logic and abstract thinking. Fluid intelligence can be applied to any novel problem because no specific prior knowledge is required (Cattell, 1963). As you grow older fluid increases and then starts to decrease in the late 20s.

Crystallized intelligence refers to the use of previously-acquired knowledge, such as specific facts learned in school or specific motor skills or muscle memory (Cattell, 1963). As you grow older and accumulate knowledge, crystallized intelligence increases.

The Cattell-Horn (1966) theory of fluid and crystallized intelligence suggests that intelligence is composed of a number of different abilities that interact and work together to produce overall individual intelligence.

For example, if you are taking a hard math test, you rely on your crystallized intelligence to process the numbers and meaning of the questions, but you may use fluid intelligence to work through the novel problem and arrive at the correct solution. It is also possible that fluid intelligence can become crystallized intelligence.

The novel solutions you create when relying on fluid intelligence can, over time, develop into crystallized intelligence after they are incorporated into long-term memory.

This illustrates some of the ways in which different forms of intelligence overlap and interact with one another, revealing its dynamic nature.

Intelligence Testing

Binet-simon scale.

During the early 1900s, the French government enlisted the help of psychologist Alfred Binet to understand which children were going to be slower learners and thus required more assistance in the classroom (Binet et al., 1912).

As a result, he and his colleague, Theodore Simon, began to develop a specific set of questions that focused on areas such as memory and problem-solving skills.

They tested these questions on groups of students aged three to twelve to help standardize the measure (Binet et al., 1912). Binet realized that some children were able to answer advanced questions that their older peers were able to answer.

As a result, he created the concept of mental age, or how well an individual performs intellectually relative to the average performance at that age (Cherry, 2020).

Ultimately, Binet finalized the scale, known as the Binet-Simon scale, that became the basis for the intelligence tests still used today.

The Binet-Simon scale of 1905 comprised 30 items designed to measure judgment, comprehension, and reasoning, which Binet deemed the key characteristics of intelligence.

Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scale

When the Binet-Simon scale made its way over to the United States, Stanford psychologist Lewis Terman adapted the test for American students and published the Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scale in 1916 (Cherry, 2020).

The Stanford-Binet Scale is a contemporary assessment that measures intelligence according to five features of cognitive ability,

including fluid reasoning, knowledge, quantitative reasoning, visual-spatial processing, and working memory. Both verbal and nonverbal responses are measured.

This test used a single number, referred to as the intelligence quotient (IQ), to indicate an individual’s score.

The average score for the test is 100, and any score from 90 to 109 is considered to be in the average intelligence range. Scores from 110 to 119 are considered to be High Average. Superior scores range from 120 to 129 and anything over 130 is considered Very Superior.

To calculate IQ, the student’s mental age is divided by his or her actual (or chronological) age, and this result is multiplied by 100. If your mental age is equal to your chronological age, you will have an IQ of 100, or average. If your mental age is 12, but your chronological age is only 10, you will have an above-average IQ of 120.

WISC and WAIS

Just as theories of intelligence build off one another, intelligence tests do too. After Terman created Stanford-Binet test, American psychologist David Wechsler developed a new tool due to his dissatisfaction with the limitations of the Stanford-Binet test (Cherry, 2020).

Like Thurstone, Gardner, and Sternberg, Wechsler believed intelligence involved many different mental abilities and felt that the Stanford-Binet scale too closely reflected the idea of one general intelligence.

Because of this, Wechsler created the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children (WISC) and the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS) in 1955, with the most up-to-date version being the WAIS-IV (Cherry, 2020).

The Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children (WISC), developed by David Wechsler, is an IQ test designed to measure intelligence and cognitive ability in children between the ages of 6 and 16. It is currently in its fourth edition (WISC-V) released in 2014 by Pearson.

Above Image: WISC-IV Sample Test Question

The Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS) is an IQ test designed to measure cognitive ability in adults and older adolescents, including

verbal comprehension, perceptual reasoning, working memory, and processing speed.

The latest version of the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS-IV) was standardized on 2,200 healthy people between the ages of 16 and 90 years (Brooks et al., 2011).

The standardization of a test involves giving it to a large number of people of different ages to compute the average score on the test at each age level.

The overall IQ score combines the test takers’ performance in all four categories (Cherry, 2020). And rather than calculating this number based on mental and chronological age, the WAIS compares the individual’s score to the average score at that level, as calculated by the standardization process.

The Flynn Effect

It is important to regularly standardize an intelligence test because the overall level of intelligence in a population may change over time.

This phenomenon is known as the Flynn effect (named after its discoverer, New Zealand researcher James Flynn) which refers to the observation that scores on intelligence tests worldwide increase from decade to decade (Flynn, 1984).

Aptitude vs. Achievement Tests

Other tests, such as aptitude and achievement tests, are designed to measure intellectual capability. Achievement tests measure what content a student has already learned (such as a unit test in history or a final math exam), whereas an aptitude test measures a student’s potential or ability to learn (Anastasi, 1984).

Although this may sound similar to an IQ test, aptitude tests typically measure abilities in very specific areas.

Criticism of Intelligence Testing

Criticisms have ranged from the claim that IQ tests are biased in favor of white, middle-class people. Negative stereotypes about a person’s ethnicity, gender, or age may cause the person to suffer stereotype threat, a burden of doubt about his or her own abilities, which can create anxiety that result in lower scores.

Reliability and Construct Validity

Although you may be wondering if you take an intelligence test multiple times will you improve your score and whether these tests even measure intelligence in the first place, research provides reassurance that these tests are both very reliable and have high construct validity.

Reliability simply means that they are consistent over time. In other words, if you take a test at two different points in time, there will be very little change in performance or, in the case of intelligence tests, IQ scores.

Although this isn’t a perfect science, and your score might slightly fluctuate when taking the same test on different occasions or different tests at the same age, IQ tests demonstrate relatively high reliability (Tuma & Appelbaum, 1980).

Additionally, intelligence tests also reveal strong construct validity , meaning that they are, in fact, measuring intelligence rather than something else.

Researchers have spent hours on end developing, standardizing, and adapting these tests to best fit the current times. But that is also not to say that these tests are completely flawless.

Research documents errors with the specific scoring of tests and interpretation of the multiple scores (since typically, an individual will receive an overall IQ score accompanied by several category-specific scores), and some studies question the actual validity, reliability, and utility for individual clinical use of these tests (Canivez, 2013).

Additionally, intelligence scores are created to reflect different theories of intelligence, so the interpretations may be heavily based on the theory upon which the test is based (Canivez, 2013).

Cultural Specificity

There are issues with intelligence tests beyond looking at them in a vacuum.  These tests were created by Western psychologists who created such tools to measure euro-centric values.

However, it is important to recognize that the majority of the world’s population does not reside in Europe or North America, and as a result, the cultural specificity of these tests is crucial.

Different cultures hold different values and even have different perceptions of intelligence, so is it fair to have one universal marker of this increasingly complex concept?

For example, a 1992 study found that Kenyan parents defined intelligence as the ability to do without being told what needed to be done around the homestead (Harkness et al., 1992), and, given the American and European emphasis on speed, some Ugandans define intelligent people as being slow in thought and action (Wober, 1974).

Together, these examples illustrate the flexibility of defining intelligence, making capturing this concept in a single test, let alone a single number even more challenging.  And even within the U.S., do perceptions of intelligence differ?

An example is in San Jose, California, where Latino, Asian, and Anglo parents had varying definitions of intelligence.  The teachers’ understanding of intelligence was more similar to that of the Asian and Anglo communities, and this similarity predicted the child’s performance in school (Okagaki & Sternberg, 1993).

That is, students whose families had more similar understandings of intelligence were doing better in the classroom.

Intelligence takes many forms, ranging from country to country and culture to culture.  Although IQ tests might have high reliability and validity, understanding the role of culture is as, if not more, important in forming the bigger picture of an individual’s intelligence.

IQ tests may accurately measure academic intelligence, but more research must be done to discern whether they truly measure practical intelligence or even just general intelligence in all cultures.

Social and Environmental Factors

Another important part of the puzzle to consider is the social and environmental context in which an individual lives and the IQ test-related biases that develop as a result.

These might help explain why some individuals have lower scores than others. For example, the threat of social exclusion can greatly decrease the expression of intelligence.

A 2002 study gave participants an IQ test and a personality inventory, and some were randomly chosen to receive feedback from the inventory indicating that they were “the sort of people who would end up alone in life” (Baumeister et al., 2002).

After a second test, those who were told they would be loveless and friendless in the future answered significantly fewer questions than they did on the earlier test.

These findings can translate into the real world where not only the threat of social exclusion can decrease the expression of intelligence but also a perceived threat to physical safety.

In other words, a child’s poor academic performance can be attributed to the disadvantaged, potentially unsafe communities in which they grow up.

Stereotype Threat

Stereotype threat is a phenomenon in which people feel at risk of conforming to stereotypes about their social group. Negative stereotypes can also create anxiety that results in lower scores.

In one study, Black and White college students were given part of the verbal section from the Graduate Record Exam (GRE), but in the stereotype threat condition, they told students the test diagnosed intellectual ability, thus potentially making the stereotype that Blacks are less intelligent than Whites salient.

The results of this study revealed that in the stereotype threat condition, Blacks performed worse than Whites, but in the no stereotype threat condition, Blacks and Whites performed equally well (Steele & Aronson, 1995).

And even just recording your race can also result in worsened performance. Stereotype threat is a real threat and can be detrimental to an individual’s performance on these tests.

Self-Fulfilling Prophecy

Stereotype threat is closely related to the concept of a self-fulfilling prophecy in which an individual’s expectations about another person can result in the other person acting in ways that conform to that very expectation.

In one experiment, students in a California elementary school were given an IQ test, after which their teachers were given the names of students who would become “intellectual bloomers” that year based on the results of the test (Rosenthal & Jacobson, 1968).

At the end of the study, the students were tested again with the same IQ test, and those labeled as “intellectual bloomers” significantly increased their scores.

This illustrates that teachers may subconsciously behave in ways that encourage the success of certain students, thus influencing their achievement (Rosenthal & Jacobson, 1968), and provides another example of small variables that can play a role in an individual’s intelligence score and the development of their intelligence.

This is all to say that it is important to consider the less visible factors that play a role in determining someone’s intelligence. While an IQ score has many benefits in measuring intelligence, it is critical to consider that just because someone has a lower score does not necessarily mean they are lower in intelligence.

There are many factors that can worsen performance on these tests, and the tests themselves might not even be accurately measuring the very concept they are intended to.

Extremes of Intelligence

IQ scores are generally normally distributed (Moore et al., 2013). That is, roughly 95% of the population has IQ scores between 70 and 130. But what about the other 5%?

Individuals who fall outside this range represent the extremes of intelligence.

Those who have an IQ above 130 are considered to be gifted (Lally & French, 2018), such as Christopher Langan, an American horse rancher, who has an IQ score around 200 (Gladwell, 2008).

Those individuals who have scores below 70 do so because of an intellectual disability marked by substantial developmental delays, including motor, cognitive, and speech delays (De Light, 2012).

Some of the time, these disabilities are the product of genetic mutations.

Down syndrome, for example, resulting from extra genetic material from or a complete extra copy of the 21st chromosome, is a common genetic cause of an intellectual disability (Breslin, 2014). As such, many individuals with Down Syndrome have below-average IQ scores (Breslin, 2014).

Savant syndrome is another example of extreme intelligence. Despite having significant mental disabilities, these individuals demonstrate certain abilities in some fields that are far above average, such as incredible memorization, rapid mathematical or calendar calculation ability, or advanced musical talent (Treffert, 2009).

The fact that these individuals who may be lacking in certain areas such as social interaction and communication make up for it in other remarkable areas further illustrates the complexity of intelligence and what this concept means today, as well as how we must consider all individuals when determining how to perceive, measure, and recognize intelligence in our society.

Intelligence Today

Today, intelligence is generally understood as the ability to understand and adapt to the environment by using inherited abilities and learned knowledge.

Many new intelligence tests have arisen, such as the University of California Matrix Reasoning Task (Pahor et al., 2019), that can be taken online and in very little time, and new methods of scoring these tests have been developed too (Sansone et al., 2014).

Admission into university and graduate schools relies on specific aptitude and achievement tests, such as the SAT, ACT, and the LSAT – these tests have become a huge part of our lives.

Humans are incredibly intelligent beings and rely on our intellectual abilities daily. Although intelligence can be defined and measured in countless ways, our overall intelligence as a species makes us incredibly unique and has allowed us to thrive for generations on end.

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• Published: 02 February 2021

Genetic variation, brain, and intelligence differences

• Ian J. Deary   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-1733-263X 1   na1 ,
• Simon R. Cox   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0003-4036-3642 1   na1 &
• W. David Hill 1   na1  

Molecular Psychiatry volume  27 ,  pages 335–353 ( 2022 ) Cite this article

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• Neuroscience

Individual differences in human intelligence, as assessed using cognitive test scores, have a well-replicated, hierarchical phenotypic covariance structure. They are substantially stable across the life course, and are predictive of educational, social, and health outcomes. From this solid phenotypic foundation and importance for life, comes an interest in the environmental, social, and genetic aetiologies of intelligence, and in the foundations of intelligence differences in brain structure and functioning. Here, we summarise and critique the last 10 years or so of molecular genetic (DNA-based) research on intelligence, including the discovery of genetic loci associated with intelligence, DNA-based heritability, and intelligence’s genetic correlations with other traits. We summarise new brain imaging-intelligence findings, including whole-brain associations and grey and white matter associations. We summarise regional brain imaging associations with intelligence and interpret these with respect to theoretical accounts. We address research that combines genetics and brain imaging in studying intelligence differences. There are new, though modest, associations in all these areas, and mechanistic accounts are lacking. We attempt to identify growing points that might contribute toward a more integrated ‘systems biology’ account of some of the between-individual differences in intelligence.

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Individual differences in human intelligence.

This article is about some new contributions toward understanding the aetiology of individual differences in human intelligence. The focus is on genetic variation and brain imaging-derived differences, including where those two sources overlap. For more than a century, the field of research that studies intelligence differences has had some controversies (Box  1 ). Notwithstanding these, research findings on intelligence have much consensus, based on robust findings. The first part of this article summarises some of the findings from which reductionist approaches—including brain imaging and genetics—to intelligence differences proceed.

Box 1 Some controversies and some consensuses in intelligence

Here is an abbreviated litany of controversies about human intelligence differences. Galton [ 130 ], who suggested that cognitive capabilities might be general, normally distributed, and somewhat heritable (modern data show some support for these suggestions), was also, notoriously, an originator of eugenics, and invented that word (see www.ucl.ac.uk/provost/inquiry-history-eugenics-ucl ). Spearman [ 4 ] discovered the positive matrix of correlations among cognitive performance assessments, and developed a two-factor theory of intelligence, which had ‘general intelligence’, which he called g , and specific abilities, which he called ‘ s ’. Researchers such as Thurstone [ 131 ] and Gardner [ 132 ] disagreed, and thought there were several separate intelligences. Thomson [ 133 ] produced an ingenious theory about how the positive matrix of cognitive test correlations might occur without there being a g factor. Whether g is found (it is a replicable statistical finding [ 5 ]) and what it means (which is not known) have been discussed since then. Henry Herbert Goddard imported Binet’s intelligence test (the first one to be invented) to the USA and is documented to have over- and mis-applied it (Zenderland) [ 134 ]. Gould [ 135 ] strongly criticised the g factor in intelligence—stating that it was a necessary outcome of the statistical analytic methods applied (which is incorrect)—and the association between intelligence and brain size in his famous book, The Mismeasure of Man . The book has been criticised for having got both of these wrong (Carroll) [ 136 ]. Flynn [ 137 ] found that intelligence test scores increased across the years and generations of the middle two quarters of the 20th century. However, Flynn also made it clear that this does not alter the within-cohort reliability, validity, and heritability of intelligence test scores. Nevertheless, the cause(s) of the ‘Flynn’ effect on intelligence test scores still remains mysterious. Herrnstein and Murray wrote a book called The Bell Curve [ 138 ]. They analysed data from the USA’s National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979 and found that higher intelligence in late adolescence/early adulthood was related to better life outcomes by the 30 s. The book was strongly and widely criticised, especially for its dealing with ethnic group differences, and for not having published its analyses via peer review.

Calming, consensual oil was poured on intelligence’s stormy waters in 1996, by the American Psychological Association (APA). As a result of the controversy caused by The Bell Curve , the APA put together a Task Force, chaired by cognitive psychology doyen Neisser [ 139 ], to tell non-experts what was (solidly) known and (as-yet) unknown about intelligence test score differences. The 11 persons in the Task Force—who became co-authors of an agreed article—surprised many. They were experts who were diverse in their viewpoints—for example, there were some individuals who were more environmentally inclined and some who were more genetically inclined, some who were associated with the hierarchical model of intelligence differences including g and some with different models of intelligence, etc. Yet, they wrote a still-useful article on some of the solid ground in intelligence research. Among many topics addressed, they recognised the prominence of the psychometric testing approach to intelligence differences, and the hierarchy with the g factor at the apex; they summarised the stability of intelligence test scores, their predictive validity for education, work and other life outcomes, their having environmental and genetic origins, the Flynn effect, and various types of group differences. The APA Task Force Report is still a must-read for obtaining a mostly disinterested and consensual summary about intelligence. Their list of intelligence’s unknowns are still mostly in that state; one of them was genetics, which we address here and which has moved on considerably. We recommend reading other, more recent summaries about knowns and unknowns in intelligence, though we wish to orient the reader that some come from more socially/environmentally inclined groups of authors (Nisbett et al.) [ 129 ], some from more genetically inclined (Gottfredson) [ 2 ], and two from one of the present authors (Deary) [ 27 , 140 ]. Progress in finding social and environmental causes of intelligence has arguably been less successful than the biological research summarised herein, though the Nisbett et al. review discusses many growth points. Moreover, the Neisser et al., and Nisbett et al., summaries also deal with brain imaging and genetics, providing useful background to the present overview, as does Haier’s book, The Neuroscience of Intelligence [ 141 ]. Lest the reader makes the error of over-extending intelligence’s demesne and importance, the APA Task Force ended by emphasising—as do we—that there are many cognitive and non-cognitive aspects of human differences that are not captured by intelligence tests and general intelligence. g might be important, but it is far from being all that matters.

Describing the phenotype of intelligence

We should make it clear to the reader that ‘intelligence’ is just one of the terms that are used to describe humans’ differences in thinking skills; others, sometimes used as near-synonyms, include cognitive ability, cognitive performance, cognitive functioning, and mental ability. Sometimes IQ (intelligence quotient) is used, although that has a specific meaning within the field of psychometrics. Intelligence (or the other terms listed in the previous sentence), as a human phenotype, is measured using cognitive tests, of which there are thousands. This hands the cynic a weapon that, to the ignorant, can glibly dismiss the field of research because, as Boring [ 1 ] famously wrote in 1923, “…intelligence as a measurable capacity must at the start be defined as the capacity to do well in an intelligence test. Intelligence is what the tests test.” That much-quoted last short sentence was not Boring’s opinion; rather, it was his saying that that is what one would think if one did not know the research findings. His next sentence starts, “This is a narrow definition, but it is the only point of departure for a rigorous discussion of the tests”. We shall have that rigorous discussion here. Before that, we offer another, much-cited definition: “Intelligence is a very general mental capability that, among other things, involves the ability to reason, plan, solve problems, think abstractly, comprehend complex ideas, learn quickly, and learn from experience. It is not merely book learning, a narrow academic skill, or test-taking smarts. Rather, it reflects a broader and deeper capability for comprehending our surroundings—‘catching on’, ‘making sense’ of things, or ‘figuring out’ what to do’ [ 2 ]. More succinctly, intelligence has been described as, “rapid and accurate problem solving” [ 3 ].

Cognitive ability differences form a hierarchy of variances. This grew from the finding that all cognitive tests are positively correlated; people who score well on one cognitive test tend to score well on all the others, no matter how different the cognitive skills being assessed appear to be. This finding has been replicated consistently since Charles Spearman discovered it in 1904 [ 4 ]. For example, John Carroll re-analysed correlation matrices of diverse cognitive tests from 400+ studies conducted in the 20th century [ 5 ]. These included studies by many of the most prominent researchers over that time, including those who had claimed not have found a general intelligence factor. Carroll found that, in all studies, the cognitive tests’ scores correlated positively, and that each study contained a general component that accounted for around 40%, sometimes more, of people’s differences in performance [ 5 ]. There was also variance at the level of cognitive domains, such as memory, reasoning, and speed; i.e., some cognitive tests correlate more highly with some tests—that have contents similar to theirs—than with others. And there was variance at the level of the individual tests. In summary, as shown in Fig.  1 , the reasons that people do well on any cognitive test are that: they are generally intelligent; they are good at that type of test; that they are good at the specific skills in that test; and we should not forget the error in the measurement, and just having a good day for whatever reason.

At the bottom, on level 1, individuals differ with regard to their performance on specific cognitive tests. Here we have shown that multiple tests (up to a number k ) are used to assess each domain of cognitive capability. Scores on all tests of cognitive ability correlate positively. However, there are especially strong correlations among tests that tax the same cognitive domain (level 2). Level 2 illustrates three example cognitive domains: memory, processing speed, and verbal. There could be more (up to a number ‘ N ’), depending on the types of specific tests included in the battery. The names applied to domains are common-sense labels based on the apparently shared contents of the specific tests that contribute to them. It is possible to have tests that contribute to more than one domain (a possibility not shown in the Figure). Individual differences are observable at the domain level. However, people’s scores on any one cognitive domain correlate with their scores in other domains. This means that there is a third level describing the variance common across all the domains and, thereby, across all the individual cognitive tests. This is denoted, at Level 3, by general cognitive ability, general intelligence, or just ‘ g ’. It is important to note that this three-level structure emerges from the data and is not imposed on it. g tends to account for about 40% of the total test score variance when a battery of diverse cognitive tests is administered to a sample of people with a wide range of cognitive capabilities.

General intelligence ( g ), as a statistical phenomenon, is a universal finding from different batteries of cognitive tests. However, there is still mystery about what causes the covariation. If a large sample of people take two different, diverse sets of cognitive tests, the two g factors from them correlate highly [ 6 ]; thus, g is not idiosyncratic, and its ranking of individuals does not differ substantially depending on the test battery. Among the sources of between-individual variance that are extractable from a set of cognitive test scores, it tends to be the g factor that leads the way in being associated with life outcomes, and with some possible origins, such as brain imaging indices and genetic variants. When researchers measure general intelligence they tend to use one of the following indices: ideally, the first unrotated principal component or factor from a battery of diverse cognitive tests; a total score from a test that has heterogeneous items covering diverse cognitive skills; or a test with a more homogeneous set of items that loads highly on the first unrotated principal component or general factor of several cognitive tests.

Stability of intelligence differences and mean scores

Measures of general intelligence have high test-retest reliability. Taking an extreme example, the stability co-efficient of intelligence test scores is between 0.6 and 0.7 from age 11 years to about 80, even before correcting for measurement error [ 7 ].

