In terms of cognitive processes, we see how motivation and emotion alter,
channel, or otherwise direct cognition in significant ways, rendering
an exclusive focus on cognitive architecture or pure cognitive system problematical. In the tradition of differential psychology, we see a movement from a static view of human intelligence to a dynamic, contextualized view of intellectual functioning that integrates many facets of personhood and personality that are motivational and emotional in nature. From a developmental perspective, we see how the role of motivation and emotion should be reinstated in accounting for the development of intellectual competencies and expertise. Along with theoretical traditions that highlight the importance of social and cultural contexts, we see that intellectual functioning and development are necessarily embedded in social interaction and enculturation processes, which have profound cognitive, self-evaluative (affective), and motivational ramifications. Contributors to this volume are from diverse psychological backgrounds. Indeed, one of the purposes of this volume is to combat compartmentalization in psychology and to generate cross-talk among people of different theoretical and research traditions and affiliations. However, under this apparent diversity one also finds a common vision—to broaden a largely exclusive focus on cognition to include constructs of motivation and affect or emotion, and situate cognition in its functional context to reveal its adaptive (or, at times, maladaptive) character. We intend this volume to be of interest to both psychologists and general audiences who have an interest in the nature of intellectual functioning and development. Although the volume mainly addresses theoretical rather than practical questions, educators and other practitioners whose main charge is to enhance intellectual functioning and human performance will find integrative perspectives promising and productive. For these perspectives tend to view intellectual functioning as contextual, dynamic, and varying with situations and domains, rather than fixed and invariant, thus opening doors for interventions.