Michael Howe (psychologist)
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There are other people called Michael Howe (disambiguation)
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Michael Howe (1940-2002) was a British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 cognitive psychologist
Cognitive psychology
Cognitive psychology is a subdiscipline of psychology exploring internal mental processes.It is the study of how people perceive, remember, think, speak, and solve problems.Cognitive psychology differs from previous psychological approaches in two key ways....

. He took BSc and PhD degrees at the University of Sheffield
University of Sheffield
The University of Sheffield is a research university based in the city of Sheffield in South Yorkshire, England. It is one of the original 'red brick' universities and is a member of the Russell Group of leading research intensive universities...

 and worked at North American universities (Dalhousie
Dalhousie University
Dalhousie University is a public research university located in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. The university comprises eleven faculties including Schulich School of Law and Dalhousie University Faculty of Medicine. It also includes the faculties of architecture, planning and engineering located at...

, Tufts
Tufts University
Tufts University is a private research university located in Medford/Somerville, near Boston, Massachusetts. It is organized into ten schools, including two undergraduate programs and eight graduate divisions, on four campuses in Massachusetts and on the eastern border of France...

 and Alberta
University of Alberta
The University of Alberta is a public research university located in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. Founded in 1908 by Alexander Cameron Rutherford, the first premier of Alberta and Henry Marshall Tory, its first president, it is widely recognized as one of the best universities in Canada...

) before taking a post as lecturer at the University of Exeter
University of Exeter
The University of Exeter is a public university in South West England. It belongs to the 1994 Group, an association of 19 of the United Kingdom's smaller research-intensive universities....

 in England, where he worked for the rest of his career, eventually becoming the University's first Professor of Cognitive Psychology. He was well known as a defender of environmental influences on intelligence
Intelligence
Intelligence has been defined in different ways, including the abilities for abstract thought, understanding, communication, reasoning, learning, planning, emotional intelligence and problem solving....

, and as an opponent of IQ, and he was regularly involved in the controversies surrounding that area of research (see, e.g., Howe, 1997b). As a widely cited example of this work, with colleagues Davidson & Sloboda he argued against the existence of innate talent , a position welcomed by some, but characterised as “Absurd environmentalism” by researchers such as Douglas Detterman
Douglas K. Detterman
Douglas K. Detterman is an American psychology professor who researches intelligence and mental retardation.He earned his B.A. from Boston University in 1967, his M.A. and Ph.D...

 .

He pioneered the use of biography
Biography
A biography is a detailed description or account of someone's life. More than a list of basic facts , biography also portrays the subject's experience of those events...

 as a means of investigation within modern cognitive psychology (e.g. Howe, 1997a). He particularly applied it to the study of musical genius and other exceptional abilities, a subject that he investigated extensively (e.g. Howe, 1990, 1999), including the abilities of idiot savants (e.g. Howe, 1989). He wrote over 20 books, including university text books (e.g. Howe, 1977, 1998) and more popular works (e.g. Howe & Griffey, 1995). His books were widely translated and many are still in print.

Howe formally retired in 2001 but continued his academic work without interruption; however he died suddenly on 2 January 2002 following a stroke
Stroke
A stroke, previously known medically as a cerebrovascular accident , is the rapidly developing loss of brain function due to disturbance in the blood supply to the brain. This can be due to ischemia caused by blockage , or a hemorrhage...

.

Selected bibliography

  • Howe, M. J. A. (1977). Adult learning. Chichester: Wiley.
  • Howe, M. J. A. (1989). Fragments of genius: the strange feats of idiot savants. London: Routledge
  • Howe, M. J. A. (1990). The origins of exceptional abilities. Oxford: Basil Blackwell.
  • Howe, M. J. A. (1997a). Beyond psychobiography: towards more effective syntheses of psychology and biography. British Journal of Psychology, 88, 235-248.
  • Howe, M. J. A. (1997b). IQ in question: The truth about intelligence. London: Sage.
  • Howe, M. J. A. (1998). Principles of abilities and human learning. Hove: Psychology Press.
  • Howe, M. J. A. (1999). Genius explained. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
  • Howe, M. J. A., & Griffey, H. (1995). Give your child a better start: how to encourage early learning. London: Penguin.
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