The other type of stability—stability of age-related means—shows a well-reproduced pattern. Tests that involve the recall of learned information (called crystallised intelligence)—such as vocabulary, general knowledge, and some number skills—are relatively stable in mean levels from young adulthood to older age [ 8 , 9 ]. Tests that involve active mental work (aspects of fluid intelligence) decline in mean levels from young or middle adulthood to older age [ 8 , 9 ]. These include cognitive domains such as processing speed (e.g. in tests of coding numbers into symbols at speed), memory (e.g. delayed recall of a story or a list of words, or a working memory test, such as backward digit span), visuo-spatial ability (such as the replication of a 2-dimensional pattern using blocks in the Wechsler Block Design test), and abstract reasoning (such as the inductive reasoning from abstract patterns that is required in Raven’s Progressive Matrices). These more age-sensitive cognitive domains tend to age in concert, with half or more of the individual differences in their age-related declines accounted for by the ageing of general fluid intelligence [ 10 ]. There are individual differences in the ageing of intelligence, which has growing importance as populations have more older people who live longer [ 9 ]; that is, it is important to understand the determinants (especially the modifiable ones) of successful cognitive ageing.

Predictive validity of intelligence: ‘healthy, wealthy, and wise’

Intelligence test scores at the end of primary schooling—at about 11 years of age—are highly correlated with educational outcomes several years later, whether that is measured as scores on standardised national examinations at 16 (where correlations up to 0.8 have been reported), years of education undertaken, or the highest qualification obtained [ 11 , 12 ]. Probably, intelligence is causal to experiencing longer and more complex education, and there appears to be a small effect in the opposite direction too [ 13 ]. Thus, intelligence and education probably have a dynamic bi-directional, and possibly causal, association.

Intelligence is one of the best (and cheapest) predictors of performing well on a job, and of learning well on a job, with moderate correlations [ 14 ]. This applies to all levels of job complexity, though the correlations are somewhat higher with more complex occupations. Higher childhood intelligence is moderately related to moving upward in occupational status from one’s parents (usually father) [ 15 ]. Intelligence is one among many other variables that are associated with socioeconomic status differences in the UK [ 15 , 16 ]. More affluent parental socioeconomic status and more education are among other variables that independently contribute; the former effect is relatively small, and it is not certain to what extent education acts as a proxy for prior intelligence.

There is a robust and consistently sized association between higher intelligence measured in childhood or youth and longer life and better health [ 17 ]. Studies on this topic include unusually impressive samples, including a country’s almost-whole year-of-birth population [ 17 ] and samples that contain up to millions of subjects [ 18 , 19 ]. People with higher intelligence in early life are, up to several decades later, less likely to suffer from poor health and then die from all causes, and, specifically, from heart disease, stroke, respiratory disease, smoking-related cancers, digestive diseases, dementia, accidents, and suicide, among other causes. A typical effect size for this field—cognitive epidemiology—is that a standard deviation (15 IQ-type points) advantage in intelligence in youth is associated with 20–25% lower risk of these illness and mortality outcomes up to several decades later. Expressed as a correlation, the association between childhood cognitive test scores and all-cause mortality is typically between about 0.15 and 0.2.

Therefore, intelligence, as operationalised by cognitive test scores, has a robustly characterised phenotype, high test-retest stability, and some predictive validity for education, work, and health; all are contributions to broader construct validity. However, there is a lack when it comes to understanding why some people are more intelligent than others. We have written about these matters previously. A book-length treatment in 2000 [ 20 ] examined possible origins of intelligence differences in so called ‘elementary’ cognitive components, brain parameters, and genetic variation. There are robust associations between intelligence test scores and apparently simpler processing speed measures such as reaction times [ 21 ] and the psychophysical procedure called inspection time [ 22 ]. We do not focus on these here, because we judge that they afford less-tractable possible causes of some of the between-individual differences in intelligence than genetic variation and brain structure and functioning. We previously summarised genetics and brain imaging associations with intelligence test scores in 2010 [ 23 ]. However, at that time there were no genome-wide association studies (GWAS) of intelligence and, since then, brain imaging studies have larger samples, new brain parameters, and have been linked with molecular genetic studies.

Intelligence differences and genetic variation

Heritability and genetic architecture of intelligence differences.

Twin and family studies report that genetic differences are associated with individual differences in intelligence test scores (Box  2 ). If studies from all ages are taken together, genetic differences account for about 50% (standard error [SE] about 2%) of the variation in intelligence [ 24 ]. Higher heritability (see Glossary) estimates are found in samples of adults (where it can be 70% or slightly more) than in children (where estimates as low as 20–30% have been reported) [ 24 , 25 , 26 , 27 ]. The finding that intelligence is heritable has been replicated across multiple data sets sourced from different countries and times [ 28 ]. Our emphasis herein is on results from the newer, DNA-based studies rather than on traditional twin and family studies.

DNA-based studies have shown that a pattern of hierarchical variance is evident at the genetic as well as the phenotypic level. Using genomic structural equation modelling [ 29 ] it was found that a genetic general factor explained, on average, 58.4% (SE = 4.8%, ranging from 9 to 95% for individual tests) of the genetic variance across seven cognitive tests in people with European ancestry. This provides some support for the idea that the phenotypic structure of intelligence is in part due to genetic effects that act on a general factor of intelligence and also at more specific cognitive levels.

Since 2011, the heritability of intelligence has been investigated by direct testing of DNA in large numbers of unrelated individuals [ 30 ]. This is mostly based on the testing of genetic variants called single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) (see Glossary). The statistical-genetic method used to estimate heritability is called genome-based restricted maximum likelihood single component (GREML-SC) (Box  2 ). This tests how closely people’s similarity in cognitive test scores associates with their genetic similarity, the latter being based on hundreds of thousands of SNPs. In such studies, heritability estimates are about 20–30% (SEs < 1% in recent studies) [ 31 , 32 ]. The lower estimates of heritability found using GREML-SC are probably due to the technique’s being better at capturing variance from genetic variants in linkage disequilibrium (LD) with common SNPs rather than those that are less common or in lower LD [ 33 ]. This difference in estimated heritability of intelligence between twin-based studies and DNA-based studies using SNPs has been recovered using DNA testing and the GREML-KIN analysis method in a large cohort of individuals that included families (Box  2 ) [ 32 ].

Non-additive genetic variation, including dominance and epistasis, has been postulated as a partial explanation for the gap in heritability estimates derived using twin and family methods compared with those derived using DNA-SNPs. However, one study found dominance effects were linked to less than 4% of phenotypic variance in complex traits [ 34 ]. Furthermore, quantitative genetics theory predicts that epistasis is unlikely to be associated with a substantial amount of phenotypic variance [ 35 ]. Moreover, the results of GREML-KIN have been replicated in unrelated individuals by deriving heritability estimates using high-quality imputation panels [ 32 ], indicating that non-additive genetic effects, if present for intelligence, are not a major contributing factor to intelligence differences.

Although GREML-KIN might recover some of the heritability that is attributable to genetic variants that are in poor LD with common genotyped SNPs, it cannot determine the proportion of the heritability estimate that is due to dynastic effects [ 36 ]. Dynastic effects include instances where the genotype of a parent is associated with the phenotype of the offspring, including via alleles that are not passed from parent to offspring; this has been termed genetic nurture [ 37 ]. Whereas the presence of dynastic effects does not indicate a bias in methods that also capture indirect genetic effects, it does however hamper efforts to understand how genetic differences can give rise to phenotypic differences. This is because the resulting heritability estimate is, potentially, a combination of direct genetic effects (genetic variation in an organism that is associated with phenotypic variation in the same organism) and indirect genetic effects (where genetic endowment of one organism is associated with the phenotype of another organism).

The presence of dynastic effects has been indicated for education. In one study, its SNP-based heritability estimate was 29.2% (SE = 4.4%) before indirect genetic effects were removed, and 17% (SE = 9.4%) afterwards [ 36 ]. Moreover, environmental influence on the heritability of education was suggested by finding that a polygenic score (see below) predicting education in non-adoptees accounted for twice the phenotypic variance of a polygenic risk score applied to adoptees [ 38 ]. The variance accounted for by a polygenic score captures both direct genetic effects and indirect, environmentally mediated, genetic effects. When predicting education with polygenic scores in adopted individuals, the link between the rearing environment provided by the genetically related parent and the phenotype of the offspring is broken. Because intelligence is highly genetically and phenotypically associated with education (see below), it appears likely that indirect genetic effects influence intelligence too.

Box 2 Heritability of intelligence: why different methods give different results

Heritability describes the proportion (often expressed as a percentage) of phenotypic variation in a tested sample of people that can be accounted for by genetic variation [ 142 ]. Note that heritability estimates apply to a sample at a given time; the estimate might be different in other groups, and in the same group at other times. Often, in human studies, only additive genetic factors are considered. Different methods are used to estimate heritability of intelligence (and other phenotypes). They give different estimates. These are not contradictory; rather, they are a reflection of the sources of genetic variation to which the methods afford access, as we explain below.

Twin and family methods

Twin- and family-based estimates of the heritability use the expected proportion of alleles shared between the participants as the estimate of genetic variance within the sample. They can include comparisons between monozygotic twins and dizygotic twins, as well as studies that include families consisting of parents, siblings, and other relationships. In each instance, a genetic effect on a trait is inferred if individuals who are more genetically similar are also more similar in terms of their intelligence test score. For intelligence, substantial (50% or more, unless the study is of young children) heritability estimates are found in twin studies [ 24 ] and family studies [ 143 ]. We note that twin studies assume that dizygotic twins have just as similar shared environments as monozygotic twins, a potential limitation that does not affect DNA-based studies.

Genome-based restricted maximum likelihood single component (GREML-SC)

GREML-SC, sometimes referred to as ‘the GCTA method’, was the first DNA-based genetic method used to derive an estimate of heritability for intelligence [ 30 ]. As with twin and family-based methods, genetic similarity is compared with phenotypic similarity. However, genetic similarity is measured, rather than inferred, using a genomic relationship matrix constructed from genotyped common SNPs. Importantly, closely related individuals are excluded from the analysis (typically those who are more than 0.025 similar, i.e. closer than a second cousin). This is an attempt to ensure that the similarity in environment between family members is not captured by genetic the genomic relationship matrix, which can result in an inflation of the heritability estimate. Heritability estimates of intelligence that use GREML-SC have typically been between 20 and 30% [ 30 , 31 , 143 ]. One of the major assumptions of GREML-SC is that genetic similarity is uncorrelated with environmental similarity. Whereas this assumption has been found not to hold in some situations, the inflation of the resulting heritability estimate is thought to be negligible [ 144 ]. Furthermore, GREML-SC assumes an infinitesimal, or polygenic, model whereby the trait examined is associated with a very large number of variants each making an infinitesimal contribution to phenotypic variance. GREML-SC assumes that SNP effects are normally distributed as well as independent of LD (see Glossary), and inversely proportionate to minor allele frequency [ 33 ].

Genome-based restricted maximum likelihood kinship (GREML-KIN)

GREML-KIN was introduced to capture the effects of rarer and less common genetic variants that are not captured using GREML-SC. Importantly, whereas it uses the same genetic data as GREML-SC, GREML-KIN uses samples with a dense and known pedigree to derive additional matrices to capture additional sources of variance from genetic variants that are in poor LD with common genotyped SNPs and to control for the effect of environmental influences. When GREML-KIN was applied to the study of intelligence, 54% of intelligence test variation was accounted for [ 32 ]; therefore, the DNA-based heritability of intelligence was about the same as those derived using twins. GREML-KIN has the same assumptions as GREML-SC. In addition, GREML-KIN uses closely related individuals, and the data it is applied to must contain a sufficiently dense pedigree in order to prevent an inflation of the heritability estimates due to shared environmental influences between those closely related individuals.

Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) of intelligence: finding loci

Heritability analyses suggest the presence of genetic influence on a trait. They do not indicate which genetic variants are associated with trait variation. Initially, candidate gene designs (see Glossary) were used to test for associations between genetic variants and intelligence test scores. However, these designs were underpowered and produced no replicable results [ 39 ]. The qualified exception is that possession of the e4 allele of the gene for Apolipoprotein E ( APOE ) is reliably associated with slightly lower cognitive function at older ages, accounting for around 1% of the variance [ 40 , 41 ]. No other SNP-based genetic variant comes close to this effect size in accounting for intelligence differences. The association might occur because APOE is involved in neuronal repair, and there is more repairing to do—and probably more individual differences (variance) in neurodegeneration—at older ages. The field changed to the conducting of GWAS (see Glossary) that are agnostic regarding which, if any, loci are associated with the trait of interest. This was driven by the availability of affordable arrays of hundreds of thousands of SNPs covering the genome, alongside the collection of large samples sizes and the formation of multi-sample consortia.

The first GWAS of intelligence with N  > 3000, from 2011, detected no significantly associated loci [ 30 ]. However, it included the first DNA-based (GREML-SC-derived) heritability estimate of intelligence and showed that genotyped SNPs do account—collectively—for some of its variation [ 30 ]. For the next 6 years, GWASs conducted on intelligence test scores were largely unsuccessful in identifying associated genetic loci [ 42 , 43 , 44 , 45 ]. In 2018, three studies, using substantially overlapping samples, attained sample sizes of over 200,000 participants and found hundreds of genetic loci significantly associated with intelligence [ 31 , 46 , 47 ].

The first of the three studies had a sample size of 248,428; it found 187 (172 novel when it appeared online) independent regions of the genome that were associated with intelligence [ 46 ]. A major contribution to this study was from the large UK Biobank sample’s short Verbal and Numerical Reasoning test (VNR; called the ‘fluid’ test by UK Biobank, which is a misnomer). This study used a meta-analytic method (MTAG) to combine data sets using different indices of cognitive ability, and including educational attainment to increase statistical power. However, whereas a proxy-phenotype approach was used previously to identify SNPs that showed a joint association with education and intelligence [ 48 ], the meta-analytic method used in MTAG is different because it was designed to detect genetic associations with the target trait of intelligence and not those specific to educational attainment [ 46 , 49 ].

The second of the three studies to appear found 148 loci (53 novel when it appeared online) associated with intelligence, with a sample size of 300,046 participants [ 31 ]. This study also used the UK Biobank VNR test and several other samples that formed a general intelligence component from three-or-more, mostly fluid intelligence-type tests. The third study to appear identified 205 loci (84 novel when it appeared online) using 269,867 participants [ 47 ]. This study was conditioned on socioeconomic status, and combined tests of cognitive ability and scores on scholastic aptitude tests.

It has become clear, therefore, that the genetic contribution to intelligence differences is highly polygenic, i.e. there are large numbers of independent genetic variants, each of which accounts for a tiny proportion of intelligence variation.

The three studies above used polygenic scores to provide out-of-sample predictions of intelligence based solely on DNA-SNP data [ 31 , 46 , 47 ]. A polygenic score is an individual-level predictor derived from the sum of effect alleles at a SNP, weighted by the regression co-efficient describing each SNP’s level of association with the trait, in this case intelligence. The polygenic scores predicted 4–7% of intelligence variance in independent samples; another study predicted 10.6% [ 50 ]. Thus, a blood sample at birth in these samples predicts intelligence with about the same effect size as parental socioeconomic status, i.e. they do not predict well; neither is of practical use for predicting the intelligence of an individual. The proportion of variance explained by polygenic scores rises with sample size, so the predictive power is likely to rise as sample sizes increase [ 51 ]. This raises ethical issues—outlined more elsewhere [ 52 ]—which should be addressed by well-informed professionals and lay people from appropriate interest groups and areas of expertise. We emphasise that the results above apply to the samples tested, all of which were of European ancestry, and relatively few of which, probably, were from very deprived situations. Therefore, results reported here may not be assumed to apply to other populations, or to the same populations at other times.

After GWAS of intelligence: clues to mechanisms?

Finding genetic loci whose variants are associated with intelligence differences only helps to understand these differences if we understand the mechanistic consequences of the genetic variation. GWAS data sets’ results on intelligence have found associations between SNP variation and tissue-specific gene expression across many of the brain’s cortical regions (Fig.  2 ) [ 31 , 46 , 47 ]. SNP variation associated with intelligence has been linked to tissue-specific gene expression in specific classes of neuron, including pyramidal neurons of the somatosensory cortex, the CA1 region of the hippocampus, midbrain embryonic GABAergic neurons, [ 53 ] and medium spiny neurons [ 47 ]. These associations indicate that, rather than any one specific area, the association between genetic and intelligence variation is probably mediated in part by individual differences in gene expression across the cortex.

A Manhattan plot displaying 187 regions of the genome associated with intelligence test scores. The chromosomes are on the x axis and the −log 10 P value is on the y axis. Each dot represents a single nucleotide polymorphism. The horizontal red line indicates the genome-wide significant threshold of P  = 5 × 10 −8 and the horizontal black line represents genome-wide suggestive variants at P  = 1 × 10 −5 . B The relationship between specific gene expression profiles in the cortex and intelligence-gene associations. Illustrated here is the finding that tissue-specific expression in and across the brain is associated with intelligence; the full list of associations is in the original report [ 46 ]. C Some of the genetic correlations between intelligence test scores and phenotypes linked to health, mental health, and measures of brain size [ 46 ]. A positive genetic correlation indicates that the genetic variants associated with higher intelligence test scores are associated with a greater value of the trait or a higher likelihood of developing the disorder. Longevity, intracranial volume, self-rated health, and head circumference all show positive genetic correlations with intelligence. A negative genetic correlation describes instances where the genetic variants associated with higher intelligence are also those that are associated with a lower value of the trait or a lower likelihood of developing the disorder. Traits such as ADHD, obesity, coronary artery disease, major depressive disorder, and Alzheimer’s disease show negative genetic correlations with intelligence.

Genetic variants associated with intelligence test scores tend to cluster in groups of genes linked with neurogenesis, the synapse, neuron differentiation, and oligodendrocyte differentiation [ 46 ]. These results are consistent with previous studies that found an association between intelligence and brain-expressed genes [ 54 ], as well as the genes expressed in the postsynaptic density and its associated components of the NMDA-receptor signalling complex [ 55 ] and Arc complex [ 56 ] more specifically. Together, these studies highlight the role of the synapse, and possibly the postsynaptic density and/or its associated components, as being biological systems that, when perturbed by common genetic variation, are associated with some of phenotypic differences in intelligence. However, the variance accounted for by the intelligence-associated SNPs found in these biologically plausible tissues is probably very small. Nevertheless, efforts to understand DNA versus intelligence phenotype associations at levels such as neuron types and gene systems are ways to tame the huge number of cognition-related SNPs, each of which has a miniscule effect size.

Pleiotropic associations and intelligence

Pleiotropy (see Glossary) describes instances where variation at a region of the genome is associated with multiple phenotypes. Widespread pleiotropy between two phenotypes can be detected by deriving a genetic correlation (see Glossary) between the two phenotypes. A genetic correlation describes the average genetic effect shared between two traits as well as whether it is positive or negative; i.e. a positive genetic correlation occurs when genetic effects associated with an increase in one trait are also associated with an increase in a second trait, and a negative genetic correlation occurs when genetic effects associated with an increase in one trait are also associated with a decrease in a second trait. A genetic correlation co-efficient is derived using all SNPs from a GWAS regardless of the SNPs’ levels of association with a trait. Genetic correlations can be derived using two independent samples; this has the advantage that any genetic correlations found between intelligence and disease, for example, will not be due to individuals’ having the disease’s symptoms (i.e. if the intelligence GWAS has been conducted in healthy individuals). Polygenic scores can also make predictions across traits by deriving a polygenic score for intelligence and using it to predict health, or brain imaging traits, for example. However, these shared genetic associations—detected by genetic correlations or polygenic scores—can arise due to vertical pleiotropy, horizontal pleiotropy, or spurious pleiotropy, which we explain below [ 57 ].

Genetic correlations derived using GWAS data sets have demonstrated that genetic variants associated with higher intelligence test scores are, on average, also associated with, for example, longevity [ 46 ], better physical health [ 58 ], and more advantaged socioeconomic position [ 16 , 50 , 59 ]. Genetic variants associated with higher intelligence are more likely to be associated with lower levels of traits associated with mental health problems (Fig.  2 ) [ 60 ]. On the other hand, genetic variants associated with higher intelligence test scores are, typically, slightly positively associated with autism spectrum disorder and anorexia nervosa [ 46 ].

Mendelian randomisation (MR; see Glossary) studies move beyond associations between intelligence and health variables to seeking evidence that one phenotype might be causally related to another. MR results have indicated that intelligence and education probably have a bi-directional causal relationship [ 61 ], and that intelligence might have some causal association with, for example, Alzheimer’s disease that is independent of any protective effects of education [ 61 ]. Such results from MR should be interpreted cautiously as they can be biased by dynastic effects [ 62 ] known to influence education [ 36 ], which is highly genetically correlated with intelligence. The presence of dynastic effects violates the independence assumption of MR, as they induce a correlation between the environment in which a child is raised and their genetic inheritance.

Assortative mating, the tendency to select a partner based on heritable traits similar to one’s own, can bias the results of MR [ 63 ]. Education and intelligence are traits with evidence of assortative mating; there are reports of cross-spouse correlations of r  = 0.40 for intelligence and r  = 0.60 for education [ 64 ]. These contrast with measures of personality where correlations of r  = 0.10 are found [ 65 ]. Biases from assortative mating can be induced by cross-trait assortative mating whereby, for example, more highly educated women might select partners who are taller, resulting in an apparent ‘finding’ that height is causally associated with education [ 63 ]. Bias due to dynastic effects and assortative mating can be controlled for by performing MR within families [ 66 ].

GWASs of educational attainment show high genetic correlations with intelligence (rg = 0.70–0.80 [ 46 ]) and have identified 1271 independent genome-wide significant SNPs [ 50 ]. Bioinformatic analyses of these data have identified associations with genes expressed in the brain and other cortical tissues as well as genes whose level of expression is elevated both pre- and postnatally. Furthermore, many of the genes identified encode proteins that are involved in synaptic functions such as synaptic plasticity, and neurotransmitter secretion, consistent with what has been identified for intelligence [ 46 , 55 , 67 ]. However, the use of education as a proxy phenotype for intelligence in genetic studies should be interpreted with caution. For example, whereas genetic correlations with schizophrenia indicate that the genetic variation that is associated with higher intelligence test scores is also associated with lower risk of schizophrenia, the genetic variants associated with attaining a longer and higher-level education are associated with higher risk of schizophrenia [ 46 ]. In a study investigating this phenomenon, SNPs associated with lower intelligence test scores, less education, and an increased risk for schizophrenia were also associated with early developmental processes [ 68 ]. This contrasted with the SNPs associated with lower education, and a lower risk of schizophrenia which were associated with biological processes of mature synapses.

A complementary explanation of some of the difference in genetic correlations between intelligence and education with schizophrenia focussed on “non-cognitive skills” [ 69 ]. The study used genomic structural equation modelling [ 70 ] to perform a GWAS by subtraction, resulting in associations specific to education once variance attributable to differences in intelligence was removed. The resulting GWAS of so-called “non-cognitive skills” found a heritability of 6.6% (SE = 0.2%), and a positive genetic correlation with schizophrenia of rg = 0.26 (SE = 0.02). However, whereas the cognitive traits captured by a GWAS of education were negatively genetically correlated with schizophrenia, the “non-cognitive traits” were genetically associated with a greater schizophrenia risk. A single cognitive performance test was used (UK Biobank’s VNR). This short test is unlikely to have captured all variance associated with intelligence and, so, this uncaptured cognitive ability variance would also be included in the “non-cognitive skills” (which would therefore be a misnomer) as evidenced by a genetic correlation of rg = 0.31 (SE = 0.06) with other measures of intelligence.

Intelligence and the brain

Intelligence and brain volume.

