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This book, which is an attempt to present the complex problem of individual differences, is a timely contribution to the literature. A great mass of work has been done in this field from the viewpoints of biology, psychology, sociology, and pedagogy resulting in a multiplicity of opinions and a divergency of conclusions. The author, an able psychologist, has reviewed, reorganized and evaluated the situation in an informative way.
The introductory chapter deals with the historical aspects, the early contributions and the development of concepts in England and the United States. This is followed by sections discussing what constitutes individual differences (types, distribution of traits, etc.), the influence of inheritance, as revealed in genetic studies and theories, family traits, studies of twins, and the influence of environment as estimated from studies of men of science, of special opportunities, of occupational situations, and of training. He sums up the results of these types of investigation in the following statement:
“On the whole, attempts to analyze individual abilities into amounts due to nature and to nurture have left the problem unsolved; and it is likely to remain unsolved until every one of the innumerable factors in a given person's environment has been identified and quantitatively determined, and until their dynamic inter-relationships are determined, beginning with the environmental influences operating from the moment the ovum is fertilized.”
A chapter is devoted to the influence of race and nationality on individual differences, with emphasis on investigations done on sensory and motor differences, Negroes, Indians and on the European nationalition