Declaration For Greater Independence

On Love

(On Love was a) philosophical discourse by Stendhal, published in 1822 as De l'amour. The work was prompted by Stendhal's hopeless love for Métilde Dembowski. The first part of On Love is an analysis of love, in which Stendhal lists four kinds of love:

1. physical love, purely sexual in scope;
2. love as a social game, removed from passion;
3. vanity love, a type necessary for high social standing;
4. and passion, the finest form of love, which the author idealized and to which he devotes most of his attention.

Stendhal also outlines seven progressive stages of love, from admiration to “crystallization,” or the process by which the lover attributes all types of perfection to the beloved. In the second part of the work Stendhal presents his views, considered radical at the time, against marriage and favouring the full education and moral liberty of women.

Stendhal

One of the most original and complex French writers of the first half of the 19th century, chiefly known for his works of fiction. His finest novels are Le Rouge et le noir (1830; The Red and the Black) and La Chartreuse de Parme (1839; The Charterhouse of Parma).

Triangular theory of love

Not to be confused with Love triangle.

The triangular theory of love is a theory of love developed by psychologist Robert Sternberg. Presented in the year 1985, Sternberg was a member of the Psychology Department at Yale University. During his time as a professor, Sternberg emphasized his research in the fields of intelligence, creativity, wisdom, leadership, thinking styles, ethical reasoning, love, and hate. In the context of interpersonal relationships, "the three components of love, according to the triangular theory, are an intimacy component, a passion component, and a decision/commitment component."[1]

There are three components of love as follows:

Passion: Passion can be associated with either physical arousal or emotional stimulation. Passion is defined in three ways:

1. A strong feeling of enthusiasm or excitement for something or about doing something.[2]
2. A strong feeling (such as anger) that causes people to act in a dangerous way.
3. Strong sexual or romantic feeling for someone.

Intimacy: Intimacy is described as the feelings of closeness and attachment to one another. This tends to strengthen the tight bond that is shared between those two individuals. Additionally, having a sense of intimacy helps create the feeling of being at ease with one another, in the sense that the two parties are mutual in their feelings.

Intimacy is primarily defined as something of a personal or private nature; familiarity.[2]

Commitment: Unlike the other two blocks, commitment involves a conscious decision to stick with one another. The decision to remain committed is mainly determined by the level of satisfaction that a partner derives from the relationship. There are three ways to define commitment:

1. A promise to do or give something.
2. A promise to be loyal to someone or something.
3. The attitude of someone who works very hard to do or support something.[2]

"The amount of love one experiences depends on the absolute strength of these three components, and the type of love one experiences depends on their strengths relative to each other."[3] Different stages and types of love can be explained as different combinations of these three elements; for example, the relative emphasis of each component changes over time as an adult romantic relationship develops. A relationship based on a single element is less likely to survive than one based on two or three elements.

1. Sternberg, Robert J. (2007). "Triangulating Love". In Oord, T. J. The Altruism Reader: Selections from Writings on Love, Religion, and Science. West Conshohocken, PA: Templeton Foundation. p. 332. ISBN.
   
   
2. Webster, Noah. New Collegiate Dictionary. A Merriam-Webster. Springfield, MA: G. & C. Merriam, 1953. Print.
   
   
3. Sternberg, Robert J. (2004). "A Triangular Theory of Love". In Reis, H. T.; Rusbult, C. E. Close Relationships. New York: Psychology Press. p. 258. ISBN 0863775950.

Cicada

Any of a group of sound-producing insects (order Homoptera) that have two pairs of membranous wings, prominent compound eyes, and three simple eyes (ocelli). Cicadas are medium to large in size, ranging from 2 to 5 cm (0.8 to 2 inches). Male cicadas produce loud noises by vibrating membranes (timbals) near the base of the abdomen. Most North American cicadas produce rhythmical ticks, buzzes, or whines, although in some species the “song” is musical. Eggs are usually laid in woody plant tissues that drop from the plant when, or shortly after, the eggs hatch. Newly hatched nymphs burrow into the ground where they suck juices from roots of perennial plants. Nymphs usually undergo five molts during the several years required to reach maturity. Although not ordinarily considered a pest, the females, if numerous, may damage young saplings during their egg laying.