There is a well-replicated, modest positive association between brain size and intelligence test scores. Brain size is usually measured as total volume, assessed in magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans. A meta-analysis of data from over 148 studies across more than 8000 individuals [ 71 ] estimated the association at r  = 0.24. A re-analysis of those data including only healthy adults estimated the association at r  = 0.31; this rose to r  = 0.39 when it included only the studies judged to have used better-quality intelligence testing [ 72 ]. In a single sample of 18,426 middle- and older-aged participants of the UK Biobank (age range 44–81 years), the association between intelligence and total brain volume was estimated at r  = 0.276 (95% CI = 0.252, 0.300) [ 73 ]. This is about halfway between the two previous estimates, and has the benefit of eliminating cross-cohort heterogeneity that can influence meta-analytic results.

There are many other ways to interrogate brain differences, beyond overall brain size, which, on its own, is not informative about the brain’s complexity. For example, the fact that there are substantial sex differences in brain size [ 74 ] but very small or no sex differences in mean intelligence [ 75 , 76 ] is likely to be because multiple aspects of the brain’s structure, function, and connectivity are compensatory for any apparent brain size difference. Notably, there do not appear to be sex differences in the size of the brain-intelligence correlation [ 73 , 74 ]. There is evidence that the magnitude of associations with intelligence vary as a function of brain tissue type and locus. A study that included brain cortical characteristics (volume, area, and thickness), total volume of subcortical structures, and measures of white matter macro- and micro-structure found that, together, they accounted for up to 18% of the variance in general intelligence in 73-year-olds [ 77 ]. In the wider age range of UK Biobank, multiple structural measures accounted for more of the variance in intelligence in older-age (13.6%) compared to middle-age participants (5.4%), only outperforming the single variable of total brain volume in the former group [ 73 ].

The Parieto-Frontal Integration Theory attempted to summarise the intelligence-related brain regions implicated by structural, functional, and diffusion imaging studies of the brain [ 78 ] (Box  3 ). It identified that variations in the structure and function of lateral and medial frontal, parietal, lateral temporal, and lateral occipital cortex, and underlying white matter connectivity (such as the arcuate fasciculus) were associated with individual differences in intelligence. The available neuroimaging research at the time (37 studies) was hampered by small sample sizes, variable methods of measuring intelligence, and the-then limited number of diffusion MRI (dMRI) papers. This probably contributed to the relatively weak convergence of findings; even the most strongly implicated regions were supported by ≤60% of the papers surveyed. P-FIT theory receives support from some newer empirical findings (Fig.  3 ). We shall consider more recent studies in the light of it.

A The Parieto-Frontal Integration Theory (P-FIT) of intelligence differences, proposed by Jung and Haier [ 78 ]; reproduced with permission from [ 23 ]. B A meta-analysis of functional and structural (voxel-based morphometry only) studies of intelligence; reproduced with permission from [ 85 ]. C Associations between cortical thickness and intelligence in children (age range 6–18 years; N  = 216); reproduced with permission from [ 83 ]. D Associations between cortical thickness and intelligence in older adults (age 73 years; N  = 588); reproduced with permission from [ 79 ]. E Associations between intelligence test scores and regional cortical volume (left), and white matter tract fractional anisotropy (upper right, blue) and mean diffusivity (lower right, orange) in middle-aged and older adults (age range 44–81 years; N range  = 7201–18,426); reproduced with permission from [ 73 ]. F Associations between lesion locus and intelligence in cortical (top) and subcortical (bottom) loci (age M  = 49, SD = 16 years; N  = 241); reproduced with permission from [ 80 ].

Box 3 Routes from the brain to theories of intelligence

P-FIT and beyond

We mention the parieto-frontal integration theory (P-FIT) [ 78 ] in the main text as a trellis upon which to hang diverse research results relating brain measures to intelligence test scores. Here we describe other theories that are not necessarily aimed specifically at where intelligence differences reside in the brain (as was the P-FIT), but they are nonetheless informative of the neuroscience of intelligence differences. For example, a narrative synthesis of several divergent traditions within the functional brain imaging literature identified a number of regions consistently showing convergent activations across multiple executive function tasks [ 145 ]. There are variations in the nomenclature (e.g. Multiple Demand Network [MDN], fronto-parietal control network, the superordinate cognitive control network, and the extrinsic mode network [ 145 ]), yet these schemas commonly comprise dorso-medial and lateral prefrontal cortex, insula, and parietal cortex. The more recent extended MDN [ 145 ] also includes the putamen, thalamus, and more dorsolateral aspects of prefrontal cortex. Though these results are based on convergent functional activations across multiple tasks (rather than patterns of activations from a general factor of intelligence indicated by multiple tasks), the regions implicated from these functional studies bear a striking resemblance to the P-FIT. Integration of structural and functional data (along with other modalities) will be central to testing broader theories about the nature of intelligence. It will provide important biological constraints to questions about the degree to which intelligence is a single construct in the brain, or arises from a number of overlapping brain networks that support the variety of psychological processes that are required by the multiple tests from which intelligence is derived (e.g. [ 146 ]). It will also allow insights into the hypothesis that cortical connectivity facilitated by white matter is a biological substrate for individual differences in processing speed, which is hierarchically subordinate to fluid intelligence [ 92 , 147 ].

Contributions of longitudinal and lesion studies

If intelligence is supported by a large distributed network of brain regions and their connections, there may well be many potential cerebral routes to intelligence differences, and to intellectual changes. This is a matter on which neuroimaging can offer important insights. Data from lesion studies and the ageing process can be seen as helpful in triangulating whether certain brain regions might be necessary for higher intelligence, rather than being related due to confounding factors (such as pre-existing, lifetime differences in brain volumes, in the example of ageing). Nonetheless, both methods are still limited.

Longitudinal studies offer a more stringent test of causal hypotheses than do cross-sectional studies. For example, if white matter health is important for higher intelligence, we would expect declines in both to be correlated [ 94 ]. However, even finding correlated changes between intelligence test scores and changes in a given brain region or pathway is still potentially confounded. A region that is not central to intellectual function could still exhibit correlated changes because its structural decline is simply correlated with regions that do support processes central to intelligence. Improved characterisation of longitudinal brain ageing will elucidate the degree to which this (the magnitude of correlated regional brain change) is an issue for localisation of intelligence.

Lesion studies offer valuable data on individuals in whom there has been a sudden and specific focal insult, which can be linked to differences in intelligence [ 80 , 81 ]. Those brain loci more strongly linked to lower intelligence can allow mapping of the relative importance of specific regions. However, lesion studies may be limited by the numbers required to eliminate statistical power variability across the brain; i.e., the regional coverage of lesion loci in the sample might be heterogeneous. The fact that lesions often involve both grey and white matter is a further issue. Parsing their relative importance for a behavioural outcome (and identifying the underlying connective pathways affected in each case) at a particular locus requires many participants with selective (grey or white) tissue damage.

Brain grey matter and intelligence

Associations between higher intelligence test scores and greater brain cortical volume and thickness in adults [ 73 , 79 ], as well as data from lesion studies [ 80 , 81 ] show stronger magnitudes across areas cited by the P-FIT (Box  3 ), though with consistently small effect sizes. The intelligence-cortical thickness relationship changes over the life course, with negative associations reported in 10-year-olds [ 82 , 83 , 84 ]. In the largest of these recent adult studies ( N  = 18,426, ages 44–81 [ 73 ]), some of the strongest associations were also found between intelligence and the volumes of the insula, posterior cingulate/precuneus ( r  < 0.20). These regions were not implicated in the initial P-FIT, but were identified in a meta-analytic update [ 78 ] using both functional and structural MRI data. However, considering only structural voxel-based morphometry analyses in easily-meta-analysable common space meant other types of structural study were excluded [ 85 ]. The large UK Biobank-based study [ 73 ] found that the intelligence associations with the volume of the thalamus ( r  = 0.25) were 1.5 times larger than for any other subcortical structure ( r 0.06–0.17). The caudate, which had also previously been implicated in intelligence differences, albeit in smaller samples [ 86 , 87 ], was also correlated with intelligence in the UK Biobank analysis ( r  ≈ 0.13), but only hippocampal ( r  = 0.05) and thalamic volumes ( r  = 0.19) showed unique associations with intelligence in a multivariate model including all subcortical structures. These findings are in line with the extensive cortical connectivity profiles of both insula and thalamus [ 88 , 89 ].

Brain white matter and intelligence

The last 20 years have witnessed an explosion of white matter brain imaging studies, due to the advent of dMRI. By exploiting the influence of various white matter properties (axonal myelination and diameter, among others [ 90 ]) on the motion of water molecular diffusion, dMRI enables inferences about white matter microstructure. Measures such as fractional anisotropy (FA; an index of the directional coherence of diffusion) and mean diffusivity (MD; the average magnitude of diffusion) are commonly used metrics. Both show general and regional ageing effects: on average, FA goes down with age, and MD goes up [ 91 ].

When assessed as summary measures across multiple parts of white matter, more directionally coherent water molecular diffusion (higher FA) and lower overall magnitude of diffusion (lower MD) are associated with higher intelligence test scores in studies together covering ages 8–81 years [ 73 , 92 , 93 ], typically with small effect sizes. FA and fluid cognitive ability show significantly coupled declines even over a 3-year period in older age ( r  = 0.31; [ 94 ]). Whereas we acknowledge inconsistencies in white matter tract nomenclature and identification, there is emerging evidence that long range cortico-cortical (association pathways), the genu (more so than splenium) of the corpus callosum, and subcortico-cortical (mainly thalamic) pathways show numerically larger associations with intelligence than projection fibres (though all r  < 0.11; [ 73 ]). The identification of these pathways as associated with intelligence accords with the grey matter findings above, as these are broadly the connections that facilitate frontal, parietal, lateral temporal (and subcortical) interconnectivity. Age-related accrual of white matter damage (measured by white matter hyperintensities [WMHs]) is associated with lower ( r  = −0.106) and longitudinally coupled declines ( r  ≤ −0.334) in cognitive function [ 95 , 96 ]. WMHs might interfere with selective pathways, because they tend to accumulate predominantly superior to the lateral ventricles [ 97 ].

Larger effect sizes for brain-intelligence associations can be found with multiple measures of white matter microstructure. One study derived a general factor of white matter integrity, across 12 white matter tracts, using three diffusion-based metrics: FA, longitudinal relaxation time, and magnetisation transfer ratio [ 92 ]. These three general factors showed only small correlations with each other, indicating that they might capture non-overlapping aspects of white matter microstructure. Together, they accounted for about 10% of intelligence differences in 73-year-olds. This link between white matter integrity and intelligence was fully mediated by the cognitive domain of processing speed.

It appears that the brain regions and their underlying connections that are associated with individual differences in our most complex cognitive abilities are also those which might: (i) show greater areal expansion as a function of increasing brain size [ 98 ]; (ii) be those that are latest to develop [ 99 ]; and (iii) be those most susceptible to brain ageing [ 91 ] and potential determinants thereof, such as vascular risk [ 100 ]. It is important to note that, even when brain regional measures are used, effect sizes remain relatively low, at an upper limit of ~ r  = 0.30 among well-powered studies; however, these estimates appear robust and replicable in large samples [ 73 ]. These findings illustrate the small but significant associations of multiple facets of brain structure with intelligence differences. This appears especially at older ages when a larger proportion of the variance in these measures is probably driven by differences in age-related neurodegenerative processes. Modest associations should not be surprising given the macro-scale of the brain variables, and that measures discussed above are only few of the potentially large number of brain properties that might be measured.

Newer approaches to brain-intelligence associations

Emerging approaches have begun to model multivariate cross-tissue contributions to intelligence across selective grey matter regions and white matter pathways. For example, FA in the forceps minor and fronto-polar volume mediated 18.2% of the age association with fluid intelligence [ 101 ]. Such approaches have the potential to more directly test the specificity of brain-based network theories of intelligence, such as the P-FIT. Exploiting the brain’s structural connectome offers the chance to assess such network-based analyses with greater fidelity than via the measurement of fewer, larger pathways (though this brings a different set of limitations, e.g. [ 102 ]). Global measures such as connectomic efficiency [ 103 ], or variation in the ‘degree’ of nodes in morphometric similarity networks, have shown potential to predict intelligence differences (up to a remarkable 40% in one study with an N of 296 young adults [ 104 ]). Resting-state fMRI connectivity matrices predicted 20% of the variance in intelligence among young adults ( N  = 884; [ 105 ]). These results need replicating. It is therefore of interest to continue the development of clear and interpretable integration of structural and function brain connectomes [ 106 ] to inform our understanding of intelligence differences and the brain.

The next period of research should try to explain the associations between brain indices (which are sometimes rather crude) and intelligence, in addition to seeking and testing new brain variables. Having larger volumes of brain (and tissues therein) appears to be relatively strongly related to having greater numbers of neurons [ 107 ]. Cortical thickness differences are related to neuronal density, columnar arrangement, alongside dendritic arbour and glial properties [ 108 ]. Another promising metric may be the diffusion characteristics of grey matter, assessed using neurite orientation dispersion and density imaging, which are putative markers of dendritic density and arborisation and exhibit some P-FIT-like regional associations with intelligence (| r  | <0.25) [ 109 ]. Yet, much work is required before we understand whether and how such specific microscopic features (some of which are estimated with neuroimaging) might specifically give rise to intelligence differences. Whereas new methods, larger sample sizes, and out-of-sample prediction designs have the potential to add further insights and complementary contributions to intelligence variation, we judge it will be important to: (i) test the incremental validity of newer measures beyond more conventional metrics (e.g. [ 110 ]); (ii) be critical regarding whether the newer measures offer more biologically tractable variables for understanding brain differences; and, if they do, (iii) integrate these new indices with other levels of explanation, bridging the spectrum of macrostructure to cellular.

Toward a better integration of genes, brains, and intelligence

We structured this review into sections on phenotypic issues about intelligence, the genetic associations with intelligence test scores, and their brain correlates. This partly reflects the division of labour among the authors, but also reflects the current prevailing separation of these lines of enquiry. We should have liked there to have been more amalgamated brain-cognition-genetics studies, and we should have liked more integrated sections, examples and ideas to review. However, we consider that to be a lesson for us, and for the field, about the sorts of studies that could be done. These divisions are also in part because research on the statistical phenotypic nature of intelligence has been going on for more than a century. Genetics and brain imaging are relative youngsters, and methodologically fast-moving. New methods have blossomed in these fields, and debates and enquiry into the merits of these will continue apace. To mention a few examples, there are debates about both the diffusion and fMRI work in terms of cross-lab stability for neuroimaging [ 111 , 112 ], and there are discussions about the causal nature, if any, of the observed genetic correlations between intelligence and other phenotypes, as well as the role of non-transmitted genetic effects. The phenotypic nature of intelligence, too, has areas of contention: some areas of the neuroscience and cognitive literature focus on experimental cognitive tasks that assess aspects of so-called executive functioning, in contrast to the psychometric tests upon which intelligence scores are based. Consequently, reviews that focus solely on, say, executive function(s) or working memory might not fully bring out their strong phenotypic [ 8 , 113 , 114 , 115 ], genotypic [ 116 , 117 ] and neurostructural (Box  3 ) overlaps with psychometric intelligence. It would be of interest to develop a theoretical superstructure to unite these cognitive disciplines; it is unfortunate that cognitive neuropsychologists and psychometricians do not bring their tests and constructs together more when, empirically, they are strongly related [ 114 ]. In this section we summarise some recent studies that have integrated genes and brains to try to understand intelligence differences, before discussing their implications and potential future directions for a more integrative and nuanced account of some biological underpinnings of intelligence differences.

Looking at all three of genes, brains, and intelligence

Genetic correlations find that the genetic variants associated with intelligence are shared in part with those associated with volumetric measures of brain structure, such as intracranial volume (rg = 0.27), total brain volume (rg = 0.23), grey matter volume (rg = 0.08), white matter volume (rg = 0.08) [ 31 ], and volume of the left posterior cingulate cortex (rg = 0.23) [ 118 ]. Positive genetic correlations have been identified between healthier brain white matter microstructure and higher intelligence [ 119 ]. Reaction time—in which higher values are worse—had genetic correlations of −0.18 on average with brain white matter health/integrity, based on FA, as well as widespread positive genetic correlations of 0.17, on average, with axial diffusivity, MD, mode of anisotropy, and radial diffusivity [ 119 ].

A study which found that a polygenic score for intelligence predicted 3–5% of intelligence differences in a new sample also reported that this association was partially mediated to a small extent by brain cortical thickness and surface area of the anterior cingulate cortex, the prefrontal cortex, the insula, and the medial temporal cortex [ 120 ]. The results are consistent with the notion that the genetic variants’ associations with intelligence test scores might be accounted for partly through their associations with variation in the structure of the brain in many of the areas already linked in phenotypically with intelligence differences.

The high level of polygenicity of both intelligence [ 46 ] and structural brain measures [ 118 , 119 ] may indicate that a wealth of biological systems are associated with individual differences in both. This may prove an obstacle for uncovering a mechanistic account of how genetic variation is associated with brain and intelligence differences, as any biological system associated with both is likely to explain only a fraction of phenotypic variance in both brain and intelligence measures. However, despite the small effect sizes likely to be associated with each mechanism separately, future work aiming to produce a more mechanistic account of intelligence differences should examine the relative importance of any biological system identified, as well as examining its association with brain imaging measures.

The pleiotropy identified between intelligence and cortical measures also requires further examination. Specifically, the relative importance of vertical pleiotropy and horizontal pleiotropy in the generation of genetic correlations between cognitive ability and brain variables is currently unknown. By understanding the forms of pleiotropy responsible for such genetic correlations, more mechanistic accounts of intelligence differences can be formulated. For example, should vertical pleiotropy drive the genetic correlation between intelligence and brain structure then it could indicate that brain structure is causal in intelligence differences; however the opposite scenario is possible, i.e. where intelligence partly drives brain differences. Should these genetic correlations be the result of horizontal pleiotropy this would indicate that the same genetic loci are associated with both brain structure and intelligence with no causal relationship between the two.

A related difficulty in the interpretation of genetic correlations between intelligence and brain morphology arises from non-transmitted genetic effects [ 36 , 37 ]. Here, genetic correlations between intelligence and cortical measures may, in part, be the result of the genotype of the parent being linked to rearing practices that support both healthy brain development, and intellectual growth. Within-family GWAS will provide future opportunities to identify these effects [ 66 ] and gauge the magnitude of the residual genetic relationship between intelligence and brain structure, in the absence of the effect that parental genotype may have on both these variables.

The finding of a genetic g factor [ 29 ] also has implications for the functional annotation of the loci identified as being associated with intelligence. Specifically, loci found to be associated with cognitive abilities might be associated with the variance from a general factor or they might be associations specific to the domain examined, or even to the specific test within the given domain. This can be seen most clearly when examining genetic loci previously associated with the Trails B cognitive test; it was shown [ 29 ] that Trails B’s scores’ associations with genetic loci were shared with other tests of cognitive ability, and so were more general than initially assumed. This is a potential issue for examining more mechanistic accounts of intelligence differences, as variance that is both common across cognitive tests, and the variance that is specific to any particular testing domain or single test might be included together. By using techniques such as genomic SEM to distil these associations into those that are general across cognitive domains, and those that are specific to each domain or test could help in identifying plausible biological mechanisms linked with each.

Beyond just gen -‘omics’

There are, as yet, few studies that directly integrate genetic variation, brain imaging indices, and intelligence test scores. We barely have even a rudimentary understanding of how variation in the huge number of genetic variants identified as being associated with intelligence test scores and brain indices might directly relate to mechanisms (e.g. protein expression) and how these go on to facilitate the neurobiological machinery whose properties can be estimated and tested for any associations with differences in general cognitive ability. The explanatory gap between genetic loci and cognitive test scores is massive, and liable to induce a range of responses from the pleasure and terror of the Burkean sublime (a job to be done, though daunting), to less helpful routes of either premature and simplistic reductionism, or hopelessness.

There are fields that might help to bridge the gap, and contribute toward understanding intelligence differences, such as epigenetics [ 121 , 122 ], transcriptomics, proteomics, virtual histology, and others. Compared with, say GWAS methods, these are newer still, and will take time to even partly fill in the spaces between the triumvirate of genes, brains, and intelligence. However, genome-wide methylation studies examining intelligence and brain structure have begun to show some converging results. An association was identified between cg12507869 on chromosome 10 in the INPP5A gene and cognitive ability, as measured using the Mini-Mental State Examination, and with phonemic verbal fluency [ 121 ]. Methylation probes in the INPP5A gene have also been shown to be associated with hippocampal volume, cg25594319, although this did not withstand correction for multiple testing across the brain regions examined [ 122 ]. Nevertheless, we judge that poly-epigenetic approaches (e.g. EWAS and resultant epigenetic scores created out-of-sample) and larger sample sizes, particularly in epigenetic-neuroimaging studies [ 123 ] will yield further progress. For example, epigenetic signatures of smoking, mortality, and inflammation exhibit cognitive associations and regional cortical correlates in older age that overlap with P-FIT areas [ 124 , 125 , 126 ].

‘Virtual histological’ methods—which exploit histological data on regional gene expression [ 127 ]—also have potential for understanding how genes and brain measures relate to each other in the context of cognitive differences. Unifying information on (i) gene expression patterns and (ii) brain structural information at the same specific spatial level (e.g. cortical parcels) allows researchers to ask whether brain regional differences in brain structure-expression associations are relevant for other correlates of brain structure, using a correlation-of-correlations approach. For example, those brain cortical regions that showed a stronger relationship between greater triacylglycerol expression and greater cortical thickness were also the regions where thickness was more strongly associated with general cognitive ability [ 128 ]. Multivariate and systems-specific approaches (which consider multiple proteins together) will further illuminate the unique contributions of specific proteins and the underlying mechanisms via which they might relate to the underlying neurobiological bases of cognitive differences.

Finally, we want to be clear about ‘prediction’ of intelligence using genetic or brain imaging variables. We advocate testing replication across samples; that is, if a set of genetic variants or one or more brain imaging variables is associated with psychometric intelligence in a discovery sample then it is prudent to test whether the association holds in replication samples. This is a means to validating and understanding the generalisability of the genetic and cerebral correlates of intelligence from a starting sample. Thus, replication via out of sample prediction into another sample is a tool via which we can enhance our understanding of reasons why people differ in their cognitive abilities. On the other hand, prediction of the intelligence of an individual from genetic or neuroimaging variables is not a practical or, in our view, desirable aim.

Brain imaging and genetic associations with intelligence test score differences made progress in the last 10 years, with a raft of results based on new methods and large samples. Imaging and genetic variables account for a minority of intelligence variation. In both fields we conclude that: additional sources of variation should be sought; there is still a large explanatory gap separating us from even a partial mechanistic account of why people differ in intelligence; and the associations should not be taken to mean that there are immutable contributions to intelligence. When, or maybe if, we understand these and future associations, there might be hints as to what tends to make optimal cognitive development and healthy cognitive ageing. We recognise and encourage research on other substantial sources of variation in intelligence, social as well as biological [ 129 ].

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Acknowledgements

IJD and SRC were supported by the UKRI Medical Research Council (MR/R024065/1) and the United States Department of Human Sciences National Institutes of Health (1R01AG054628-01A1). IJD and WDH were supported by Age UK (Disconnected Mind grant).

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This design focusses on variants in specific genes that are thought to be linked to the trait of interest due to the biological functions of the genes and genetic variants that are selected.

This describes the standardised average genetic effect shared between two phenotypes. It is a correlation between the tested genetically heritable elements of each trait.

