"During the 20th century, IQs increased, worldwide, by roughly 30 points. Such gains, according to James Flynn, reflect the greater cognitive skills needed to adapt to the environment as it evolved over the course of the century. The gains may result from changes in education, parenting, nutrition, and other factors. On this view, IQs might rise or fall over time, depending on the cognitive skills that a particular environment requires. Impressive though these gains are, they might leave one baffled regarding how maladaptive people have been to their environment. The failure seems to go beyond intelligence of any kind, because a common feature of many of these problems is intelligent people failing to exert wisdom. The goal of this book is to present a brief introduction to wisdom, primarily but not exclusively from a psychological point of view"--