About 1,500 species of cicadas are known. With the exception of two species of hairy cicadas in the family Tettigaretidae that are found only in southeastern Australia, including Tasmania, cicadas belong to the family Cicadidae and are tropical and occur in deserts, grasslands, and forests. In addition to the dog-day cicada (Tibicen and others) that appears yearly in midsummer, there are also periodic cicadas. Among the most fascinating and best-known are the 17-year cicada (often erroneously called the 17-year locust) and the 13-year cicada (Magicicada). These species occur in large numbers in chronologically and geographically isolated broods.

The several species are easily recognized by differences in songs, behaviour, and morphology. Males of each species have three distinct sound responses:

1. a congregational song that is regulated by daily weather fluctuations and by songs produced by other males;
2. a courtship song, usually produced prior to copulation;
3. a disturbance squawk produced by individuals captured, held, or disturbed into flight.

Human Intelligence

Introduction

(Human Intelligence has been described as 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 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 M. 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, as is the case with most scientific theories, have evolved through a succession of models. Four of the most influential paradigms have been:

1. Psychological measurement, also known as psychometrics;
2. Cognitive psychology, which concerns itself with the processes by which the mind functions;
3. Cognitivism and contextualism, a combined approach that studies the interaction between the environment and mental processes;
4. Biological science, which considers the neural bases of intelligence

Analogies that compare the human brain to a computer suggest that biological approaches to intelligence should be viewed as complementary to, rather than as replacing, other approaches. For example, when a person learns a new German vocabulary word, he becomes aware of a pairing, say, between the German term Die Farbe and the English word colour, but a trace is also laid down in the brain that can be accessed when the information is needed. Although relatively little is known about the biological bases of intelligence, progress has been made on three different fronts, all involving studies of brain operation.

Cognitive-contextual theories

Cognitive-contextual theories deal with the way that cognitive processes operate in various settings. Two of the major theories of this type are that of the American psychologist Howard Gardner and that of Sternberg. In 1983 Gardner challenged the assumption of a single intelligence by proposing a theory of “multiple intelligences.” Earlier theorists had gone so far as to contend that intelligence comprises multiple abilities. But Gardner went one step farther, arguing that intelligences are multiple and include, at a minimum, linguistic, logical-mathematical, spatial, musical, bodily-kinesthetic, interpersonal, and intrapersonal intelligence.

Some of the intelligences proposed by Gardner resembled the abilities proposed by psychometric theorists, but others did not. For example, the idea of a musical intelligence was relatively new, as was the idea of a bodily-kinesthetic intelligence, which encompassed the particular abilities of athletes and dancers. Gardner derived his set of intelligences chiefly from studies of cognitive processing, brain damage, exceptional individuals, and cognition across cultures. He also speculated on the possibility of an existential intelligence (a concern with “ultimate” issues, such as the meaning of life), although he was unable to isolate an area of the brain that was dedicated to the consideration of such questions. Gardner's research on multiple intelligences led him to claim that most concepts of intelligence had been ethnocentric and culturally biased but that his was universal, because it was based upon biological and cross-cultural data as well as upon data derived from the cognitive performance of a wide array of people.

An alternative approach that took similar account of cognition and cultural context was Sternberg's “triarchic” theory, which he proposed in Beyond IQ: A Triarchic Theory of Human Intelligence (1985). Both Gardner and Sternberg believed that conventional notions of intelligence were too narrow; Sternberg, however, questioned how far psychologists should go beyond traditional concepts, suggesting that musical and bodily-kinesthetic abilities are talents rather than intelligences because they are fairly specific and are not prerequisites for adaptation in most cultures.