This study design is used to identify loci throughout the genome associated with a trait or disease state. GWAS can include millions of mostly common single nucleotide polymorphisms from across the genome. These are each tested for association with the phenotype of interest. The problem of type 1 statistical errors in such a large number of tests is controlled for by adopting a stringent p value cut off, typically of 5 × 10 −8 .

This is the proportion of phenotypic variance that is attributable to the variance found in genetic factors. In the context of GWAS it is typically only the additive genetic factors that are considered from variants that are in linkage disequilibrium (see below) with the common SNPs used, and so the heritability estimate is the narrow-sense heritability.

This is the non-random association of alleles located in at least two distinct genetic loci.

MR is a statistical technique that uses genetic variants, which are unchanged from conception, to test for possible causal relationships between an exposure and an outcome. MR typically uses SNPs that have attained genome wide significance for an exposure trait, such as smoking, as proxy variables for the exposure trait, i.e. forming an instrument for it. Such instrumental variables are defined by three key assumptions. First, that they are associated with the exposure. Second, they are associated with the outcome only through the exposure. Third, that they are not associated with confounders with respect to the outcome.

This describes the finding that multiple phenotypes can be associated with genetic variation at the same locus. First, this may be due to the locus’s having an independent causal effect on each phenotype, which is termed horizontal or biological pleiotropy. Second, it can describe instances whereby one phenotype is causally associated with a second phenotype, meaning that any genetic associations found with the first phenotype will be shared with the second; this is termed vertical or mediated pleiotropy.

SNP is pronounced ‘snip’. This is the most common type of genetic variation between people. Each SNP is a substitution of a single nucleotide at a specific position in the genome. In a GWAS, a SNP is treated as the statistical unit of association.

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Deary, I.J., Cox, S.R. & Hill, W.D. Genetic variation, brain, and intelligence differences. Mol Psychiatry 27 , 335–353 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41380-021-01027-y

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Theories of Intelligence in Psychology

Kendra Cherry, MS, is a psychosocial rehabilitation specialist, psychology educator, and author of the "Everything Psychology Book."

Amy Morin, LCSW, is a psychotherapist and international bestselling author. Her books, including "13 Things Mentally Strong People Don't Do," have been translated into more than 40 languages. Her TEDx talk,  "The Secret of Becoming Mentally Strong," is one of the most viewed talks of all time.

What Is Intelligence?

Other types of intelligence, intelligence (iq) testing, frequently asked questions.

Intelligence is one of the most talked-about subjects in psychology , but no standard definition exists. Some researchers have suggested that intelligence is a single, general ability. Other theories of intelligence hold that intelligence encompasses a range of aptitudes, skills, and talents.

Despite substantial interest in the subject, there still isn't a consensus among experts about the components of intelligence or whether accurate measurements of intelligence are even possible.

Although contemporary definitions of intelligence vary considerably, experts generally agree that intelligence involves mental abilities such as logic, reasoning, problem-solving , and planning. Specifically, current definitions tend to suggest that intelligence is the ability to:

• Learn from experience :   The acquisition , retention, and use of knowledge is an important component of intelligence.
• Recognize problems : To use knowledge, people first must identify the problems it might address.
• Solve problems :   People must then use what they have learned to come up with solutions to problems.

Research on intelligence plays a significant role in many areas including educational program funding, job applicant screening, and testing to identify children who need additional academic help.

Main Theories of Intelligence in Psychology

Given the intense interest in the concept of intelligence, some of the field's greatest minds have explored it from numerous angles. Following are some of the major theories of intelligence that have emerged in the last 100 years.

Major Types of Intelligence Theories

• General intelligence
• Primary mental abilities
• Multiple intelligences
• The triarchic approach to intelligence

General Intelligence

British psychologist Charles Spearman (1863–1945) described the concept of general intelligence , or the "g factor." After using factor analysis to examine mental aptitude tests, Spearman concluded that scores on these tests were remarkably similar.

People who performed well on one cognitive test tended to perform well on other tests, while those who scored badly on one test tended to score badly on others. He concluded that intelligence is a general cognitive ability that researchers can measure and express numerically.

Primary Mental Abilities

Psychologist Louis L. Thurstone (1887–1955) focused on seven primary mental abilities rather than a single, general ability. These include:

• Associative memory : The ability to memorize and recall
• Numerical ability : The ability to solve mathematical problems
• Perceptual speed : The ability to see differences and similarities among objects
• Reasoning : The ability to find rules
• Spatial visualization : The ability to visualize relationships
• Verbal comprehension : The ability to define and understand words
• Word fluency : The ability to produce words rapidly

Multiple Intelligences

Among more recent ideas about intelligence is Howard Gardner's theory of multiple intelligences . He proposed that traditional IQ testing does not fully and accurately depict a person's abilities. He proposed eight different intelligences based on skills and abilities that are valued in various cultures:

• Bodily-kinesthetic intelligence : The ability to control body movements and handle objects skillfully
• Interpersonal intelligence : The capacity to detect and respond appropriately to the moods, motivations, and desires of others
• Intrapersonal intelligence : The capacity to be self-aware and in tune with inner feelings, values, beliefs, and thinking processes
• Logical-mathematical intelligence : The ability to think conceptually and abstractly, and to discern logical or numerical patterns
• Musical intelligence : The ability to produce and appreciate rhythm, pitch, and timbre
• Naturalistic intelligence : The ability to recognize and categorize animals, plants, and other objects in nature
• Verbal-linguistic intelligence : Well-developed verbal skills and sensitivity to the sounds, meanings, and rhythms of words
• Visual-spatial intelligence : The capacity to think in images and visualize accurately and abstractly

What Kind of Intelligence Do You Have?

If you'd like to know more about your intelligence style, try our fast and free quiz to learn more about what makes you tick.

The Triarchic Approach to Intelligence

Psychologist Robert Sternberg defined intelligence as "mental activity directed toward purposive adaptation to, selection, and shaping of real-world environments relevant to one's life."

Although he agreed with Gardner that intelligence is much broader than a single, general ability, he suggested that some of Gardner's types of intelligence are better viewed as individual talents. Sternberg proposed the concept of "successful intelligence," which involves three factors:

• Analytical intelligence : The ability to evaluate information and solve problems
• Creative intelligence : The ability to come up with new ideas
• Practical intelligence : The ability to adapt to a changing environment

Of course, there are many other theories on the types of intelligence humans possess.

Fluid vs. Crystallized Intelligence

Psychologist Raymon Cattell, along with his student John Horn, created the theory of fluid vs. crystallized intelligence . Fluid intelligence involves the ability to solve new problems without relying on knowledge from previous experiences.

According to the theory, a person's fluid intelligence declines as they get older. Crystallized intelligence, on the other hand, increases with age—this type of intelligence is based on concrete facts and experiences.

Emotional Intelligence

Emotional intelligence (sometimes called EQ) refers to a person's ability to regulate emotions, and use their emotions to relate to others. Signs of emotional intelligence include strong self-awareness , empathy , embracing change, and managing emotions in difficult situations.

Efforts to quantify intelligence took a significant leap forward when German psychologist William Stern first coined the term "intelligence quotient" (IQ) in the early 20th century.

Psychologist Alfred Binet developed the very first intelligence tests to help the French government identify schoolchildren who needed extra academic assistance.

Binet was the first to introduce the concept of mental age: a set of abilities that children of a certain age possess.

Since that time, intelligence testing has emerged as a widely used tool that has led to many other tests of skill and aptitude.

However, IQ testing continues to spur debate over its use, cultural biases, influences on intelligence, and even the very way we define intelligence.

How Psychologists and Psychiatrists Measure Intelligence

Experts use a variety of standardized tests to measure intelligence. Some are aptitude tests administered in a group setting such as the Scholastic Assessment Test (SAT) and the American College Test (ACT). Others are IQ tests given to individuals.

IQ test scores average around 100. Most children with intellectual disabilities (85%) score between 55 and 70. Severe disabilities usually correspond to still lower scores.

The following is a brief history of IQ tests as they were developed:

• Binet-Simon intelligence scale : This was the first IQ test ever made, and was developed in 1905 by Alfred Binet and Theodore Simon.
• Stanford-Binet IQ test : This was psychologist Lewis Terman's adaptation of the Binet-Simon test. Scores are based on a person's mental age divided by their chronological age (mental age/chronological age x 100).
• Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS) : This was the first intelligence test for adults, developed by David Wechsler in 1939. It was the first to use standardized normal distribution in scoring and is commonly used today. It is divided into verbal and performance measures. Like most modern tests, it scores on a bell curve.

Other tests that psychologists and psychiatrists use today include the Woodcock-Johnson Tests of Cognitive Abilities, the Kaufman Assessment Battery for Children, the Cognitive Assessment System, and the Differential Ability Scale.

Questions About IQ Testing

The study of the human mind is difficult, in part, because the most important tool in the effort is the same as the subject itself.

As humans, researchers bring not only their knowledge and expertise, but also their biases, experiences, cultural backgrounds, and beliefs to the table; like all scientific experts, they must combat their own humanness to strive for objectivity.

In addition, there's the sheer complexity of the human mind and the challenges in measuring a trait that has so many conflicting definitions and nuances. No single standard for intelligence or its quantification as yet exists.

It's no surprise, then, that important questions about intelligence and IQ testing remain unanswered, at least in part. Some of these include:

• Are intelligence tests biased?
• Is intelligence a single ability, or does it involve multiple skills and abilities?
• Is intelligence inherited, or does the environment play a larger role?
• What do intelligence scores predict, if anything?

To explore these questions, psychologists continue to research the nature, influences, and effects of intelligence. Their ongoing findings resonate across society, from education and the workplace to medical and behavioral diagnostic and therapeutic approaches.

A Word From Verywell

Despite considerable debate, no definitive conceptualization of intelligence has emerged in the field of psychology. Today, psychologists often account for the many theoretical viewpoints when discussing intelligence and acknowledge that the debate is ongoing.

Early theories of intelligence focused on logic, problem-solving abilities, and critical thinking skills. In 1920, Edward Thorndike postulated three kinds of intelligence: social, mechanical, and abstract. Building on this, contemporary theories such as that proposed by Harvard psychologist  Howard Gardner tend to break intelligence into separate categories (e.g., emotional, spatial, etc.).

Emotional intelligence (EI or EQ) is the ability to perceive, control, and evaluate emotions. Some researchers suggest that emotional intelligence can be learned and strengthened; others claim it's an inborn characteristic. Generally, EI is measured by self-report and ability tests.

Fluid intelligence is the ability to apply logic and think flexibly. Raymond Cattell defined fluid intelligence as "the ability to perceive relationships independent of previous specific practice or instruction concerning those relationships."

Intelligence develops and changes throughout life, generally peaking in midlife . A study published in  Psychological Science suggested that certain elements of fluid intelligence peak as late as 40.

Jaarsveld S, Lachmann T. Intelligence and creativity in problem solving: The importance of test features in cognition research .  Front Psychol . 2017;8. doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2017.00134

Spearman C. "General intelligence," objectively determined and measured .  The American Journal of Psychology . 1904;15(2):201. doi:10.2307/1412107

Thurstone LL.  Primary Mental Abilities . Chicago: University of Chicago Press; 1938.

Gardner H. Frames of Mind, The Theory of Multiple Intelligences . Basic Books; 2011.

Sternberg RJ. Beyond IQ, A Triarchic Theory of Human Intelligence . CUP Archive; 1985.

Horn JL, Cattell RB.  Refinement and test of the theory of fluid and crystallized general intelligences .  Journal of Educational Psychology . 1966;57(5):253-270. doi:10.1037/h0023816

Ghisletta P, Rabbitt P, Lunn M, Lindenberger U.  Two thirds of the age-based changes in fluid and crystallized intelligence, perceptual speed, and memory in adulthood are shared .  Intelligence . 2012;40(3):260-268. doi:10.1016/j.intell.2012.02.008

Barbey AK.  Network neuroscience theory of human intelligence .  Trends Cogn Sci (Regul Ed) . 2018;22(1):8-20. doi:10.1016/j.tics.2017.10.001

Drigas AS, Papoutsi C.  A new layered model on emotional intelligence . Behav Sci (Basel). 2018;8(5):45. doi:10.3390/bs8050045

Nicolas S, Andrieu B, Croizet JC, Sanitioso RB, Burman JT. Sick? Or slow? On the origins of intelligence as a psychological object .  Intelligence . 2013;41(5):699-711. doi:10.1016/j.intell.2013.08.006

HealthyChildren.org. Children with intellectual disabilities . American Academy of Pediatrics.

Richardson K, Norgate SH. Does IQ really predict job performance? .  Applied Developmental Science . 2015;19(3):153-169. doi:10.1080/10888691.2014.983635

By Kendra Cherry, MSEd Kendra Cherry, MS, is a psychosocial rehabilitation specialist, psychology educator, and author of the "Everything Psychology Book."

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Editorial: New trends in emotional intelligence: conceptualization, understanding, and assessment

Marina fiori.

1 Research and Development, Swiss Federal University for Vocational Education and Training, Renens, Switzerland

Sergio Agnoli

2 Department of Life Sciences, University of Trieste, Trieste, Italy

Sarah K. Davis

3 School of Psychology, University of Worcester, Worcester, United Kingdom

Over the years, significant strides have been made in refining the conceptualization and measurement of Emotional Intelligence (EI) (e.g., Brackett and Mayer, 2003 ; Joseph and Newman, 2010 ; Andrei et al., 2016 ; O'Connor et al., 2019 ). Researchers have developed various tools and methods to assess both ability EI and trait EI, providing valuable insights into individuals' emotional capabilities and tendencies. These advancements have helped distinguish different aspects of EI, understand its underlying mechanisms, and identify real-world implications (Martins et al., 2010 ; Perera and DiGiacomo, 2013 ; Miao et al., 2017 ; MacCann et al., 2020 ). However, the field of EI is ever evolving, and new perspectives continue to emerge. The current Research Topic identifies emerging trends in EI research that draw from various approaches. More specifically, the work of D'Amico and Geraci and Maddocks addresses the conceptualization of EI, Gottfredson and Becker examine factors that may influence emotionally intelligent skills, and Gillioz et al. explore the assessment of EI.

Conceptualizing EI

D'Amico and Geraci introduce the concept of Meta-emotional intelligence (MEI) which is a multidimensional construct comprising the cognitive aspects of emotional abilities and meta-emotional dimensions, such as beliefs about emotions, self-concept regarding emotional abilities, and self-evaluation of performance. MEI is defined by three key metacognitive processes: meta-emotional knowledge (awareness of emotional abilities), metacognitive self-evaluation (ability to assess one's emotional performance accurately), and meta-emotional beliefs (beliefs about emotions' nature and controllability). The authors suggest that self-report and performance-based measures of emotional intelligence tap different mental processes and advocate for examining the discrepancies between the two under a metacognitive perspective. They therefore introduce the IE-ACCME test, a multi-method tool developed to measure the various components of MEI. Data is presented to suggest that a “harmonious profile” (similar scores in ability and meta-emotional dimensions) leads to better emotional regulation and decision-making, while discrepancies in this profile can result in poor emotional control and behavioral issues. MEI shows higher plasticity compared to emotional intelligence (EI), making it more amenable to change. The article also discusses the potential applications of MEI in promoting emotional awareness and reducing biases in evaluating emotional abilities in preadolescents and adolescents. Overall, MEI offers a promising and innovative approach to understanding emotional intelligence.

The paper by Maddocks suggests that attitudes, particularly implicit and explicit attitudes, may serve as underlying antecedents for ability-EI, trait EI and mixed methods, which are labeled emotional efficacies (EE). After introducing main issues in ability emotional intelligence (EI) and emotional efficacies (EE), Maddocks proposes an attitude-based approach to understanding their relationship. The field of EI research has seen a shift toward more integrative approaches, with some models suggesting that EE traits and competencies are outcomes of ability-EI, while others propose that they may be antecedents. However, the exact relationship between EI and EE is still not fully established. The paper highlights the importance of attitudes in influencing cognitive and emotional processes. Attitudes are evaluative and can trigger emotional responses, which, in turn, influence thoughts and behaviors. By incorporating attitudes into existing models of EI and EE, a more comprehensive understanding of their interplay can be achieved. The author suggests that attitudes play a vital role as they can be explicit (conscious) or implicit (unconscious) and can significantly influence emotional processing and behavior. The inclusion of implicit and explicit attitudes enhances the understanding of how EI and EE operate both automatically and consciously. The proposed attitude-based approach may have several benefits, including better differentiation between conscious and automated processing of EI/EE, a basis for intrapersonal and interpersonal aspects of EI/EE, ethical considerations, and support for personal development in EI and EE.

Understanding EI

This narrative review by Gottfredson and Becker explores the connection between psychological trauma and emotional intelligence (EI) based on neuroscience and psychology research. It argues that past psychological trauma can negatively impact brain areas and functions related to EI. Two neural adaptations resulting from trauma are hypervigilance and dissociation, which can impair post-trauma brain network functionality and EI abilities. Hypervigilance leads to overactive salience network, reducing positive emotions and hindering emotional recognition and regulation. Dissociation, on the other hand, results in the suppression of salience network, leading to decreased emotional self-awareness and reduced ability to recognize and respond to others' emotions. The review summarizes research which suggests that healing in brain areas and network functionality involved in EI is possible, even after neurological effects of trauma. Recognizing the impact of psychological trauma on EI opens the door for understanding variations in EI and exploring ways to improve EI through recovery processes.

Assessing EI

The study by Gillioz et al. provides new insights into emotional information processing and its impact on emotional intelligence. In recent studies (e.g., Fiori et al., 2022 ), Emotion Information Processing (EI P ) has emerged as a new component of emotional intelligence (EI). More specifically, it has been proposed that EI is not a singular construct, but comprises two distinct components: (1) Emotion Knowledge Component (EI K ) and (2) Emotion Processing Component (EI P ). EI K refers to higher-order reasoning about emotions and is typically measured by performance-based EI tests, assessing knowledge about emotions. On the other hand, EI P involves bottom-up processing of emotions and evaluates more spontaneous and rapid emotion information processing. To explore the EI P component, the authors developed a task aimed at measuring fine-grained discrimination of emotional expressions using morphed faces with blended emotions and administered this to 154 participants, alongside measures of emotion recognition, understanding, management, and general intelligence. The results indicated that all facets of EI independently predicted accuracy in the discrimination task, with emotion recognition being the strongest predictor. After controlling for emotion recognition, emotion understanding still predicted accuracy for less difficult stimuli. These findings support the idea that individuals with higher EI possess superior emotion processing skills, particularly during the emotion perception stage of information processing. The task used in the study appears to measure more spontaneous processing of emotional expressions, different from traditional ability EI tests. It includes complex emotional expressions and requires quick responses, making it suitable for assessing individual differences in EI P .

We hope that these papers advance the reader's understanding of EI and its measurement and will inspire continued innovation in measurement approaches, leading to further insights into the nature of EI and its role in various domains, such as education, workplace performance, and mental health.

Author contributions

MF: Conceptualization, Writing—original draft. SA: Writing—review and editing. SD: Writing—review and editing.

Funding Statement

The work of MF on this article was supported by the Swiss National Science Foundation grant no. 10001C_192443.

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Publisher's note

All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article, or claim that may be made by its manufacturer, is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.

• Andrei F., Siegling A. B., Aloe A. M., Baldaro B., Petrides K. V. (2016). The incremental validity of the Trait Emotional Intelligence Questionnaire (TEIQue): a systematic review and meta-analysis . J. Pers. Assess. 98 , 261–276. 10.1080/00223891.2015.1084630 [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
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• Joseph D. L., Newman D. A. (2010). Emotional intelligence: an integrative meta-analysis and cascading model . J. Appl. Psychol. 95 , 54. 10.1037/a0017286 [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
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• Miao C., Humphrey R. H., Qian S. (2017). A meta-analysis of emotional intelligence and work attitudes . J. Occup. Organ. Psychol. 90 , 177–202. 10.1111/joop.12167 [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• O'Connor P. J., Hill A., Kaya M., Martin B. (2019). The measurement of emotional intelligence: a critical review of the literature and recommendations for researchers and practitioners . Front. Psychol. 10 , 1116. 10.3389/fpsyg.2019.01116 [ PMC free article ] [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Perera H. N., DiGiacomo M. (2013). The relationship of trait emotional intelligence with academic performance: a meta-analytic review . Learn. Individ. Differ. 28 , 20–33. 10.1016/j.lindif.2013.08.002 [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]

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What is human intelligence?

Can human intelligence be measured.

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Human intelligence is, generally speaking, the mental quality that consists of the abilities to learn from experience, adapt to new situations, understand and handle abstract concepts, and use knowledge to control an environment. However, the question of what, exactly, defines human intelligence is contested, particularly among researchers of artificial intelligence , though there is broader agreement that intelligence consists of multiple processes, rather than being a single ability.

There is a long history of efforts to measure human intelligence. Modern theories of measurement can be traced to the French psychologist Alfred Binet and the English scientist Francis Galton , both of whom were researching intelligence during the second half of the 19th century. Standardized intelligence tests became popular during the 20th century, though their shortcomings have been extensively documented.

human intelligence , mental quality that consists of the abilities to learn from experience, adapt to new situations, understand and handle abstract concepts, and use knowledge to manipulate one ’s environment .

Much of the excitement among investigators in the field of intelligence derives from their attempts to determine exactly what intelligence is. Different investigators have emphasized different aspects of intelligence in their definitions. For example, in a 1921 symposium the American psychologists Lewis Terman and Edward L. Thorndike differed over the definition of intelligence, Terman stressing the ability to think abstractly and Thorndike emphasizing learning and the ability to give good responses to questions. More recently, however, psychologists have generally agreed that adaptation to the environment is the key to understanding both what intelligence is and what it does. Such adaptation may occur in a variety of settings: a student in school learns the material he needs to know in order to do well in a course; a physician treating a patient with unfamiliar symptoms learns about the underlying disease; or an artist reworks a painting to convey a more coherent impression. For the most part, adaptation involves making a change in oneself in order to cope more effectively with the environment, but it can also mean changing the environment or finding an entirely new one.

Effective adaptation draws upon a number of cognitive processes, such as perception , learning , memory , reasoning , and problem solving . The main emphasis in a definition of intelligence, then, is that it is not a cognitive or mental process per se but rather a selective combination of these processes that is purposively directed toward effective adaptation. Thus, the physician who learns about a new disease adapts by perceiving material on the disease in medical literature, learning what the material contains, remembering the crucial aspects that are needed to treat the patient, and then utilizing reason to solve the problem of applying the information to the needs of the patient. Intelligence, in total, has come to be regarded not as a single ability but as an effective drawing together of many abilities. This has not always been obvious to investigators of the subject, however; indeed, much of the history of the field revolves around arguments regarding the nature and abilities that constitute intelligence.

Theories of intelligence

Theories of intelligence, as is the case with most scientific theories, have evolved through a succession of models. Four of the most influential paradigms have been psychological measurement , also known as psychometrics; cognitive psychology , which concerns itself with the processes by which the mind functions; cognitivism and contextualism, a combined approach that studies the interaction between the environment and mental processes; and biological science , which considers the neural bases of intelligence. What follows is a discussion of developments within these four areas.

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Emotional Intelligence: Current Research and Future Perspectives on Mental Health and Individual Differences

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Emotional intelligence (EI) is arguably the most popular of the novel intelligence. As a term, EI was coined at some point in the 1960s, but it only became popular due to the bestselling book by Daniel Goleman, attracting an increasing amount of interest from both academia and practitioners. EI is now ...

