The UB pays tribute to the experimental psychologist N. mackintosh

The University of Barcelona awards the Gold Medal to Nicholas Mackintosh

The news has recently reached us that on November 11 the award ceremony of the gold medal from the University of Barcelona to Nicholas J. mackintosh, Professor Emeritus in the Department of Experimental Psychology at the University of Cambridge from 1981 to 2002.

Mackintosh had been proposed Doctor Honoris Causa by the UB months before his death.

The career of Nicholas Mackintosh

Professor Mackintosh, who died in February 2015, He was internationally recognized for his contributions in the field of psychometrics, intelligence and in the study of learning processes in animals.yes. Some of his main works as an author are the books The Psychology of Animal Learning (1974), about Comparative Psychology, and Cyril Burt: Fraud or Famed (1995), although his most important text is possibly IQ and Human Intelligence (1998), which served to recognize and focus the problem of low performance in multi-ethnic schools in the United Kingdom and that, in addition, pointed to conclusions whose repercussion goes far beyond Psychology Experimental.

Nicholas Mackintosh helped discover many of the psychological mechanisms through which emotion is expressed. intelligence and, through this type of research, he made it possible to change our understanding of the nature of cognition, learning, and the intellect. For his career as a researcher, he was awarded the Biological Medal and with him President's Award from the British Psychological Society in 1981 and in 1986, respectively.

Regarding his relationship with the University of Barcelona, It is worth noting his collaboration with Victoria Díez Chamizo, professor in the Department of Basic Psychology of the UB, in research focused on associative conditioning and learning and whose results served to reinforce the hypothesis that spatial learning has many similarities with associative learning simple.

His role as a trainer and lecturer

Beyond his career as a researcher, from the role of teaching mentor and lecturer he emphasized the need to recognize the limitations of the research carried out around the concept of "intelligence" and the construct of G-factor, so as not to venture conclusions for the simple fact of its coincidence with the political or ideological motivations of each one. Similarly, Nicholas Mackintosh was critical of the oversized scope that the application of the neuroscience in specific legal courses.

Besides, he dedicated much of his life to teaching college training classes and participating in conferences attended by younger students, both in Cambridge and in many other universities around the world that he attended on time.

Where and when is the event held?

The medal award ceremony will take place Wednesday, November 11, 2015 at 12 noon, in the auditorium of the historic building of the University of Barcelona (Plaça de la Universitat). You can find more information about the event by clicking on this link.