Sternberg posited three (“triarchic”) integrated and interdependent aspects of intelligence, which are concerned, respectively, with a person's internal world, the external world, and experience. The first aspect comprises the cognitive processes and representations that form the core of all thought. The second aspect consists of the application of these processes and representations to the external world. The triarchic theory holds that more-intelligent persons are not just those who can execute many cognitive processes quickly or well; rather, their greater intelligence is reflected in knowing their strengths and weaknesses and capitalizing upon their strengths while compensating for their weaknesses. More-intelligent persons, then, find a niche in which they can operate most efficiently. The third aspect of intelligence consists of the integration of the internal and external worlds through experience. This includes the ability to apply previously learned information to new or wholly unrelated situations.

Some psychologists believe that intelligence is reflected in an ability to cope with relatively novel situations. This explains why experience can be so important. For example, intelligence might be measured by placing people in an unfamiliar culture and assessing their ability to cope with the new situation. According to Sternberg, another facet of experience that is important in evaluating intelligence is the automatization of cognitive processing, which occurs when a relatively novel task becomes familiar. The more a person automatizes the tasks of daily life, the more mental resources he will have for coping with novelty.

Other intelligences were proposed in the late 20th century. In 1990 the psychologists John Mayer and Peter Salovey defined the term emotional intelligence as:

The ability to perceive emotions, to access and generate emotions so as to assist thought, to understand emotions and emotional knowledge, and to reflectively regulate emotions so as to promote emotional and intellectual growth.

The four aspects identified by Mayer and Salovey involve:

The concept of emotional intelligence was popularized by the psychologist and journalist Daniel Goleman in books published from the 1990s. Several tests developed to measure emotional intelligence have shown modest correlations between emotional intelligence and conventional intelligence.

Hemispheric (brain) studies

One biological approach has centered upon types of intellectual performance as they relate to the regions of the brain from which they originate. In her research on the functions of the brain's two hemispheres, the psychologist Jerre Levy and others found that the left hemisphere is superior in analytical tasks, such as are involved in the use of language, while the right hemisphere is superior in many forms of visual and spatial tasks. Overall, the right hemisphere tends to be more synthetic and holistic in its functioning than the left. Nevertheless, patterns of hemispheric specialization are complex and cannot easily be generalized.

The specialization of the two hemispheres of the brain is exemplified in an early study by Levy and the American neurobiologist Roger W. Sperry, who worked with split-brain patients—that is, individuals whose corpus callosum had been severed. Because the corpus callosum links the two hemispheres in a normal brain, in these patients the hemispheres function independently of each other.

Levy and Sperry asked split-brain patients to hold small wooden blocks, which they could not see, in either their left or their right hand and to match them with corresponding two-dimensional pictures. They found that patients using the left hand did better at this task than those using the right; but, of more interest, they found that the two groups of patients appeared to use different strategies in solving the problem. Their analysis demonstrated that the right hand (dominated by the left hemisphere of the brain) functioned better with patterns that are readily described in words but are difficult to discriminate visually. In contrast, the left hand (dominated by the right hemisphere) was more adept with patterns requiring visual discrimination.

Brain-wave studies

A second front of biological research has involved the use of brain-wave recordings. The German-born British psychologist Hans Eysenck, for example, studied brain patterns and speed of response in people taking intelligence tests. Earlier brain-wave research had studied the relation between these waves and performance on ability tests or in various cognitive tasks. Researchers in some of these studies found a relationship between certain aspects of electroencephalogram (EEG) waves, event-related-potential (ERP) waves, and scores on a standard psychometric test of intelligence.

Blood-flow studies

A third and more recent front of research involves the measurement of blood flow in the brain, which is a fairly direct indicator of functional activity in brain tissue. In such studies the amount and location of blood flow in the brain is monitored while subjects perform cognitive tasks. The psychologist John Horn, a prominent researcher in this area, found that older adults show decreased blood flow to the brain, that such decreases are greater in some areas of the brain than in others, and that the decreases are particularly notable in those areas responsible for close concentration, spontaneous alertness, and the encoding of new information. Using positron emission tomography (PET), the psychologist Richard Haier found that people who perform better on conventional intelligence tests often show less activation in relevant portions of the brain than do those who perform less well. In addition, neurologists Antonio Damasio and Hannah Damasio and their colleagues used PET scans and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to study brain function in subjects performing problem-solving tasks. These findings affirmed the importance of understanding intelligence as a faculty that develops over time.