Keywords : Emotional Intelligence, Mental health, Individual differences, Social relations, Clinical settings, EI training, EI measurement, EI theory

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80 fascinating psychology research questions for your next project

Last updated

15 February 2024

Reviewed by

Brittany Ferri, PhD, OTR/L

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Psychology research is essential for furthering our understanding of human behavior and improving the diagnosis and treatment of psychological conditions.

When psychologists know more about how different social and cultural factors influence how humans act, think, and feel, they can recommend improvements to practices in areas such as education, sport, healthcare, and law enforcement.

Below, you will find 80 research question examples across 16 branches of psychology. First, though, let’s look at some tips to help you select a suitable research topic.

• How to choose a good psychology research topic

Psychology has many branches that break down further into topics. Choosing a topic for your psychology research paper can be daunting because there are so many to choose from. It’s an important choice, as the topic you select will open up a range of questions to explore.

The tips below can help you find a psychology research topic that suits your skills and interests.

Tip #1: Select a topic that interests you

Passion and interest should fuel every research project. A topic that fascinates you will most likely interest others as well. Think about the questions you and others might have and decide on the issues that matter most. Draw on your own interests, but also keep your research topical and relevant to others.

Don’t limit yourself to a topic that you already know about. Instead, choose one that will make you want to know more and dig deeper. This will keep you motivated and excited about your research.

Tip #2: Choose a topic with a manageable scope

If your topic is too broad, you can get overwhelmed by the amount of information available and have trouble maintaining focus. On the other hand, you may find it difficult to find enough information if you choose a topic that is too narrow.

To determine if the topic is too broad or too narrow, start researching as early as possible. If you find there’s an overwhelming amount of research material, you’ll probably need to narrow the topic down. For example, instead of researching the general population, it might be easier to focus on a specific age group. Ask yourself what area of the general topic interests you most and focus on that.

If your scope is too narrow, try to generalize or focus on a larger related topic. Expand your search criteria or select additional databases for information. Consider if the topic is too new to have much information published on it as well.

Tip #3: Select a topic that will produce useful and relevant insights

Doing some preliminary research will reveal any existing research on the topic. If there is existing research, will you be able to produce new insights? You might need to focus on a different area or see if the existing research has limitations that you can overcome.

Bear in mind that finding new information from which to draw fresh insights may be impossible if your topic has been over-researched.

You’ll also need to consider whether your topic is relevant to current trends and needs. For example, researching psychology topics related to social media use may be highly relevant today.

• 80 psychology research topics and questions

Psychology is a broad subject with many branches and potential areas of study. Here are some of them:

Developmental

Personality

Experimental

Organizational

Educational

Neuropsychology

Controversial topics

Below we offer some suggestions on research topics and questions that can get you started. Keep in mind that these are not all-inclusive but should be personalized to fit the theme of your paper.

Social psychology research topics and questions

Social psychology has roots as far back as the 18th century. In simple terms, it’s the study of how behavior is influenced by the presence and behavior of others. It is the science of finding out who we are, who we think we are, and how our perceptions affect ourselves and others. It looks at personalities, relationships, and group behavior.

Here are some potential research questions and paper titles for this topic:

How does social media use impact perceptions of body image in male adolescents?

2. Is childhood bullying a risk factor for social anxiety in adults?

Is homophobia in individuals caused by genetic or environmental factors?

What is the most important psychological predictor of a person’s willingness to donate to charity?

Does a person’s height impact how other people perceive them? If so, how?

Cognitive psychology research questions

Cognitive psychology is the branch that focuses on the interactions of thinking, emotion, creativity, and problem-solving. It also explores the reasons humans think the way they do.

This topic involves exploring how people think by measuring intelligence, thoughts, and cognition. 

Here are some research question ideas:

6. Is there a link between chronic stress and memory function?

7. Can certain kinds of music trigger memories in people with memory loss?

8. Do remote meetings impact the efficacy of team decision-making?

9. Do word games and puzzles slow cognitive decline in adults over the age of 80?

10. Does watching television impact a child’s reading ability?

Developmental psychology research questions

Developmental psychology is the study of how humans grow and change over their lifespan. It usually focuses on the social, emotional, and physical development of babies and children, though it can apply to people of all ages. Developmental psychology is important for understanding how we learn, mature, and adapt to changes.

Here are some questions that might inspire your research:

11. Does grief accelerate the aging process?

12. How do parent–child attachment patterns influence the development of emotion regulation in teenagers?

13. Does bilingualism affect cognitive decline in adults over the age of 70?

14. How does the transition to adulthood impact decision-making abilities

15. How does early exposure to music impact mental health and well-being in school-aged children?

Personality psychology research questions

Personality psychology studies personalities, how they develop, their structures, and the processes that define them. It looks at intelligence, disposition, moral beliefs, thoughts, and reactions.

The goal of this branch of psychology is to scientifically interpret the way personality patterns manifest into an individual’s behaviors. Here are some example research questions:

16. Nature vs. nurture: Which impacts personality development the most?

17. The role of genetics on personality: Does an adopted child take on their biological parents’ personality traits?

18. How do personality traits influence leadership styles and effectiveness in organizational settings?

19. Is there a relationship between an individual’s personality and mental health?

20. Can a chronic illness affect your personality?

Abnormal psychology research questions

As the name suggests, abnormal psychology is a branch that focuses on abnormal behavior and psychopathology (the scientific study of mental illness or disorders).

Abnormal behavior can be challenging to define. Who decides what is “normal”? As such, psychologists in this area focus on the level of distress that certain behaviors may cause, although this typically involves studying mental health conditions such as depression, obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), and phobias.

Here are some questions to consider:

21. How does technology impact the development of social anxiety disorder?

22. What are the factors behind the rising incidence of eating disorders in adolescents?

23. Are mindfulness-based interventions effective in the treatment of PTSD?

24. Is there a connection between depression and gambling addiction?

25. Can physical trauma cause psychopathy?

Clinical psychology research questions

Clinical psychology deals with assessing and treating mental illness or abnormal or psychiatric behaviors. It differs from abnormal psychology in that it focuses more on treatments and clinical aspects, while abnormal psychology is more behavioral focused.

This is a specialty area that provides care and treatment for complex mental health conditions. This can include treatment, not only for individuals but for couples, families, and other groups. Clinical psychology also supports communities, conducts research, and offers training to promote mental health. This category is very broad, so there are lots of topics to explore.

Below are some example research questions to consider:

26. Do criminals require more specific therapies or interventions?

27. How effective are selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors in treating mental health disorders?

28. Are there any disadvantages to humanistic therapy?

29. Can group therapy be more beneficial than one-on-one therapy sessions?

30. What are the factors to consider when selecting the right treatment plan for patients with anxiety?

Experimental psychology research questions

Experimental psychology deals with studies that can prove or disprove a hypothesis. Psychologists in this field use scientific methods to collect data on basic psychological processes such as memory, cognition, and learning. They use this data to test the whys and hows of behavior and how outside factors influence its creation.

Areas of interest in this branch relate to perception, memory, emotion, and sensation. The below are example questions that could inspire your own research:

31. Do male or female parents/carers have a more calming influence on children?

32. Will your preference for a genre of music increase the more you listen to it?

33. What are the psychological effects of posting on social media vs. not posting?

34. How is productivity affected by social connection?

35. Is cheating contagious?

Organizational psychology research questions

Organizational psychology studies human behavior in the workplace. It is most frequently used to evaluate an employee, group, or a company’s organizational dynamics. Researchers aim to isolate issues and identify solutions.

This area of study can be beneficial to both employees and employers since the goal is to improve the overall work environment and experience. Researchers apply psychological principles and findings to recommend improvements in performance, communication, job satisfaction, and safety. 

Some potential research questions include the following:

36. How do different leadership styles affect employee morale?

37. Do longer lunch breaks boost employee productivity?

38. Is gender an antecedent to workplace stress?

39. What is the most effective way to promote work–life balance among employees?

40. How do different organizational structures impact the effectiveness of communication, decision-making, and productivity?

Forensic psychology research questions

Some questions to consider exploring in this branch of psychology are:

41. How does incarceration affect mental health?

42. Is childhood trauma a driver for criminal behavior during adulthood?

43. Are people with mental health conditions more likely to be victims of crimes?

44. What are the drivers of false memories, and how do they impact the justice system?

45. Is the media responsible for copycat crimes?

Educational psychology research questions

Educational psychology studies children in an educational setting. It covers topics like teaching methods, aptitude assessment, self-motivation, technology, and parental involvement.

Research in this field of psychology is vital for understanding and optimizing learning processes. It informs educators about cognitive development, learning styles, and effective teaching strategies.

Here are some example research questions:

46. Are different teaching styles more beneficial for children at different times of the day?

47. Can listening to classical music regularly increase a student’s test scores?

48. Is there a connection between sugar consumption and knowledge retention in students?

49. Does sleep duration and quality impact academic performance?

50. Does daily meditation at school influence students’ academic performance and mental health?

Sports psychology research question examples

Sport psychology aims to optimize physical performance and well-being in athletes by using cognitive and behavioral practices and interventions. Some methods include counseling, training, and clinical interventions.

Research in this area is important because it can improve team and individual performance, resilience, motivation, confidence, and overall well-being

Here are some research question ideas for you to consider:

51. How can a famous coach affect a team’s performance?

52. How can athletes control negative emotions in violent or high-contact sports?

53. How does using social media impact an athlete’s performance and well-being?

54. Can psychological interventions help with injury rehabilitation?

55. How can mindfulness practices boost sports performance?

Cultural psychology research question examples

The premise of this branch of psychology is that mind and culture are inseparable. In other words, people are shaped by their cultures, and their cultures are shaped by them. This can be a complex interaction.

Cultural psychology is vital as it explores how cultural context shapes individuals’ thoughts, behaviors, and perceptions. It provides insights into diverse perspectives, promoting cross-cultural understanding and reducing biases.

Here are some ideas that you might consider researching:

56. Are there cultural differences in how people perceive and deal with pain?

57. Are different cultures at increased risk of developing mental health conditions?

58. Are there cultural differences in coping strategies for stress?

59. Do our different cultures shape our personalities?

60. How does multi-generational culture influence family values and structure?

Health psychology research question examples

Health psychology is a crucial field of study. Understanding how psychological factors influence health behaviors, adherence to medical treatments, and overall wellness enables health experts to develop effective interventions and preventive measures, ultimately improving health outcomes.

Health psychology also aids in managing stress, promoting healthy behaviors, and optimizing mental health, fostering a holistic approach to well-being.

Here are five ideas to inspire research in this field:

61. How can health psychology interventions improve lifestyle behaviors to prevent cardiovascular diseases?

62. What role do social norms play in vaping among adolescents?

63. What role do personality traits play in the development and management of chronic pain conditions?

64. How do cultural beliefs and attitudes influence health-seeking behaviors in diverse populations?

65. What are the psychological factors influencing the adherence to preventive health behaviors, such as vaccination and regular screenings?

Neuropsychology research paper question examples

Neuropsychology research explores how a person’s cognition and behavior are related to their brain and nervous system. Researchers aim to advance the diagnosis and treatment of behavioral and cognitive effects of neurological disorders.

Researchers may work with children facing learning or developmental challenges, or with adults with declining cognitive abilities. They may also focus on injuries or illnesses of the brain, such as traumatic brain injuries, to determine the effect on cognitive and behavioral functions.

Neuropsychology informs diagnosis and treatment strategies for conditions such as dementia, traumatic brain injuries, and psychiatric disorders. Understanding the neural basis of behavior enhances our ability to optimize cognitive functioning, rehabilitate people with brain injuries, and improve patient care.

Here are some example research questions to consider:

66. How do neurotransmitter imbalances in specific brain regions contribute to mood disorders such as depression?

67. How can a traumatic brain injury affect memory?

68. What neural processes underlie attention deficits in people with ADHD?

69. Do medications affect the brain differently after a traumatic brain injury?

70. What are the behavioral effects of prolonged brain swelling?

Psychology of religion research question examples

The psychology of religion is a field that studies the interplay between belief systems, spirituality, and mental well-being. It explores the application of the psychological methods and interpretive frameworks of religious traditions and how they relate to both religious and non-religious people.

Psychology of religion research contributes to a holistic understanding of human experiences. It fosters cultural competence and guides therapeutic approaches that respect diverse spiritual beliefs.

Here are some example research questions in this field:

71. What impact does a religious upbringing have on a child’s self-esteem?

72. How do religious beliefs shape decision-making and perceptions of morality?

73. What is the impact of religious indoctrination?

74. Is there correlation between religious and mindfulness practices?

75. How does religious affiliation impact attitudes towards mental health treatment and help-seeking behaviors?

Controversial topics in psychology research question examples

Some psychology topics don’t fit into any of the subcategories above, but they may still be worthwhile topics to consider. These topics are the ones that spark interest, conversation, debate, and disagreement. They are often inspired by current issues and assess the validity of older research.

Consider some of these research question examples:

76. How does the rise in on-screen violence impact behavior in adolescents.

77. Should access to social media platforms be restricted in children under the age of 12 to improve mental health?

78. Are prescription mental health medications over-prescribed in older adults? If so, what are the effects of this?

79. Cognitive biases in AI: what are the implications for decision-making?

80. What are the psychological and ethical implications of using virtual reality in exposure therapy for treating trauma-related conditions?

• Inspiration for your next psychology research project

You can choose from a diverse range of research questions that intersect and overlap across various specialties.

From cognitive psychology to clinical studies, each inquiry contributes to a deeper understanding of the human mind and behavior. Importantly, the relevance of these questions transcends individual disciplines, as many findings offer insights applicable across multiple areas of study.

As health trends evolve and societal needs shift, new topics emerge, fueling continual exploration and discovery. Diving into this ever-changing and expanding area of study enables you to navigate the complexities of the human experience and pave the way for innovative solutions to the challenges of tomorrow.

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Home » 500+ Psychology Research Topic Ideas

500+ Psychology Research Topic Ideas

Table of Contents

Psychology is a vast field that encompasses a wide range of topics and research areas. From the study of cognition and behavior to the exploration of mental health disorders, there are countless avenues for researchers to explore within this field. Whether you are a college student, graduate student, or professional in the field of psychology, selecting a research topic can be a daunting task. To help guide your research endeavors, we have compiled a list of 500+ unique psychology research topic ideas across various subfields of psychology. These research topics range from the study of abnormal psychology and cognitive psychology to military psychology and education. With this extensive list, we hope to provide you with inspiration and ideas to jumpstart your research journey.

Psychology Research Topic Ideas

Psychology Research Topic Ideas are as follows:

