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Reaction Time and Psychometric g

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A Model for Intelligence

Abstract

Nearly 120 years ago, Sir Francis Galton expressed a theoretical preconception or intuition which most people - certainly most present-day psychologists - would regard as highly counter-intuitive, namely, the notion that reaction time (RT) is related to intelligence. The common reactions of disbelief to this notion express the view that nothing as simple, trivial, and nonintellectual as RT could possibly reflect anything as subtle, complex, and mysterious as human intelligence, and it is remarked that the most highly intelligent persons often appear to be slow but deep thinkers. In much of popular thought, speed of mental action implies superficiality; slowness, profundity.

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Authors
  1. A. R. Jensen
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Psychiatry, De Crespigny Park, Denmark Hill London, SE5 8AF, Great Britain

    Hans J. Eysenck

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© 1982 Springer-Verlag, Berlin Heidelberg

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Jensen, A.R. (1982). Reaction Time and Psychometric g . In: Eysenck, H.J. (eds) A Model for Intelligence. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-68664-1_4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-68664-1_4

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-642-68666-5

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-642-68664-1

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