Overview of the Approach

This book adapts Rasch’s approach for quantifying growth on physiological variables, where growth decelerates, to intellectual variables. To apply this approach, it is necessary to construct measurements in a constant unit over the relevant range of the variable.

Illustration of the Method

With such measurements, the book illustrates the approach to quantifying growth on six intellectual variables - two intelligences tests and two each of tests of proficiencies in reading comprehension and mathematics.

Discussion of Growth Patterns

The book discusses how it is not immediately obvious that deceleration on a quantitative scale should also hold for the growth in intellectual variables. It goes on to show that this is indeed the case with all six tests analysed and considers some implications of this feature for understanding intellectual development, in particular the centrality of the growth trajectory set in early life.