• The effects of social media on self-esteem in adolescents
• The role of parenting styles in shaping children’s personality development
• The impact of mindfulness meditation on stress reduction in adults
• The influence of music on mood and emotional regulation
• The effects of sleep deprivation on cognitive functioning
• The relationship between personality traits and job satisfaction
• The effects of physical exercise on mental health
• The role of culture in shaping social identity and behavior
• The impact of peer pressure on decision-making in adolescents
• The effects of childhood trauma on adult attachment styles
• The influence of personality on romantic relationships
• The effects of bullying on mental health in children and adolescents
• The role of cognitive-behavioral therapy in treating anxiety disorders
• The impact of positive psychology interventions on well-being
• The effects of social support on coping with stress
• The relationship between emotional intelligence and academic achievement
• The effects of technology use on cognitive functioning
• The influence of gender roles on social behavior
• The effects of pet ownership on mental health
• The role of attachment styles in parent-child relationships
• The impact of social comparison on body dissatisfaction in women
• The effects of mindfulness-based stress reduction on chronic pain management
• The relationship between personality disorders and criminal behavior
• The effects of stereotype threat on academic performance
• The influence of self-esteem on romantic relationships
• The effects of environmental factors on cognitive development in children
• The role of resilience in coping with trauma
• The effects of gaming on cognitive functioning and addiction
• The impact of mindfulness interventions on workplace productivity
• The relationship between social support and physical health.
• The relationship between self-compassion and mental health
• The impact of cognitive biases on decision-making
• The role of attachment styles in romantic relationships
• The effects of social isolation on mental health
• The influence of cultural values on parenting practices
• The relationship between social media use and body image dissatisfaction
• The effects of childhood obesity on mental health and well-being
• The impact of mindfulness-based interventions on addiction recovery
• The role of personality in predicting job performance and success
• The effects of sleep quality on academic achievement
• The influence of social identity on intergroup conflict
• The effects of nature exposure on stress reduction
• The impact of meditation on empathy and compassion
• The role of emotion regulation in coping with chronic illness
• The effects of gratitude interventions on well-being and life satisfaction
• The relationship between personality traits and leadership effectiveness
• The impact of trauma on brain development in children
• The role of social norms in shaping behavior
• The effects of mindfulness interventions on eating disorders
• The influence of cultural factors on mental health stigma
• The effects of emotional intelligence on workplace relationships and team effectiveness
• The relationship between self-esteem and academic achievement
• The impact of exercise on cognitive aging and dementia prevention
• The role of empathy in moral decision-making
• The effects of social comparison on academic motivation
• The influence of cultural factors on the perception of mental illness
• The effects of childhood bullying on long-term mental health outcomes
• The role of personality in romantic partner selection and satisfaction
• The impact of parental divorce on children’s emotional and behavioral outcomes
• The relationship between personality traits and coping strategies in stressful situations.
• The impact of personality disorders on interpersonal relationships
• The effects of mindfulness interventions on workplace stress and burnout
• The role of emotional intelligence in romantic relationships
• The effects of cultural factors on the development of eating disorders
• The relationship between attachment styles and emotional regulation
• The impact of early childhood education on cognitive development
• The effects of exposure to violence on mental health outcomes
• The role of motivation in academic achievement and success
• The influence of culture on the perception of intelligence and academic achievement
• The effects of technology use on social skills and communication
• The relationship between self-esteem and social anxiety
• The impact of trauma on memory processing and recall
• The role of parental involvement in academic achievement
• The effects of exercise on mental health outcomes in older adults
• The influence of cultural factors on romantic attraction and mate selection
• The effects of mindfulness interventions on depression and anxiety
• The relationship between personality traits and substance abuse
• The impact of environmental factors on child development
• The role of motivation in workplace productivity and job satisfaction
• The effects of social media use on sleep quality and quantity
• The influence of cultural factors on the perception and treatment of addiction
• The effects of cognitive-behavioral therapy on social anxiety disorder
• The relationship between personality traits and risk-taking behavior
• The impact of prenatal stress on child development and behavior
• The role of emotional intelligence in leadership effectiveness
• The effects of meditation on attention and focus
• The influence of cultural factors on mental health treatment-seeking behavior
• The effects of traumatic events on personal growth and resilience
• The relationship between personality traits and creativity
• The impact of mindfulness interventions on emotion dysregulation in children and adolescents.
• The effects of social comparison on body dissatisfaction
• The impact of parental stress on child behavior and development
• The role of mindfulness in stress management during pregnancy
• The effects of cultural factors on the development of social anxiety disorder
• The relationship between personality traits and procrastination
• The impact of trauma on addiction and substance abuse
• The role of culture in shaping attitudes towards mental health treatment
• The effects of exercise on self-esteem and body image
• The influence of personality traits on the development of eating disorders
• The relationship between childhood trauma and adult mental health outcomes
• The impact of meditation on academic performance and focus
• The role of culture in shaping attitudes towards body image and appearance
• The effects of mindfulness interventions on chronic pain management
• The relationship between personality traits and moral decision-making
• The impact of early childhood attachment on romantic relationships
• The role of culture in shaping attitudes towards sexuality and sexual behavior
• The effects of social support on mental health outcomes in older adults
• The influence of personality traits on the development of obsessive-compulsive disorder
• The relationship between childhood bullying and adult mental health outcomes
• The impact of cognitive-behavioral therapy on panic disorder
• The role of culture in shaping attitudes towards substance use and addiction
• The effects of mindfulness interventions on insomnia and sleep quality
• The relationship between personality traits and social comparison behavior
• The impact of parental divorce on romantic relationship outcomes
• The role of culture in shaping attitudes towards aging and age-related changes
• The effects of social support on stress management in college students
• The influence of personality traits on the development of anxiety disorders
• The relationship between childhood trauma and romantic relationship outcomes
• The impact of cognitive-behavioral therapy on social anxiety disorder
• The role of culture in shaping attitudes towards masculinity and femininity
• The effects of mindfulness interventions on work-related stress
• The relationship between personality traits and forgiveness
• The impact of peer pressure on adolescent substance abuse
• The role of culture in shaping attitudes towards mental health stigma
• The effects of social support on stress management in healthcare workers
• The influence of personality traits on the development of depression
• The relationship between childhood trauma and substance abuse
• The impact of cognitive-behavioral therapy on depression
• The role of culture in shaping attitudes towards body modification and cosmetic surgery
• The effects of mindfulness interventions on emotional regulation in adolescents.
• The effects of social media on self-esteem and body image in adolescent girls
• The impact of parental emotional neglect on adult mental health outcomes
• The role of culture in shaping attitudes towards gender and sexual orientation identity
• The effects of cognitive-behavioral therapy on post-traumatic stress disorder
• The relationship between personality traits and attachment styles in romantic relationships
• The impact of social support on mental health outcomes in individuals with chronic illness
• The role of culture in shaping attitudes towards disability and ableism
• The effects of mindfulness interventions on emotional eating and food addiction
• The influence of personality traits on the development of borderline personality disorder
• The relationship between childhood adversity and adult mental health outcomes
• The impact of cognitive-behavioral therapy on generalized anxiety disorder
• The role of culture in shaping attitudes towards aging and dementia
• The effects of social support on mental health outcomes in individuals with chronic pain
• The relationship between personality traits and coping strategies in response to stress
• The impact of maternal mental health on child behavior and development
• The role of culture in shaping attitudes towards mental health in the workplace
• The effects of mindfulness interventions on stress and burnout in healthcare professionals
• The influence of personality traits on the development of narcissistic personality disorder
• The relationship between childhood trauma and sleep disorders
• The impact of cognitive-behavioral therapy on bipolar disorder
• The role of culture in shaping attitudes towards diversity and inclusion
• The effects of social support on mental health outcomes in refugees and immigrants
• The relationship between personality traits and empathy
• The impact of social comparison on academic performance and motivation
• The role of culture in shaping attitudes towards mental health in the military
• The effects of mindfulness interventions on addiction recovery and relapse prevention
• The influence of personality traits on the development of antisocial personality disorder
• The relationship between childhood trauma and borderline personality disorder
• The impact of cognitive-behavioral therapy on social skills and communication in autism spectrum disorder
• The role of culture in shaping attitudes towards mental health in the LGBTQ+ community
• The effects of social support on mental health outcomes in individuals with substance use disorder
• The relationship between personality traits and creativity in the arts and sciences
• The impact of early childhood exposure to violence on adult mental health outcomes
• The role of culture in shaping attitudes towards mental health and aging in rural communities
• The effects of mindfulness interventions on self-compassion and self-care
• The influence of personality traits on the development of schizophrenia
• The relationship between childhood trauma and dissociative identity disorder
• The impact of cognitive-behavioral therapy on social anxiety in children and adolescents
• The role of culture in shaping attitudes towards mental health and spirituality
• The effects of social support on mental health outcomes in individuals with chronic stress.
• The impact of personality traits on job performance and satisfaction
• The relationship between childhood trauma and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)
• The effects of exposure therapy on phobias and anxiety disorders
• The role of culture in shaping attitudes towards mental health in minority communities
• The effects of social support on mental health outcomes in caregivers of individuals with chronic illness or disability
• The relationship between cognitive flexibility and problem-solving abilities
• The impact of psychoeducation on stigma reduction towards mental illness
• The role of culture in shaping attitudes towards mental health and substance use in college students
• The effects of mindfulness interventions on academic performance and stress in college students
• The influence of personality traits on the development of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD)
• The relationship between childhood trauma and depression in adulthood
• The impact of cognitive-behavioral therapy on depression and anxiety in cancer patients
• The role of culture in shaping attitudes towards mental health and body image in men
• The effects of social support on mental health outcomes in individuals with chronic fatigue syndrome
• The relationship between resilience and post-traumatic growth
• The impact of music therapy on mental health outcomes in individuals with schizophrenia
• The role of culture in shaping attitudes towards mental health and motherhood
• The effects of mindfulness interventions on emotional regulation and mood disorders in adolescents
• The influence of personality traits on the development of hoarding disorder
• The relationship between childhood trauma and substance use disorder in adulthood
• The impact of cognitive-behavioral therapy on insomnia and sleep disorders
• The role of culture in shaping attitudes towards mental health and masculinity
• The effects of social support on mental health outcomes in individuals with chronic migraines
• The relationship between emotional intelligence and leadership effectiveness
• The impact of group therapy on social skills and communication in individuals with autism spectrum disorder
• The role of culture in shaping attitudes towards mental health and aging in urban communities
• The effects of mindfulness interventions on compassion and empathy in healthcare professionals
• The influence of personality traits on the development of postpartum depression
• The relationship between childhood trauma and bipolar disorder in adulthood
• The impact of cognitive-behavioral therapy on self-esteem and body image in individuals with eating disorders
• The role of culture in shaping attitudes towards mental health and family dynamics in immigrant families
• The effects of social support on mental health outcomes in individuals with chronic gastrointestinal disorders
• The relationship between personality traits and self-compassion
• The impact of play therapy on social-emotional development in children with autism spectrum disorder
• The role of culture in shaping attitudes towards mental health and aging in LGBTQ+ communities
• The effects of mindfulness interventions on anxiety and depression in individuals with chronic pain
• The relationship between childhood trauma and borderline personality disorder symptoms in adolescence
• The impact of cognitive-behavioral therapy on obsessive-compulsive disorder symptoms in children and adolescents.
• The effects of physical exercise on mood and anxiety in older adults
• The relationship between childhood trauma and attachment styles in romantic relationships
• The impact of cognitive-behavioral therapy on body dysmorphic disorder symptoms
• The role of culture in shaping attitudes towards mental health and spirituality in indigenous communities
• The relationship between personality traits and risky behavior in adolescence
• The influence of parental bonding on the development of borderline personality disorder in young adults
• The impact of mindfulness interventions on stress and burnout in healthcare professionals
• The role of culture in shaping attitudes towards mental health and disability in rural communities
• The effects of psychotherapy on self-compassion in individuals with depression
• The relationship between childhood trauma and dissociative symptoms in adulthood
• The impact of cognitive-behavioral therapy on social anxiety disorder in individuals with autism spectrum disorder
• The role of culture in shaping attitudes towards mental health and help-seeking behaviors in Asian American communities
• The effects of social support on mental health outcomes in individuals with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD)
• The influence of family functioning on the development of substance use disorders in adolescents
• The impact of expressive writing on emotional processing in individuals with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)
• The effects of mindfulness interventions on self-compassion and emotional regulation in survivors of domestic violence
• The relationship between childhood trauma and disordered eating behaviors in young adults
• The impact of cognitive-behavioral therapy on panic disorder symptoms in individuals with irritable bowel syndrome (IBS)
• The role of culture in shaping attitudes towards mental health and community support in refugee populations
• The effects of social support on mental health outcomes in individuals with chronic kidney disease (CKD)
• The relationship between personality traits and romantic relationship satisfaction
• The influence of childhood attachment on the development of post-traumatic stress disorder in adulthood
• The impact of group therapy on social skills and self-esteem in individuals with social anxiety disorder
• The role of culture in shaping attitudes towards mental health and faith-based support in African American communities
• The effects of mindfulness interventions on emotion regulation and coping skills in individuals with borderline personality disorder
• The relationship between childhood trauma and anxiety sensitivity in adulthood
• The impact of cognitive-behavioral therapy on health anxiety symptoms in individuals with chronic illnesses
• The role of culture in shaping attitudes towards mental health and social stigma in Hispanic/Latino communities
• The effects of social support on mental health outcomes in individuals with chronic hepatitis C
• The relationship between personality traits and decision-making processes
• The influence of parent-child communication on the development of eating disorders in adolescents
• The impact of cognitive-behavioral therapy on gambling disorder symptoms
• The role of culture in shaping attitudes towards mental health and access to care in rural communities
• The effects of mindfulness interventions on self-compassion and emotional regulation in individuals with bipolar disorder
• The relationship between childhood trauma and rumination in adulthood
• The impact of group therapy on self-esteem and assertiveness in individuals with avoidant personality disorder
• The role of culture in shaping attitudes towards mental health and community resources in Native American populations.
• The effects of sleep deprivation on cognitive performance and decision-making
• The relationship between personality traits and addiction susceptibility
• The impact of cognitive-behavioral therapy on hoarding disorder symptoms
• The role of culture in shaping attitudes towards mental health and spirituality in Hispanic/Latino communities
• The effects of social support on mental health outcomes in individuals with multiple sclerosis
• The relationship between childhood trauma and emotional regulation in adulthood
• The influence of social media on body image and self-esteem in adolescents
• The impact of mindfulness interventions on impulsivity and self-control in individuals with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)
• The role of culture in shaping attitudes towards mental health and help-seeking behaviors in LGBTQ+ communities
• The effects of cognitive training on cognitive performance and brain structure in older adults
• The relationship between personality traits and risk-taking behaviors in college students
• The impact of family therapy on communication and conflict resolution in families with a history of domestic violence
• The role of culture in shaping attitudes towards mental health and community resources in Asian American communities
• The relationship between childhood trauma and interpersonal functioning in adulthood
• The influence of cultural identity on mental health outcomes in immigrant populations
• The impact of cognitive-behavioral therapy on eating disorder symptoms in individuals with type 1 diabetes
• The role of culture in shaping attitudes towards mental health and stigma in Arab American communities
• The effects of mindfulness interventions on self-compassion and emotional regulation in individuals with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD)
• The relationship between childhood trauma and attachment styles in adulthood friendships
• The impact of expressive writing on stress and immune function in caregivers of individuals with dementia
• The role of culture in shaping attitudes towards mental health and community resources in rural Native American communities
• The effects of social support on mental health outcomes in individuals with chronic pain and depression
• The relationship between personality traits and emotional intelligence
• The influence of parental warmth and discipline on the development of anxiety disorders in children
• The impact of cognitive-behavioral therapy on postpartum depression symptoms
• The role of culture in shaping attitudes towards mental health and access to care in South Asian communities
• The effects of mindfulness interventions on self-compassion and emotional regulation in individuals with borderline personality disorder
• The relationship between childhood trauma and resilience in adulthood
• The impact of group therapy on social anxiety and loneliness in individuals with hearing loss
• The role of culture in shaping attitudes towards mental health and community support in Pacific Islander communities
• The effects of social support on mental health outcomes in individuals with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and depression
• The relationship between personality traits and leadership styles
• The influence of peer relationships on the development of depressive symptoms in adolescents
• The impact of cognitive-behavioral therapy on body image and self-esteem in individuals with gender dysphoria
• The role of culture in shaping attitudes towards mental health and community resources in Middle Eastern communities
• The effects of mindfulness interventions on self-compassion and emotional regulation in individuals with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and addiction
• The relationship between childhood trauma and substance use disorders in adulthood
• The impact of group therapy on emotion regulation and self-esteem in individuals with personality disorders
• The role of culture in shaping attitudes towards mental health and community resources in immigrant and refugee communities.
• Sure, here are 40 more psychology research topic ideas:
• The effects of meditation on creativity and divergent thinking
• The relationship between personality traits and career satisfaction
• The impact of cognitive-behavioral therapy on sleep disturbances in individuals with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)
• The role of culture in shaping attitudes towards mental health and help-seeking behaviors in Black communities
• The effects of social support on mental health outcomes in individuals with traumatic brain injury (TBI)
• The relationship between childhood trauma and attachment styles in romantic relationships in adulthood
• The influence of social norms on substance use behaviors in college students
• The impact of cognitive-behavioral therapy on social anxiety symptoms in individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD)
• The role of culture in shaping attitudes towards mental health and community resources in Indigenous communities
• The effects of mindfulness interventions on self-compassion and emotional regulation in individuals with chronic pain
• The impact of group therapy on emotion regulation and social connectedness in individuals with eating disorders
• The role of culture in shaping attitudes towards mental health and community resources in African immigrant communities
• The effects of social support on mental health outcomes in individuals with spinal cord injuries (SCI)
• The relationship between childhood trauma and the development of eating disorders in adulthood
• The influence of social identity on stereotype threat and academic performance in college students
• The impact of cognitive-behavioral therapy on obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) symptoms in individuals with Parkinson’s disease
• The role of culture in shaping attitudes towards mental health and help-seeking behaviors in Southeast Asian communities
• The effects of mindfulness interventions on self-compassion and emotional regulation in individuals with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD)
• The relationship between personality traits and coping strategies in individuals with chronic pain
• The impact of group therapy on emotion regulation and social support in individuals with borderline personality disorder
• The role of culture in shaping attitudes towards mental health and community resources in Muslim communities
• The effects of social support on mental health outcomes in individuals with chronic kidney disease (CKD) and depression
• The relationship between childhood trauma and emotional intelligence in adulthood
• The influence of attachment styles on romantic relationship satisfaction in adults
• The impact of cognitive-behavioral therapy on social anxiety symptoms in individuals with social communication disorder (SCD)
• The role of culture in shaping attitudes towards mental health and community resources in refugee communities
• The effects of mindfulness interventions on self-compassion and emotional regulation in individuals with substance use disorders
• The relationship between personality traits and resilience in individuals with chronic illnesses
• The impact of group therapy on emotion regulation and social skills in individuals with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)
• The role of culture in shaping attitudes towards mental health and community resources in Caribbean communities
• The effects of social support on mental health outcomes in individuals with fibromyalgia and depression
• The influence of social comparison on body dissatisfaction and eating disorder behaviors in adolescents
• The impact of cognitive-behavioral therapy on depression symptoms in individuals with chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS)
• The role of culture in shaping attitudes towards mental health and community resources in Native Hawaiian communities
• The relationship between personality traits and coping strategies in individuals with traumatic brain injuries (TBI)
• The impact of group therapy on social anxiety symptoms in individuals with intellectual disabilities
• The role of social comparison in body image dissatisfaction and disordered eating behaviors in men
• The effects of parental attachment on romantic relationships in adulthood
• The impact of cognitive-behavioral therapy on anxiety symptoms in individuals with multiple sclerosis (MS)
• The relationship between cultural values and parenting practices in Latino families
• The effects of social support on mental health outcomes in individuals with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and anxiety
• The role of social norms in shaping attitudes towards mental health and help-seeking behaviors in South Asian communities
• The influence of personality traits on academic achievement in college students
• The impact of cognitive-behavioral therapy on depression symptoms in individuals with rheumatoid arthritis (RA)
• The relationship between attachment styles and romantic relationship satisfaction in same-sex couples
• The effects of mindfulness interventions on self-compassion and emotional regulation in individuals with schizophrenia
• The role of culture in shaping attitudes towards mental health and community resources in Arab communities
• The effects of social support on mental health outcomes in individuals with chronic pain and anxiety
• The relationship between childhood adversity and substance use disorders in adulthood
• The impact of cognitive-behavioral therapy on anxiety symptoms in individuals with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)
• The role of cultural beliefs about mental illness and stigma in Latino communities
• The effects of social identity on stereotype threat and academic achievement in minority college students
• The relationship between personality traits and coping strategies in caregivers of individuals with dementia
• The impact of group therapy on depression symptoms in individuals with traumatic brain injuries (TBI)
• The role of culture in shaping attitudes towards mental health and community resources in LGBTQ+ communities
• The relationship between attachment styles and romantic relationship satisfaction in individuals with chronic illnesses
• The influence of personality traits on stress and coping in police officers
• The impact of cognitive-behavioral therapy on anxiety symptoms in individuals with chronic kidney disease (CKD)
• The role of cultural beliefs about mental illness and stigma in Asian communities
• The effects of social support on mental health outcomes in individuals with irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) and depression
• The relationship between childhood trauma and interpersonal relationships in adulthood
• The impact of group therapy on anxiety symptoms in individuals with social phobia
• The role of culture in shaping attitudes towards mental health and community resources in Native American communities
• The effects of mindfulness interventions on self-compassion and emotional regulation in individuals with postpartum depression
• The relationship between personality traits and burnout in healthcare professionals
• The impact of cognitive-behavioral therapy on anxiety symptoms in individuals with chronic pain and fibromyalgia
• The role of cultural beliefs about mental illness and stigma in African American communities
• The effects of social support on mental health outcomes in individuals with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) and anxiety
• The relationship between childhood trauma and emotional regulation in adolescence
• The influence of personality traits on well-being and life satisfaction in older adults
• The impact of group therapy on depression symptoms in individuals with borderline personality disorder
• The role of culture in shaping attitudes towards mental health and community resources in Hispanic/Latino communities
• The effects of mindfulness interventions on self-compassion and emotional regulation in individuals with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)
• The relationship between attachment styles and emotional regulation in individuals with substance use disorders

Psychology Research Topic Ideas College Students

• The effects of virtual reality exposure therapy on anxiety and phobias among college students
• The relationship between attachment styles and romantic relationship satisfaction among college students
• The impact of social norms on substance use among college students
• The effects of cultural identity on mental health and academic achievement among college students
• The role of self-compassion in reducing burnout among college students
• The relationship between social media use and FOMO (fear of missing out) among college students
• The impact of environmental factors on mental health and well-being among college students
• The effects of self-esteem on social anxiety and social skills among college students
• The role of positive psychology interventions in promoting well-being and academic success among college students
• The relationship between gender identity and mental health outcomes among college students
• The impact of parental communication on mental health and academic performance among college students
• The effects of cognitive-behavioral therapy on PTSD symptoms among college students
• The relationship between personality traits and academic procrastination among college students
• The role of humor in reducing stress and promoting well-being among college students
• The impact of social identity on academic motivation and achievement among college students
• The effects of mindfulness-based stress reduction on academic performance and mental health among college students
• The relationship between academic stress and substance use among college students
• The role of cultural competence in promoting diversity and inclusion on college campuses
• The impact of emotional intelligence on academic success and career readiness among college students
• The effects of peer mentoring programs on academic motivation and success among college students
• The relationship between exercise and cognitive functioning in college students
• The role of optimism in promoting resilience and well-being among college students
• The impact of music therapy on anxiety and depression among college students
• The effects of exposure to nature on mental health and well-being among college students
• The relationship between parental involvement and emotional regulation among college students
• The role of forgiveness in promoting well-being and interpersonal relationships among college students
• The impact of social comparison on body image and self-esteem among college students
• The effects of attachment styles on coping with stress among college students
• The relationship between academic self-efficacy and academic performance among college students
• The role of grit in promoting academic perseverance and achievement among college students
• The impact of COVID-19 on mental health and well-being among college students
• The effects of peer pressure on substance use and risky behaviors among college students
• The relationship between social support and academic engagement among college students
• The role of cognitive biases in promoting or hindering academic success among college students
• The impact of physical activity on mental health and well-being among college students
• The effects of mindfulness-based interventions on academic motivation and success among college students
• The relationship between perfectionism and academic burnout among college students
• The role of parental support in promoting academic resilience and success among college students with disabilities
• The impact of diversity education on promoting empathy and reducing prejudice among college students
• The effects of assertiveness training on communication skills and interpersonal relationships among college students.

Graduate Psychology Research Topic Ideas

• The impact of mindfulness-based interventions on reducing symptoms of anxiety and depression in clinical populations
• The role of self-compassion in promoting emotional well-being among adults with chronic illness
• The effects of cognitive-behavioral therapy on PTSD symptoms in military veterans
• The relationship between sleep quality and cognitive functioning in aging populations
• The impact of positive psychology interventions on well-being and resilience among individuals with chronic pain
• The role of emotion regulation in reducing symptoms of borderline personality disorder
• The effects of virtual reality exposure therapy on social anxiety in individuals with autism spectrum disorder
• The relationship between executive functioning and academic achievement in children with ADHD
• The impact of family-based interventions on reducing symptoms of substance use disorders among adolescents
• The role of mindfulness in promoting emotional regulation and stress management in healthcare professionals
• The effects of cognitive remediation therapy on cognitive functioning in individuals with schizophrenia
• The relationship between attachment styles and therapeutic alliance in psychotherapy
• The impact of cultural factors on the manifestation and treatment of eating disorders
• The role of emotion regulation in reducing symptoms of depression and anxiety in postpartum women
• The effects of acceptance and commitment therapy on reducing symptoms of OCD
• The relationship between childhood ADHD and adult executive functioning and academic achievement
• The impact of animal-assisted therapy on reducing symptoms of PTSD in veterans
• The role of social support in promoting resilience and well-being among individuals with chronic illness
• The effects of cognitive remediation therapy on reducing negative symptoms in individuals with schizophrenia
• The relationship between executive functioning and social skills in children with autism spectrum disorder
• The impact of cognitive-behavioral therapy on reducing symptoms of hoarding disorder
• The role of emotion regulation in reducing symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder
• The effects of mindfulness-based interventions on reducing symptoms of burnout among healthcare professionals
• The relationship between social support and quality of life in individuals with multiple sclerosis
• The impact of cognitive-behavioral therapy on reducing symptoms of generalized anxiety disorder
• The role of mindfulness in promoting well-being and emotional regulation in individuals with chronic pain
• The effects of cognitive remediation therapy on reducing negative symptoms in individuals with bipolar disorder
• The relationship between executive functioning and academic achievement in children with learning disabilities
• The impact of acceptance and commitment therapy on reducing symptoms of social anxiety disorder
• The role of emotion regulation in reducing symptoms of borderline personality disorder in adolescents
• The effects of cognitive-behavioral therapy on reducing symptoms of panic disorder
• The relationship between social support and depression in individuals with HIV/AIDS
• The impact of cognitive remediation therapy on reducing symptoms of ADHD in adults
• The role of mindfulness in promoting well-being and emotional regulation in individuals with depression
• The effects of cognitive-behavioral therapy on reducing symptoms of substance use disorders in individuals with co-occurring PTSD
• The relationship between executive functioning and quality of life in individuals with traumatic brain injury
• The impact of acceptance and commitment therapy on reducing symptoms of obsessive-compulsive disorder
• The role of emotion regulation in reducing symptoms of anxiety and depression in adolescents with chronic illness
• The effects of cognitive remediation therapy on reducing cognitive impairment in individuals with Parkinson’s disease.

Military Psychology Research Topic Ideas

• The impact of military deployment on the mental health and well-being of service members
• The role of resilience in promoting posttraumatic growth among military personnel
• The effects of combat exposure on emotional regulation and decision-making abilities
• The relationship between military leadership styles and team cohesion
• The impact of military culture on help-seeking behaviors among service members with mental health concerns
• The role of perceived social support in promoting resilience among military spouses during deployment
• The effects of military service on identity formation and self-concept
• The relationship between deployment-related stress and marital satisfaction among military couples
• The impact of military sexual trauma on mental health outcomes and treatment seeking behaviors among service members
• The role of mindfulness in reducing symptoms of PTSD among military personnel
• The effects of trauma-focused cognitive-behavioral therapy on reducing symptoms of PTSD among military veterans
• The relationship between military deployment and substance use disorders
• The impact of military deployment on parent-child relationships and child outcomes
• The role of perceived organizational support in promoting job satisfaction and retention among military personnel
• The effects of exposure therapy on reducing combat-related nightmares and sleep disturbances among military personnel
• The relationship between military service and risk-taking behaviors
• The impact of military culture on mental health stigma and treatment seeking behaviors among service members
• The role of positive psychology interventions in promoting resilience and well-being among military personnel and their families
• The effects of virtual reality exposure therapy on reducing symptoms of specific phobias among military personnel
• The relationship between military service and traumatic brain injury
• The impact of deployment on career development and job satisfaction among military personnel
• The role of cognitive appraisal in the stress and coping process among military personnel
• The effects of a peer support program on reducing symptoms of PTSD among military personnel
• The relationship between military service and intimate partner violence perpetration and victimization
• The impact of military deployment on parenting practices and child outcomes among military families
• The role of perceived organizational justice in promoting job satisfaction and retention among military personnel
• The effects of acceptance and commitment therapy on reducing symptoms of depression and anxiety among military personnel
• The relationship between military service and suicidal ideation and behavior
• The impact of military deployment on social support networks and social integration
• The role of perceived unit cohesion in promoting resilience and mental health among military personnel
• The effects of cognitive remediation therapy on improving cognitive functioning and job performance among military personnel with traumatic brain injury
• The relationship between military service and alcohol misuse and addiction
• The impact of military deployment on sibling relationships and family functioning
• The role of perceived leadership support in promoting job satisfaction and retention among military personnel
• The effects of exposure therapy on reducing symptoms of phobic avoidance among military personnel
• The relationship between military service and eating disorders
• The impact of military deployment on community reintegration and social support among veterans
• The role of perceived control in the stress and coping process among military personnel
• The effects of a mindfulness-based intervention on reducing symptoms of depression and anxiety among military spouses during deployment
• The relationship between military service and personality disorders.

Psychology Research Topic Ideas in Education

• The effects of mindfulness practices on student well-being and academic performance
• The impact of classroom diversity on student attitudes and academic achievement
• The role of parent-teacher communication in promoting student success
• The effects of differentiated instruction on student engagement and academic achievement
• The relationship between school climate and student mental health outcomes
• The impact of technology integration on student learning outcomes
• The role of teacher-student relationships in promoting student engagement and academic success
• The effects of social-emotional learning programs on student behavior and academic performance
• The relationship between academic self-concept and academic achievement
• The impact of peer tutoring on student academic performance
• The role of motivation in promoting student academic success
• The effects of educational gaming on student engagement and academic achievement
• The relationship between parental involvement and student academic achievement
• The impact of teacher expectations on student academic performance
• The role of goal-setting in promoting student academic success
• The effects of growth mindset interventions on student motivation and academic achievement
• The relationship between teacher burnout and student academic outcomes
• The impact of teacher diversity on student attitudes and academic achievement
• The role of classroom management in promoting student engagement and academic success
• The effects of student-centered learning on student academic performance
• The relationship between teacher empathy and student academic outcomes
• The impact of school-based mental health services on student mental health outcomes and academic achievement
• The role of parental involvement in homework on student academic success
• The effects of project-based learning on student engagement and academic achievement
• The relationship between student motivation and academic achievement in STEM fields
• The impact of teacher professional development on student academic outcomes
• The role of teacher feedback in promoting student academic success
• The effects of cooperative learning on student engagement and academic achievement
• The relationship between classroom climate and student academic outcomes
• The impact of restorative justice practices on student behavior and academic achievement
• The role of teacher support in promoting student academic success
• The effects of flipped classrooms on student engagement and academic achievement
• The relationship between teacher autonomy and student academic outcomes
• The impact of teacher collaboration on student academic performance
• The role of metacognition in promoting student academic success
• The effects of active learning on student engagement and academic achievement
• The relationship between student engagement and academic achievement in language learning
• The impact of teacher coaching on student academic outcomes
• The role of self-regulated learning in promoting student academic success
• The effects of outdoor learning on student engagement and academic achievement.

