Afterword: Deafness and the Nature of Mental Abilities

Abstract

Understanding the nature of cognition and the developmental role of environmental factors in those who are born deaf is an important subject for research. Professor Braden, however, also suggests that a wider range of implications for psychology, particularly differential psychology, is to be found in this specialized field of research. Besides providing a comprehensive review of what is known about the characteristics and development of cognitive abilities in persons who are born deaf, Professor Braden has brought this knowledge to bear uniquely on hypotheses concerning the causal factors in individual differences and racial group differences in mental abilities. His main findings about the pattern of abilities in the deaf generally fit quite neatly into the predominant view of the nature of abilities that has come clearly into focus over the past two or three decades of research on this subject.