Some of his claims are questionable. AFAIR he claims that:
- ADHD has no advantages
- ADHD has a negative effect on working memory
- ADHD has no negative effect on intelligence
Since working memory is a factor in intelligence, one of these statements must be false.
His political views are also interesting.
> Barkley is a right-wing libertarian. He deeply believes in "Limited government, individual rights, freedom of speech and association, and the nonaggression principle (no one, including the government, has a right to initiate force or fraud against another), and private property rights". He has attacked "the leftist, social democratic or socialist leanings of Facebook's founder and most mainstream media outlets".[35]
I'm not mentioning this to discredit him or because I think you should judge a psychologists by his political views. But I've always associated these views with the assumption that poor people are generally poor not because they don't have the skills, self-discipline etc. needed to be successful but because they are lazy and thus don't deserve welfare. If Barkley, an ADHD researcher, actually believes that he's very good at tolerating cognitive dissonance.
I have never looked into his political beliefs, and I don't care for it either. He has been a massive help for me in managing my symptoms, and helping me see how my brain works, and why I keep falling on my head in certain areas.
I also think it's important to mention, Barkley has a very large emotional stake in his research, his brother had ADHD, and he died in a car accident.
I won't try to guess the influence of this incident on Barkley, but I can only think that Barkley "hates" ADHD for this reason (ie, ADHD has no advantages), and I think it becomes clearer why he is so immensely focused on the negative aspects of ADHD.
I won't comment on his stance on intelligence or memory.
> I have never looked into his political beliefs, and I don't care for it either. He has been a massive help for me in managing my symptoms, and helping me see how my brain works, and why I keep falling on my head in certain areas.
Absolutely! I don't really care that he has these views either, I was just surprised.
> I won't try to guess the influence of this incident on Barkley, but I can only think that Barkley "hates" ADHD for this reason (ie, ADHD has no advantages), and I think it becomes clearer why he is so immensely focused on the negative aspects of ADHD.
Definitely. I think his belief that ADHD has no advantages probably stems from emotions, not from logic (although I'm sure he rationalises it)
One impression I've gotten from Barkley is he's used to interacting with people who do not believe in ADHD, or underestimate the conditions effect on individuals and their lives. His talks often revolve around acknowledging the seriousness of ADHD and how the symptoms are not a result of moral / intentional failures but cognitive defects
> Since working memory is a factor in intelligence, one of these statements must be false.
That is quite easy to reconcile: "ADHD has no negative effect on intelligence, when accounting for the impaired working memory". It is something you do all the time in psychology, you observe effects in presence or absence of other effects. Psychologists are smart enough to ask questions like "Now that we know that ADHD impairs working memory, does it further impair other factors of intelligence?" The answer seems to be no - which is important, because it implies that improvements in the working memory transition well into improvements in intelligence.
I give you the benefit of doubt here, but I'd wager that most of the non-academic folk that Dr. Barkley communicates with is intuitively aware of what I wrote above and able to form the right mental picture.
I know how science works and I'd never claim that psychologists are stupid. But being smart does not mean you can't make stupid errors or just not use your intelligence for psychological reasons.
Since Barkley lost his brother because of ADHD, I don't think it's impossible that he actually means that it impairs working memory, has no advantages, and does not impair intelligence. Not because he's too stupid to see the contradiction but because he doesn't want to.
Then again, it would be quite a coincidence that whatever advantages ADHD has exactly cancel out the working memory issues. I just expected an academic to use precise language (there's nothing wrong with simplifying, but to me, this does not look simplified but wrong.)
Why do you try to read my mind? It violates the laws of physics and I explicitly wrote why I mentioned his political views. I don't think he has the views I extrapolated, which is why I wonder why he has the ones he says he has.
I did not read your mind. I summarized your actions. I never assumed intent or motivation. You are the one who did those things. Projection.
Perhaps that assumption you made that you apparently don't believe was a completely made up figment of your imagination, which is what my comment illustrates.
Can you please explain what they do attribute it to (or link an explanation)? The very reason I mentioned Barkley's views is that they made me realize that I don't understand Libertarians.
Some of his claims are questionable. AFAIR he claims that:
- ADHD has no advantages
- ADHD has a negative effect on working memory
- ADHD has no negative effect on intelligence
Since working memory is a factor in intelligence, one of these statements must be false.
His political views are also interesting.
> Barkley is a right-wing libertarian. He deeply believes in "Limited government, individual rights, freedom of speech and association, and the nonaggression principle (no one, including the government, has a right to initiate force or fraud against another), and private property rights". He has attacked "the leftist, social democratic or socialist leanings of Facebook's founder and most mainstream media outlets".[35]
I'm not mentioning this to discredit him or because I think you should judge a psychologists by his political views. But I've always associated these views with the assumption that poor people are generally poor not because they don't have the skills, self-discipline etc. needed to be successful but because they are lazy and thus don't deserve welfare. If Barkley, an ADHD researcher, actually believes that he's very good at tolerating cognitive dissonance.