Cognitive Psychology Research Topic Ideas

• The role of attention in perception and memory
• The effect of sleep deprivation on cognitive functioning
• The relationship between creativity and cognitive flexibility
• The cognitive processes involved in decision-making
• The impact of stress on cognitive performance
• The role of working memory in problem-solving
• The cognitive factors involved in language acquisition
• The relationship between attention and executive functions
• The effect of aging on cognitive abilities
• The role of attention in visual perception
• The cognitive processes involved in learning and memory
• The impact of technology on cognitive development
• The relationship between cognition and emotion
• The effect of anxiety on cognitive performance
• The cognitive processes involved in attentional control
• The role of executive functions in decision-making
• The effect of mindfulness practices on cognitive functioning
• The relationship between language and cognition
• The cognitive processes involved in reading comprehension
• The impact of nutrition on cognitive development
• The role of working memory in language processing
• The effect of exercise on cognitive performance
• The cognitive processes involved in mental rotation tasks
• The relationship between cognitive load and learning
• The effect of multitasking on cognitive performance
• The cognitive processes involved in problem-solving
• The role of executive functions in goal-directed behavior
• The impact of cognitive training on cognitive abilities
• The relationship between attention and perception
• The effect of music on cognitive performance
• The cognitive processes involved in decision-making under uncertainty
• The role of cognitive control in self-regulation
• The impact of bilingualism on cognitive development
• The relationship between cognitive biases and decision-making
• The effect of caffeine on cognitive performance
• The cognitive processes involved in face recognition
• The role of cognitive dissonance in attitude change
• The impact of mindfulness-based interventions on cognitive functioning
• The relationship between cognitive styles and problem-solving
• The cognitive processes involved in mental imagery.

Forensic Psychology Research Topic Ideas

• The impact of childhood trauma on criminal behavior
• The effectiveness of forensic psychological evaluations in court proceedings
• The role of mental illness in criminal behavior
• The effect of substance abuse on criminal behavior
• The impact of eyewitness testimony on legal outcomes
• The role of psychopathy in criminal behavior
• The effectiveness of restorative justice practices
• The relationship between socioeconomic status and criminal behavior
• The effect of media coverage on public perceptions of crime
• The impact of prison environment on offender rehabilitation
• The role of the insanity defense in criminal cases
• The effectiveness of sex offender treatment programs
• The relationship between domestic violence and homicide
• The effect of legal representation on trial outcomes
• The impact of juvenile delinquency prevention programs
• The role of cultural factors in criminal behavior
• The effectiveness of parole and probation programs
• The relationship between mental illness and violence
• The effect of polygraph testing on legal outcomes
• The impact of criminal profiling on law enforcement investigations
• The role of victim impact statements in sentencing
• The effectiveness of correctional education programs
• The relationship between childhood attachment styles and criminal behavior
• The effect of cognitive biases in legal decision-making
• The impact of witness identification procedures on accuracy
• The role of forensic hypnosis in criminal investigations
• The effectiveness of drug court programs
• The relationship between alcohol use and criminal behavior
• The effect of societal stereotypes on criminal sentencing
• The impact of prison overcrowding on offender rehabilitation
• The role of cultural competence in forensic assessments
• The effectiveness of diversion programs for juvenile offenders
• The relationship between trauma and criminal behavior in women
• The effect of plea bargaining on legal outcomes
• The impact of social support on offender rehabilitation
• The role of forensic psychology in counterterrorism efforts
• The effectiveness of offender reentry programs
• The relationship between intellectual disability and criminal behavior
• The effect of forensic testimony on jury decision-making.

Abnormal psychology research topic ideas

• The effects of childhood trauma on the development of anxiety disorders
• The relationship between depression and sleep disturbances
• The effectiveness of psychotherapy for borderline personality disorder
• The impact of social media on body image and eating disorders
• The role of genetics in the development of schizophrenia
• The effect of early intervention on the progression of psychosis
• The impact of stigma on help-seeking behaviors for mental health disorders
• The relationship between substance use disorders and mental health
• The effect of exercise on symptoms of depression and anxiety
• The impact of trauma-focused cognitive behavioral therapy on post-traumatic stress disorder
• The role of attachment styles in the development of personality disorders
• The effectiveness of cognitive remediation therapy for schizophrenia
• The relationship between childhood ADHD and the development of anxiety disorders
• The effect of mindfulness meditation on symptoms of depression and anxiety
• The impact of cultural factors on the diagnosis and treatment of mental health disorders
• The role of neuroplasticity in the treatment of addiction
• The effectiveness of exposure therapy for specific phobias
• The effect of stress on the development of mental health disorders
• The impact of sleep disturbances on the onset of bipolar disorder
• The role of trauma in the development of dissociative disorders
• The effectiveness of cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia
• The relationship between childhood abuse and the development of borderline personality disorder
• The effect of peer support on the recovery of individuals with mental health disorders
• The impact of cultural differences on the presentation of mental health symptoms
• The role of cognitive biases in the maintenance of anxiety disorders
• The effectiveness of dialectical behavior therapy for borderline personality disorder
• The relationship between early life stressors and the development of depression
• The effect of nutrition on mental health
• The impact of virtual reality exposure therapy on phobia treatment
• The role of genetics in the development of mood disorders
• The effectiveness of acceptance and commitment therapy for anxiety disorders
• The relationship between childhood trauma and the development of dissociative identity disorder
• The effect of stigma on treatment outcomes for individuals with mental health disorders
• The impact of childhood adversity on the development of personality disorders
• The role of emotional regulation in the treatment of borderline personality disorder
• The effectiveness of psychodynamic therapy for depression
• The relationship between sleep disturbances and the development of anxiety disorders
• The effect of stigma on mental health professionals’ treatment decisions
• The impact of cultural factors on the expression of bipolar disorder symptoms.

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119 Intelligence Research Topics & Essay Examples

📝 intelligence research papers examples, 👍 good intelligence essay topics to write about, 🏆 best intelligence essay titles, 🎓 simple research topics about intelligence, ❓ intelligence research questions.

• The Wechsler Intelligence Scales Psychology essay sample: The Wechsler Intelligence Scales are used to gauge the rational functioning of grown and children. This work ratify the nature of the WISC-III Functional Distractibility factor.
• Emotional Intelligence: Why and How to Enhance It? Psychology essay sample: High emotional intelligence level enables a person to form meaningful relationships and lead to success in life spheres such as work and education.
• Experiential Hospitality and Emotional Intelligence Psychology essay sample: This work gives an example of given a guest an experiential stay and outlines the importance of emotional intelligence for hospitality managers using literature sources.
• Emotional Intelligence Analysis Psychology essay sample: Individuals with a higher level of EQ have a better chance of navigating through social complexities and making decisions that are in line with the existing environment.
• Crystallized Intelligence and Psychometrics: Definition Psychology essay sample: Crystallized Intelligence describes the accumulation of skills acquired over a specific duration. Psychometrics refers to the methods applied in the design of psychological tests.
• Childhood Experience Connected to Adult Intelligence Psychology essay sample: Our feelings and thoughts in childhood shape our personality because personal growth always occurs gradually and under the influence of many factors.
• Emotional Intelligence: Annotated Bibliography Psychology essay sample: This paper reviews such articles as “Emotional Intelligence: Theory, Finding, and Implications”, “A review and critique of emotional intelligence measures,” and others.
• Emotional Intelligence and Its Components Psychology essay sample: Emotional intelligence is a person’s ability to understand their emotions and handle them well. This ability consists of four components.
• Determinants of Intelligence and Creativity Psychology essay sample: Researchers have demonstrated that both the environment and heredity have a collaborative influence on intelligence.
• Emotional Intelligence (EQ) in the Workplace Psychology essay sample: High EQ contributes to better professional cooperation since this ability allowed me to identify whether it was suitable to ask a person for a favor or it was better to give support.
• Emotional Intelligence: Theories and Experiments Psychology essay sample: This paper describes models and theories for defining and describing emotional intelligence, experiments in this area, and proving hypotheses.
• Intelligence Measurement Theories by Gardner and Sternberg Psychology essay sample: Gardner included difficult-to-measure types in his theory (kinesthetic, musical, naturalistic), while Stenberg chose criteria that can be tested in traditional forms of tasks.
• Reflection on the Emotional Intelligence Psychology essay sample: Emotional intelligence is one of the most important and necessary qualities in the modern world. People who hold ruling positions and manage a team especially need this skill.
• Primal Leadership With Emotional Intelligence Psychology essay sample: Emotional intelligence is vital particularly in management and leadership because it helps ease the management of one’s emotions, and that of a group of individuals.
• Emotional Intelligence: Description and Quiz Results Psychology essay sample: Emotional intelligence influences numerous dissimilar facets of one’s everyday undertakings, for instance, how one acts and the mode of one’s interrelations with others.
• Practical and Emotional Intelligence: Application and Examples Psychology essay sample: Lay people term practical intelligence as street smart, which is different from book smart, a term used to refer to emotional intelligence.
• Emotional Intelligence Findings Psychology essay sample: The paper explains what emotional responses look like and their importance when interacting in social settings, and how can we be “in check” with our emotions.
• Intelligence Testing in Clinical Psychology Psychology essay sample: Intelligence is an integral component with regard to human undertakings in social settings. It facilitates survival in various situations that characterize contemporary society.
• IQ (Intelligence Quotient) Tests Do Not Reflect Intelligence Psychology essay sample: IQ (Intelligence Quotient) tests scores should be estimated carefully and held several times to adequately measure children’s abilities.
• The Importance of Emotional Intelligence Psychology essay sample: Effective leaders have one characteristic in common: strong emotional intelligence. Intelligence quotient and hard skills, such as technical expertise and analytical knowledge.
• Intelligence: Defining, Measuring, and Testing Psychology essay sample: This essay provides insight into various controversies, pros, and cons of the approaches to defining and measuring intelligence.
• Social and Emotional Intelligence Psychology essay sample: This paper will examine the characteristics of social and emotional intelligence to determine the impact on leadership skills.
• Emotional Intelligence and Personal Development Plan Psychology essay sample: It is crucial to pay attention to emotional intelligence and its development in order to improve performance in the workplace. For this aim, multiple assessments were elaborated.
• Fundamentals of Psychology: The Intelligence Test Psychology essay sample: The intelligence test was to be used as a specialized tool that would recognize children needing technical assistance.
• Emotional Intelligence and the "Three Good Things" Psychology essay sample: One of the main components of emotional intelligence is knowing one's weaknesses and strengths and co-existing with them calmly and managing emotions.
• Emotional Intelligence and Its Importance Psychology essay sample: This essay will discuss and examine the concept of emotional intelligence and its personal and social importance, and its correlation with the achievement of personal goals.
• Theories of Intelligence in Transformative Learning Psychology essay sample: Intelligence, as a concept, has become a topic for many debates providing ground for new ideas in psychology. The very notion of intelligence is a point of controversy.
• The Role of the Emotional Intelligence in the Communication Psychology essay sample: The paper aims to discuss the role of the emotional intelligence in the communication, team building, and relationship building.
• The Development of Emotional Intelligence Psychology essay sample: The development of emotional intelligence is an important part of each person's self-development, which should be paid maximum attention to.
• Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children Instrument Assessment Psychology essay sample: The Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children (WISC) is a test that is designed to evaluate intelligence in children of different ages.
• Emotional Intelligence and Leadership Psychology essay sample: Emotional Intelligence (EI) is the ability to have compassion, sympathy, and emotional participation for members who are involved in an organization.
• Thinking and Intelligence in Psychological Science Psychology essay sample: In psychological science, based on the doctrine of the active nature of the human psyche, thinking and intellect occupy an essential place.
• “The Minnesota Twin Family Study” and “Genetic Study of Genius” Psychology essay sample: This paper analyzes studies “The Minnesota Twin Family Study” about differences between the monozygotic twin reared apart and “Genetic Study of Genius” about high IQ students.
• Researching of Emotional Intelligence Psychology essay sample: Emotional intelligence is the reverse side of rational intelligence, the ability of a person to manage their emotions, understand the feelings and intentions of others.
• The Relationship Between Intelligence and Creativity Psychology essay sample: This essay explores various arguments that explain the correlation between intelligence and creativity by drawing evidence from related studies.
• Cross-Sectional and Longitudinal Research Methods Psychology essay sample: The current paper describes the most commonly used methods of developmental research. They are cross-sectional and longitudinal designs.
• Mental Testing as Cornerstone of Applied Psychology Psychology essay sample: Mental testing was invented in the 19th century as a reaction to the development of compulsory primary education, which required the assessment of children's cognitive abilities.
• Piaget’s Theory of Cognitive Development Psychology essay sample: Piaget's theory of cognitive development refers to ways in which human intelligence undergoes growth and development.
• Children Born During Pandemic Have Lower IQs Psychology essay sample: “Children Born During Pandemic Have Lower IQs, US Study Finds” reveals findings of a study on children's cognitive development and intelligence quotient (IQ).
• Team-Building Across Cultures: Literature Review Psychology essay sample: This paper analyzes team building across cultures, the major challenges and positive factors in cross-cultural team-building and reflect on specific approaches to leadership.
• Chapters 9 and 10 of Psychology by Myers & DeWall Psychology essay sample: Since the mind makes snap judgments according to preexisting concepts and prototypes, it is also prone to errors.
• Problem-Solving, Decision-Making, and Intelligence Psychology essay sample: Problem-solving, creativity, decision-making, and intelligence are overlapping constructs, often indistinguishable even for scholars.
• The Nature of Human Intelligence Psychology essay sample: The ability to think, learn from experience, solve issues, and adjust to new circumstances is known as intelligence.
• Artificial Intelligence, Expert Systems and Robotics
• Self-Concept, Personality and Emotional Intelligence in Primary Education
• Academic Performance and Fluid Intelligence
• Artificial Intelligence and Blockchain Used in Accounting
• Intelligence and Adapting for Graduate School
• Ascertaining Critical Variables Using Artificial Intelligence Tools
• The Useful of Artificial Intelligence in Nursing Technologies can make nursing practice more efficient, but technologies with human reasoning are even more helpful, which is why nurses need artificial intelligence applications.
• Artificial Intelligence: The Branch of Compute
• Intelligence Child Development
• Emotional Intelligence Reflection Paper: The Importance of EI in Nursing Leadership Read this essay to learn about emotional intelligence in nursing and find a reflection on personal EI.
• Android Applications With Artificial Intelligence
• Intelligence and Its Relationship to Human Cognition
• Auditory and Visual Intelligence Development Evolution
• Banks, Financial Services and Artificial Intelligence
• The Emotional Intelligence of Adolescents and Their Risk-Taking Behavior
• Understanding People and Organisations Intelligence
• The Process of Formation of Intelligence
• General Intelligence and Specific Abilities Psychology
• Development of Language Skills and Intelligence
• Howard Gardner’s Theory and Types of Intelligence
• Cognitive Ability and Intelligence
• Government Size, Intelligence and Life Satisfaction
• Leadership Styles and Emotional Intelligence in Educators
• Cognitive Intelligence for Effective Leadership
• Crimes: The Role of People With High, Average, and Low Intelligence
• Cultural Intelligence and Intercultural Competency
• Heritability and Malleability of Intelligence
• Digital Intelligence and Digital Marketing Effectiveness
• Grade Point Average and Intelligence Quotient
• The Connection of Intelligence With Narcissism and Achievement Motivation
• Dolphin Intelligence and Interaction With Humans
• The Value of Art for Intelligence and Communication
• Economic Factors and Impact on Intelligence and Growth
• Education, Academic Intelligence, and Personal Experience
• Academic Definition and History of Emotional Intelligence
• Environmental Factors That Affect Intelligence
• The Role of Metacognitive and Cognitive Cultural Intelligence
• Active Empathic Listening and Emotional Intelligence
• The Relationship Between Theories of Intelligence and Beliefs About Brain Development
• Factors Determining the Level of Intelligence in Human Beings
• Gap Between Intelligence and Emotion
• History and Testing Measures of Intelligence Theory
• Connection of Personality With Self-Assessment of Intelligence
• Intelligence and How Can We Tell a Person Is Intelligent
• Link Between Depression and Intelligence
• Memory Processes Thinking and Language Intelligence
• Can Robots Have Human Intelligence?
• How Did Different Psychologists Define Intelligence?
• How Can You Measure Your Current Emotional Intelligence?
• What Is Gardner’s Theory of Multiple Intelligences?
• Does Intelligence Affect Confidence?
• Can Personality and Level of Intelligence Be Changed?
• Does Physical Exercise Increase People’s Intelligence?
• What Are the Ethical Problems of Artificial Intelligence?
• Does the Writing Process Improve Verbal Intelligence?
• How Does Music Affect Intelligence?
• Does the Intelligence Test Measure What It Claims to Measure?
• How Cultures Affect Perceptions of Intelligence?
• Does Intelligence Boost Happiness?
• Can Animals Demonstrate Intelligence?
• Does Birth Order Have an Effect on Intelligence?
• How Does Autism Affect Intelligence?
• Does Being Talented Affect a Child ‘s Intelligence?
• Is the Internet Lowering Human Intelligence and “Making Us Stupid”?
• What Are the Main Traditions of Measuring Intelligence?
• Does Intelligence Affect Interpersonal Communication?
• What Are the Styles of Creative Intelligence?
• Can Personality and Intelligence Be Inherited?
• Can Cultural Intelligence Affect Employees Innovative Behavior?
• What Are the Arguments “For” and “Against” Artificial Intelligence?
• Can Artificial Intelligence Lead to a More Sustainable Society?
• Does Intelligence Quotient Determine Success?
• Can Artificial Intelligence Become Smarter Than Humans?
• Can Group Intelligence Help Entrepreneurs Find Better Opportunities?
• What Is Intelligence Quotient?
• Can Beauty and Intelligence Be Related?

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PsychologyWriting . 2024. "119 Intelligence Research Topics & Essay Examples." June 3, 2024. https://psychologywriting.com/topics/intelligence-research-topics/.

1. PsychologyWriting . "119 Intelligence Research Topics & Essay Examples." June 3, 2024. https://psychologywriting.com/topics/intelligence-research-topics/.

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PsychologyWriting . "119 Intelligence Research Topics & Essay Examples." June 3, 2024. https://psychologywriting.com/topics/intelligence-research-topics/.

113 Emotional Intelligence Research Topics & Essay Examples

Emotional intelligence essays are an essential part of education for many professions that involve working with people, such as managers and teachers.

The concept is somewhat new, having been first introduced half a century ago and popularized at the end of the last century. As such, you have to approach the topic carefully and rely on the latest available evidence to avoid citing outdated ideas.

Furthermore, as with any psychology-related topic, you should exhibit general caution and avoid the numerous pitfalls associated with the study of the human mind. This article will help you understand what you should or should not do to write an excellent paper.

👍 Writing Tips for Projects on Emotional Intelligence

🏆 best topics on emotional intelligence & essay examples, 📝 simple & easy research topics on emotional intelligence, 💡 most interesting emotional intelligence topics to write about, ❓ research questions about emotional intelligence.

Remember that the purpose of psychology is to help people improve themselves, not to stratify society based on vague ideas. Emotional intelligence is not inherent and can be learned by most people, a concept your writing should reflect.

Be sure to discuss the difference between a fixed and a growth mindset, promoting the idea that anyone can adopt the latter and improve himself or herself. Discuss parts of the concept of emotional intelligence, such as patience, in-depth to make the idea easier to understand.

There is a variety of topics and emotional intelligence essay ideas you can utilize to create an engaging work and make your essay excellent and unique among the offerings of your peers.

As emotional intelligence is a skill set anyone may learn, you should avoid language that implies that it is an inherent trait, a quality that is often associated with its non-emotional counterpart.

Whenever you discuss the difference between people with developed communication skills and those whose abilities are somewhat lower, remember to do so in a positive context.

Someone is not inferior because his or her emotional intelligence is lower than another person’s.

However, he or she can benefit from undergoing appropriate training, especially if these skills are important in his or her work. As such, respect people’s individual approaches and offer suggestions instead of treating the theory as universal facts.

Here are some further tips for your work:

• Psychology relies on scenarios where a person’s behavior can be as free of outside factors as possible. Toddler observation and scholarly experiments with carefully selected conditions are excellent examples of such situations, and you should use them to ground your descriptions in reality.
• Be sure to adhere to academic guidelines, avoiding the use of first person, calls to action, and other additions that do not match the format. This approach is useful in general, as it applies to most essays and will be beneficial for future reports and similar submissions.
• Write an emotional intelligence essay introduction and conclusion at the end of your paper. They make your work easier to read by giving it structure and direction. The introduction should contain a description of the topic and a thesis statement, and the conclusion should sum up the main points.
• Try to set a central theme and address it in your essay instead of providing a general overview of the topic. There are many emotional intelligence essay questions that can be answered in considerable detail. As such, you should concentrate on one of them without getting distracted and sidetracked.

Come to IvyPanda for an emotional intelligence essay summary and sample sets as well as various titles that will help you begin your writing process!

