Growing Minds

Interest in the human mind is a centuries-old fascination, dating back to Plato, Aristotle, and Descartes. While the theories proposed about the human mind have since advanced and evolved, the fascination remains. Growing Minds is a unique and interdisciplinary work that guides the reader through an examination of the human mind's nature, performance, lifespan, and variations. The book sets out to answer a variety of questions: - What are the cognitive processes underlying intelligence? - What is general and what is specific in intelligence? - What is stable and what is changing in intelligence as children grow older? - Why do individuals differ in intelligence, and are differences genetically determined? - How is intelligence and intellectual development related to the genome and the brain? - How is intelligence related to personality? - Can intelligence be enhanced by specific interventions? The text is organised into three parts: the first provides a summary and evaluation of research conducted on the human mind by experimental cognitive psychology, differential psychology, and developmental psychology. The second presents an overarching theory of the growing mind, showing how mind and intelligence are at the crossroads of nature and nurture; and the third assesses the relationship between education and intelligence. This book is the result of decades of extensive research and culminates in the proposal of a new overarching and integrated theory of the developing mind. For the first time, research is gathered and combined to form a comprehensive concept and fulfil the need for a fresh, integrative paradigm which both asks and answers questions about the human mind from a multi-faceted perspective.

Andreas Demetriou is Professor of Psychology and President of the University of Nicosia Research Foundation, Cyprus. He was the Minister of Education and Culture of Cyprus, and President of the National Research Council of Cyprus. George Spanoudis is Associate Professor in Psychology at the University of Cyprus.

PART I Three traditions of research on the human mind 1 The experimental cognitive tradition 2 The differential tradition 3 Piaget's theory 4 Neo-Piagetian theories 5 The development of reasoning 6 Awareness and knowledge about the mind 7 Core domains PART II An overarching theory of the growing mind 8 The organization of the human mind 9 Cycles and phases of development 10 Recycling and mediation of cognizance 11 Differentiation and binding of mental processes through developmental cycles 12 Personality and emotions in the minds 13 Genetic, psychological, and cultural aspects of the mind 14 Mapping mind-brain development PART III A developmental theory of instruction 15 School and intellectual development 16 Enhancing intelligence in the laboratory 17 Towards a theory of instruction 18 Educating critical thought 19 Conclusions: towards an overarching theory of the growing mind