• Emotional Intelligence To this end, Goleman states that EI is the combination of “emotional centers of the brain and the cognitive centers “.
• Concept of Emotional Intelligence: Arguments Emotional intelligence is the “subset of social intelligence that involves the ability to monitor one’s own and other’s feelings and emotions, to discriminate among them and to use this information to guide one’s thinking and […]
• Emotional Intelligence in the Organizational Behavior Context Low EI might cause the leader to be insensitive to the mood of the followers and this will lead to frustration and lower the output of the team.
• Leadership Behavior: Ratan Tata and Emotional Intelligence This shows that Ratan Tata, as a leader, was not eager to compete but rather searched for options to expand the market through acquiring businesses.
• The Effect of Students Emotional Intelligence on Academic Performance The findings of the study will be used to assist students to see the importance of controlling their emotions and teachers to realize the need of integrating the components of EI into the curriculum and […]
• Emotional Intelligence and Effective Leadership In terms of the assessment of my personality, it portrays that a have to pay critical attention to the emotions and feelings of other individuals, as disregarding them will question my leadership and abilities to […]
• Emotional Intelligence and Leadership in the UAE In this case, 45 middle and top managers of companies in the United Arab Emirates were asked to participate in the research to understand their level of emotional intelligence and its influence on the overall […]
• Cognitive Intelligence and Emotional Intelligence in Organisational Behavior The distinction between emotional intelligence and cognitive intelligence is evidenced in the psychometric tests of assessing cognitive ability and psychometric tests of intelligence.
• Emotional Intelligence and Its Impact on Success As for me, I would define emotional intelligence as the ability to react to the situation in a proper way, to find the appropriate way out of a situation, and to make a decision successful […]
• Emotional Intelligence in Working Environment Emotional intelligence is a type of social intelligence that involves the ability to monitor own and others’ emotions in order to discriminate among them and to use the information to guide one’s thinking and actions.
• How Emotional Intelligence Influences Leadership In order to be an effective leader, a broad understanding of emotions and their impacts on others is imperative for leaders.
• Emotional Intelligence for Human Resource Management How can managers utilize and propagate the concept of EI to promote responsiveness and deliver their projects on time? Quality articles will be identified through the use of these keywords: emotional intelligence, resource management, and […]
• Emotional Intelligence in the Workplace Emotional intelligence is a significant requirement for team work; there is a coherent link between successes attained in team work to the level of emotional intelligence held by the members of the team.
• Emotional Intelligence among University Hospital Nurses Even though it is challenging to overestimate the importance of self-management and its competencies, University Hospital nurses state that this domain brings a few inefficiencies in the medical organization.
• Emotional Intelligence: Self-Awareness Importance Leaders with high self-awareness are more likely to understand their own strengths and weaknesses, as well as their impact on others, which helps them make better decisions, manage stress and conflict effectively, and lead with […]
• Emotional Intelligence: Bluevine Case Analysis These are crucial for the leadership, the staff, and the company as a whole as it strives to enhance its productivity.
• Fostering Effective Communication and Emotional Intelligence in Conflict Resolution The capacity to recognize, comprehend, and react to the sentiments of others is just as important as the capacity to articulate and control one’s own emotions.
• Measuring Emotional Intelligence in Job Selection As a result, managers must be aware of the peculiarities of different generations in the company, as demonstrated by Margie to Rebecca, and behave appropriately.
• Change Leadership and Emotional Intelligence By providing essential information about the arrangement of the theater production, as well as coordinating numerous communication processes within it and leading a diverse team of experts, “Theater 1310” has expanded the range of my […]
• Areas of Emotional Intelligence Self-awareness is the initial step that forms emotional intelligence and allows other areas of the concept to participate in the process.
• Emotional Intelligence and Emotional Management Viewpoints on emotional intelligence as a trait and an ability have some conceptual differences, but both perspectives suppose that it is an essential element of business decision-making, as illustrated by the successful career of Warren […]
• Emotional Intelligence in Leadership Development I found the examples given very convincing and the logic behind the arguments solid and straightforward to follow. At the same time, I disagree that overvaluing one’s skills is connected to experience.
• The “Emotional Intelligence” Book by Goleman In his book, Emotional Intelligence: Why It Can Matter More Than IQ, Daniel Goleman explains this concept and the value of this feature.
• Daniel Goleman Introduces Emotional Intelligence Self-awareness is important in order for a person to be knowledgeable about his or her inner feelings and emotions by being aware of their presence and impact on the individual psyche.
• Emotional Intelligence Coaching Emotional Intelligence Coaching does not focus of giving a person advice about the issues in their private life.
• Why Emotional Intelligence (EI) Training Will Help Your Organization to Prosper Emotional Intelligence comes from two words. Emotions refer to personal feelings arising from the state of the mind of a person.
• Clinical Experience: Emotional Intelligence The lack of clarity in the provided information may affect the accuracy of the diagnosis to a considerable extent. A fungal infection was suspected as the possible cause of the disease due to the rise […]
• Emotional Intelligence: Research and Rationale The authors study the effect that altruistic behavior has on the relationship between emotional intelligence and subjective well-being, which is usually explored in an isolated context.
• Nurses’ Emotional Intelligence and Patient Satisfaction There is little available literature that offers evidence of the impact of the emotional intelligence of nurses on the relationship between patients and nurses, as well as patient satisfaction.
• Emotional Intelligence and Conflict-Handling Styles in Nurses This is a research critique that explores the research problem, the context of the study problem within the existing knowledge, the relevancy of the study to nursing, and the purpose of the research “The relationship […]
• Emotional Intelligence in Nursing Study by Winship The researchers identified their source of stories from a recently published book with inspirational stories about nursing and written by nurses.
• Emotional Intelligence and Effective Leadership in the Healthcare Environment It is also the ability to distinguish the impact of emotions in the life of the individual. He pointed out that EQ enables the individual to adapt to the challenges of the social environment.
• Stress, Emotional Intelligence, and Job Performance Correlation in Nursing Complexity science is important to this study because it enables a person to understand the causes of stress within a system.
• Emotional Intelligence’s Support for Teamwork and Teambuilding in Nursing In instances where a nurse lacks the luxury to pick a team with which to work, understanding others allows the individual to conduct amicable relations for the sake of proper execution of tasks, the health […]
• Emotional Intelligence and Ethical Climates in Places of Work The purpose of this paper is to analyze the importance of having an ethical climate and employees exhibiting high emotional intelligence within a place of work.
• Emotional Intelligence and Social Life The subjects of the study will be selected randomly from several population groups based on the social status of the subjects and their living conditions.
• Leadership and Emotional Intelligence Empathy is ability of a person to feel for another individual, to put oneself emotionally in the shoes of others and relate with their feeling. To be successful in leadership, it is important for a […]
• Psychology: Emotional Intelligence and Leadership Emotional intelligence pertains to the ability to realize your own emotions and those of others, the inspiration of yourself and the management of emotions within and outside relationships.
• Emotional Intelligence: Term Definition He also urges society to rethink about the pattern of education that today’s children are going through and to make them alive to emotional intelligence by way of brainstorming in the daily grind so that […]
• Emotional and Traditional Intelligence: Emotional Intelligence Quotient Emotional intelligence is often described as a capacity and ability, skill to assess and perceive and certain ability to manage personal emotions and emotions of others and group emotions.
• Emotional Intelligence and Solution Formation As a rule, EI is understood as the subject’s ability to effectively understand the emotional sphere of human life: to understand emotions and the psychological background of relationships and to use their emotions to solve […]
• Personal Emotional Intelligence Analysis The completion of the survey is a valuable experience as I used to think I could manage my emotions and understand my own and other people’s feelings.
• Emotional Intelligence Training and Organizational Prosperity One of the fundamental assumptions made in the process of preparing this presentation is that emotional communication is universal regardless of the culture.
• Organizational Behavior: Emotional Intelligence To assess the EI in a person that is likely to be promoted to a managerial position, it is best to take notice of how this person acts in stressful situations.
• Emotional Intelligence Assessment This is attributable to the fact that they are aware of our weaknesses and are in a better position to correct us accordingly.
• Inspiring Leadership: Social and Emotional Intelligence Finally, it’s prudent to note that the way one handles himself leads to outstanding individual performance and eventually success of an organization.
• Inspiring Leadership and Emotional Intelligence Sinek asserts that such leaders start with the ‘why’ and not the ‘what’ of business communication. Goleman believes that other people are the best assessors of one’s social intelligence.
• Public Health Leadership: Emotional Intelligence For example, the research by Ramchunder and Martins reveals that there is a significant positive correlation between EI and self-efficacy on the development of effective leadership, which can be applied to the public health sphere.
• Emotional Intelligence in Midwives’ Communication Communication is crucial because it helps the midwives to decide when it is appropriate to consult/ transfer the care of a pregnant woman to a relevant medical practitioner.
• Strengths and Emotional Intelligence in Management Emotional intelligence is more focused on different types of awareness and management that come with analysis and understanding of the actions of a person and their surroundings.
• Radiography Stereotypes and Emotional Intelligence The article explored the concept of EI as the means of improving communication and reducing the effects of sociocultural stereotypes on the quality of radiography.
• Emotional Intelligence and Substance Use: Correlations and Implications One of the articles deals with the association between drug and alcohol use and EI. The other article deals with the relationship between emotional intelligence and cocaine use.
• Emotional Intelligence Criticism by Steve Tobak The main idea of the article consists in the fact that the modern tendency of promoting EI is the result of the profit it generates, which is why its promoters tend to provide insufficient information […]
• Experiential Hospitality and Emotional Intelligence Such an image is even worse for an institution that is operating in the hospitality industry, where the capacity to anticipate and attend to the specific needs of clientele is the generalized hallmark of the […]
• Emotional Intelligence Strong and Weak Competencies However, it is agreeable that I have been unable to use the competence to coach and mentor others. The coach indicated that it was hard for me to act and lead others in accordance with […]
• Social and Emotional Intelligence in Education My education philosophy is based on the ideas of pragmatism that had given birth to the learning theory of progressivism and the concepts of social and emotional intelligence.
• Emotional Intelligence in Social Workers As Poulin explains, listening is one of the basic tools for building a link between the patient and the social worker and, therefore, contributing to the development of emotional intelligence in the former.
• Emotional Intelligence’ Elements at the Workplace The vast majority of men and women in business who are very successful demonstrate a level of honesty and trust that is above average.
• Relevance of Emotional Intelligence in Modern Organisations One should control those emotions, and respond to other people’s emotions in the right way; all the latter processes make the ability model. Such a trait allows one to know how people’s emotions change in […]
• Leadership and Emotional Intelligence Concept The goal is to show how I applied various leadership styles to help them in achieving their full potential. To accomplish my tasks, the staff members coached us on various leadership styles that would help […]
• Emotional Intelligence – Psychology Emotional intelligence is defined as the processes that are involved in the recognition, the use, and management of ones own emotional state and also the emotional state of others to solve emotion-laden problems and to […]
• Emotional Intelligence as a Factor of Professional Success American business companies noticed this and started to pay greater attention to the emotional competence of their workers, hire special consultants and advisors to help the employees deal with the emotional intelligence issues, conduct training […]
• Emotional Development and Emotional Intelligence This is based on the fact that emotional intelligence mostly comes from our environment and how we master the nature of occurrences in it.
• Emotional Intelligence, Burnout, and Job Insecurity In order to measure the place of EI as assessed by the 33-item self-report scale in the context of the big-five structure, scores on the 33-item scale were associated with the big-five personality aspects. In […]
• Emotional Intelligence’s Impact in the Workplace The aim of this reflection is to provide a solution on how Emotional Intelligence can be utilised to improve the workplace.
• Emotional Intelligence in Groups In their article, “Building the Emotional Intelligence of Groups”, Druskat and Wolff set out to discuss the concept of emotional intelligence and the role it plays in today’s organizational settings.
• Emotional Intelligence in HR The high scores recorded in the rise of IQ are because of the changing trend in evaluation taking a turn from strictly intellectual testing to testing of competence in the light of psychological statuses gauging […]
• Characteristics of Emotional Intelligence in Different Areas The researchers claim that EI is “the ability to feel, understand, articulate, manage, and apply the power of emotions to interactions across lines of difference”.
• Emotional Intelligence in Teamwork and Mutual Cooperation From this argument it is right to claim that the virtues of emotional intelligence contribute greatly to the aspects of personality and other individualistic provisions.
• Emotional Intelligence and Servant Leadership This is why it can be said that a leader can achieve much if he is able to understand the importance of inner-maturity and awareness such as the need to become a servant leader.
• Emotional Intelligence and Gender in Leadership Many authors have done a lot of research on the subject, and have found that gender and emotional intelligence determine the leadership style in an organisation. This will precede a criticism of the model and […]
• The Need to Improve One’s Self-Awareness Personal improvement is needed in this area because of the frequent loss of confidence and self-esteem in the process of acting on my emotions.
• Cultivating Emotional Intelligence in the Work Place For a longer period of time, it has been believed that the success of a person at the place of work depends on the level of intelligence of that person known as intelligence quotient.
• The Concept of Emotional Intelligence: A Critical Analysis Organisational behaviour and the behaviour of individuals can be understood through the adoption and practice of emotional intelligence in organisations. Emotional intelligence has to resonate from the management of organisation and entail the training of […]
• The Development of Emotional Intelligence and Its Application According to them, EI is “the subset of social intelligence that involves the ability to monitor one’s own and others’ feelings and emotions, to discriminate among them and to use this information to guide one’s […]
• Emotional Intelligence and Employee Performance Correlation The first dimension in the survey was the satisfaction of the organisation with employee performance while the second dimension used was the level of employee performance in the organisation.
• Emotional Intelligence Impact on Organization’s Performance The theoretical framework of such review adds to the knowledge within the field of relational view and firm’s competitive advantage[3]. This in turn increases the level of social communication and collaboration.
• The Concept of Emotional Intelligence and Its Models Contemporary developments in neuroscience have led to issues of locating and measuring intelligence in the brain. In addition, people have various ways of demonstrating competencies in the core components of emotional intelligence.
• Understanding Leader Emotional Intelligence and Performance On the other hand, behavioral leadership focuses on the behavioral traits of a leader to stimulate certain behavioral responses by people who are led by the leader to develop quality, dedication to duty, and talent […]
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"113 Emotional Intelligence Research Topics & Essay Examples." IvyPanda , 27 Feb. 2024, ivypanda.com/essays/topic/emotional-intelligence-essay-examples/.

IvyPanda . (2024) '113 Emotional Intelligence Research Topics & Essay Examples'. 27 February.

IvyPanda . 2024. "113 Emotional Intelligence Research Topics & Essay Examples." February 27, 2024. https://ivypanda.com/essays/topic/emotional-intelligence-essay-examples/.

1. IvyPanda . "113 Emotional Intelligence Research Topics & Essay Examples." February 27, 2024. https://ivypanda.com/essays/topic/emotional-intelligence-essay-examples/.

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IvyPanda . "113 Emotional Intelligence Research Topics & Essay Examples." February 27, 2024. https://ivypanda.com/essays/topic/emotional-intelligence-essay-examples/.

• Emotional Intelligence

What Is Emotional Intelligence and Why Does It Matter?

Learn to embrace your emotions and communicate effectively despite them..

Posted May 31, 2024 | Reviewed by Tyler Woods

• When stuck in a strong emotion, we are more likely to do and say things we regret.
• Learning how to manage strong emotions is a key tenet of emotional intelligence.
• Emotional intelligence involves awareness of emotions, emotion regulation, and effective communication.
• Emotional intelligence is teachable and is correlated with stronger and more satisfying social support.

When was the last time you felt consumed by an overwhelming emotion and lost your ability to think, listen, engage with others, or problem-solve? Maybe you were engulfed in anger , your body charged up with adrenaline, your muscles tensed and ready for action? In clinical psychology terms, we call this state of overwhelm emotion dysregulation (Linehan, Bohus, & Lynch, 2007).

Emotion dysregulation is a natural reaction that occurs when you are flooded by strong emotions that dictate your actions. In the midst of emotion dysregulation, your emotions can cloud your ability to think clearly, address the triggering situation effectively, and determine how best to manage your emotions. When we are stuck in emotion dysregulation or blindsided by it, we’re more likely to do and say things we regret, resulting in more emotional suffering later. This subsequent suffering often comes in the form of embarrassment , disappointment, sadness, or shame . Moreover, we are especially prone to emotion dysregulation during challenging conversations with the people we care about deeply or when the topic is something important to us.

The Challenge: Emotion Dysregulation

So, what happens in the body when we’re emotionally dysregulated? Your body is equipped with a natural reaction to intense emotions and stressors called fight, flight, or freeze. When faced with high levels of emotional distress, your nervous system turns on this fight-flight-or-freeze mode, attempting to protect you from the stressor. Stressful interactions, such as an argument with your partner, feeling unappreciated by your boss, or a snide comment from a friend, can quickly activate our nervous system to help us react to and address the stressor. A rapid-fire nervous system can be quite helpful when you are faced with a true threat to your safety, such as encountering a bear while on a hike. However, sometimes our nervous system activates too frequently, misinterprets a stressor as threatening when it isn’t, or overreacts to small threats or challenges. In these circumstances, nervous system activation can become a barrier to effective communication.

In fight mode, your body will prepare to defend you, verbally or physically. This could look like lashing out at others, firing off a harsh email to a colleague who’s annoyed you, dismissing someone’s concerns, or getting defensive.

In flight mode, your body sends signals to quickly remove yourself from the stressful situation. Examples of this include abruptly leaving the room, ending the conversation, or canceling something you’d planned to attend at the last minute.

In freeze mode, you might feel frozen and immobilized and unsure of what to say. Freeze mode occurs when your body’s signals send messages of system overload. Freezing can look like shutting down, taking in minimal, if any, information during an interaction, or difficulty finding the words to respond.

Fight-flight-or-freeze reactions are automatic and natural; as much as we may wish we could control when they are triggered, we cannot. Similarly to responding to our emotions, we can’t turn this mechanism off, but we can learn how to respond to nervous system activation effectively with repeated practice.

As much as we may wish we didn’t have to feel certain emotions, they have many benefits. Emotions can provide vital messages about our values, needs, and interests. In fact, sometimes our emotion messages are crucial. Anger is a great example. Anger can bring our attention to an injustice, a boundary violation, or threats to our safety, amongst other things. If we don’t spend time experiencing anger when we feel it and exploring its message (without being reactive and emotionally dysregulated), we can easily miss that message.

When an emotion message isn’t seen or heard, we experience more and more challenging emotions. If we don’t notice or listen to the message, our emotions will get louder and louder until we do. Returning to anger again, there may be a variety of messages. Is the message to assert ourselves? To change jobs because our boss is a micromanager and we’re losing confidence in our abilities? Does our anger tell us to advocate for others? The messages we can decode from our emotions can help us clarify our values and point us in the direction of honoring them.

The Solution: Emotional Intelligence

As you surely know, emotion dysregulation is an intense, overwhelming experience. When it occurs during interactions with others, it can derail an important conversation, result in ruptures in relationships, set the stage for misunderstandings, and lead to saying and doing things we regret, causing more suffering in the future.

This might be surprising to read, but having strong emotions is actually not the problem. Our agency lies in how we choose to respond to our emotions. Thankfully, there is a pause button we can all access, with repeated practice. Once you’re aware of your fight-flight-or-freeze reactions, you can learn how to respond to them effectively. The key is emotional intelligence .

So, what exactly is emotional intelligence (EI)? And how do you improve in it? Emotional intelligence is a combination of the following skills:

• Awareness of our emotions and acceptance of them
• The ability to manage them when they are strong or overwhelming
• The ability to communicate effectively verbally and non-verbally despite the presence of strong or overwhelming emotions.

Put simply, EI involves managing emotional discomfort while communicating skillfully and adjusting your communication approach to suit the context. If this sounds complicated, rest assured, EI is teachable. Not only can you improve your skills in a short period of time, you can also measure EI to track your progress over time (Mattingly and Kraiger 2019).

Emotional Intelligence and Well-Being

Emotional intelligence has a host of benefits. Research shows that it serves as a buffer against developing mental and physical health issues (Mao, Huang, and Chen, 2021). In a large meta-analysis (with a sample of 7,898), researchers found that higher EI was associated with better mental health and better physical health (Schutte et al., 2007). People with higher emotional intelligence tend to have more positive mood, higher self-esteem , and can more effectively recover from negative experiences (Schutte et al., 2002); higher EI is related to greater resilience in the face of distress. Lastly, people with higher emotional intelligence have more social support and are more satisfied with the social support they have (Ciarocchi, Chan, Bajgar, 2001).

What can we take away from this information? Emotional intelligence supports resilience-building and is a protective shield against developing mental and physical health issues. Additionally, emotional intelligence can assist in having a stronger social support network. For a social species that is heavily reliant on collaboration , communication, and connection, emotional intelligence is a foundational skill set we can all learn and benefit from.

Ciarocchi, J., A. Y. C. Chan, and J. Bajgar. 2001. “Measuring Emotional Intelligence in Adolescents.” Personality and Individual Differences 31(7): 1105–1119.

Linehan, M., Bohus, M., & Lynch, T. (2007). Dialectical Behavior Therapy for Pervasive Emotion Dysregulation. In Gross, J. & Thompson, R.A. (Eds.), Handbook of Emotion Regulation (p. 581-605). Guilford Press: New York, NY.

Mao, L., L. Huang, and Q. Chen. 2021. “Promoting Resilience and Lower Stress in Nurses and Improving Inpatient Experience Through Emotional Intelligence Training in China: A Randomized Controlled Trial.” Nurse Education Today 107: 105–130.

Mattingly, V., and K. Kraiger. 2019. “Can Emotional Intelligence Be Trained? A Meta-Analytical Investigation.” Human Resource Management Review 29(2): 140–155.

Schutte, N., Malouff, J., Simunek, M., McKenley, J., & Hollander, S. 2002. Characteristic Emotional Intelligence and Emotional Well-being. Cognition & Emotion 16(6): 769-785.

Schutte, N. S., J. M. Malouff, E. B. Thorsteinsson, N. Bhullar, and S. E. Rooke. 2007. “A Meta-Analytic Investigation of the Relationship Between Emotional Intelligence and Health.” Personality and Individual Differences 42(6): 921–933

Stephanie Catella, PsyD, is a co-author of The Emotional Intelligence Skills Workbook.

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Artificial intelligence and machine learning are providing insights that will soon transcend scientists’ observational capabilities, potentially leading to revolutionary advances in understanding human psychology.

Research Topic: Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning

APS members weigh in on the biggest opportunities and/or ethical challenges involving AI within the field of psychological science. Will we witness vast and constructive cross-fertilization—or “a dystopian cyberpunk corporation-led hellscape”?

Artificial Intelligence: Your Thoughts and Concerns  

Patients are often resistant to the use of artificial intelligence in healthcare. But AI-assisted care could usher in a new era of personalized medicine.

I, Psychologist: Exploring the Ethical Hurdles and Clinical Advantages of AI in Healthcare

Previews of relevant research by students and early-career scientists.

Up-and-Coming Voices: Artificial Intelligence in Psychological Science

A collection of research on various aspects of AI, published between 2018 and 2022 in the APS journals.

Research at the Interface of Artificial Intelligence and Psychological Science, 2018–2022

Imagine that we designed a fully intelligent, autonomous robot that acted on the world to accomplish its goals. How could we make sure that it would want the same things we do? Alison Gopnik explores. Read or listen!

A Very Human Answer to One of AI’s Deepest Dilemmas

Moira Dillon, an assistant professor at New York University, discusses her research into how infants' intelligence can contribute to the future of developing humanlike artificial intelligence.

Careers Up Close: Moira R. Dillon on Infants and Children, Humanlike AI, and Commonsense Psychology

Steven W. J. Kozlowski discusses his research at the Advanced Research on Complex Adaptive Systems project and how computational modeling can help explain what we observe in the real world.

Back Page: Dumb (but Useful) AI, Smart Teams, and the Promise of Predictive Analytics

APS President Alison Gopnik writes that the contrast between the reasoning of creative 4-year-olds and predictable artificial intelligence may be a key to understanding how human intelligence works.

Children, Creativity, and the Real Key to Intelligence

How artificial intelligence is functionally deployed in the workplace impacts whether workers feel threatened by it or embrace it.

Me, My Job, and AI: Preserving Worker Identity Amid Technological Change 

New findings signal the complexities that robots and artificial intelligence create for workplace accountability.

Rage Against the Machines

Researchers explore our preference for human skill and instinct over technologies that have proven themselves better than us at driving, performing surgery, and making hiring decisions.

A Cloudy Future: Why We Don’t Trust Algorithms When They’re Almost Always Right

The strategies children use to search for rewards in their environment could be used to create more sophisticated forms of artificial intelligence.

Children’s Preference for Learning Could Help Create Curious AI

Researcher Daeyeol Lee uses methods from economics, neuroscience, and artificial intelligence to understand the brain’s ability to make decisions.

Back Page: Decoding Decision Making, One Neuron at a Time

From R2-D2 to Astro Boy to WALL-E, science fiction is riddled with diminutive, scrappy robots and androids that serve as sidekicks, assistants, and even heroes. But in the real world, childlike robots are increasingly at

Robots for Research

Machines are getting smarter, but they're no match for human infants — APS William James Fellow Linda B. Smith explains why.

What Do Babies Have That Computers Don’t?

Eye contact is enormously important in human communication, particularly in driving. Psychological research shows what can happen when autonomous vehicle technology replaces that interaction.

Self-Driving Cars Need Social Skills

Researchers are hoping to prevent suicides by harnessing the computing power of machine learning and artificial intelligence to pinpoint patients most at risk.

Machine Learning Might Help Identify Those Most At Risk of Suicide

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