Why g matters: The complexity of everyday life
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors provide evidence that intelligence has pervasive utility in work settings because it is essentially the ability to deal with cognitive complexity, in particular, with complex information processing, and the more complex a work task, the greater the advantages that higher g confers in performing it well.
About: This article is published in Intelligence.The article was published on 1997-01-01 and is currently open access. It has received 1300 citations till now. The article focuses on the topics: Everyday life & Cognitive complexity.
Summary (1 min read)
Jump to: [Why g Matters: The Complexity of Everyday Life] – [WHAT DOES “IMPORTANT” MEAN?] – [INFLUENCE OF INTELLIGENCE ON OVERALL LIFE OUTCOMES] and [THE FUTURE]
Why g Matters: The Complexity of Everyday Life
- This article provides evidence that g has pervasive utility in work settings because it is essentially the ability to deal with cognitive complexity, in particular, with complex information processing.
- Few claims in the social sciences are backed by such massive evidence but remain so hotly contested in public discourse.
- Besides demonstrating that g is important in practical affairs, I seek to demonstrate why intelligence has such surprisingly pervasive importance in the lives of individuals.
- I then use both the employment and literacy data to sketch a portrait of life’s challenges and opportunities at different levels of intelligence.
WHAT DOES “IMPORTANT” MEAN?
- The nature of the job and its context seem to determine whether g has any direct effect on task proficiency, net of job knowlege.
- As is well known in psychometrics (see also Gordon, 1997), the fact that an individual passes or fails any single test item says little about that person’s general intelligence level.
INFLUENCE OF INTELLIGENCE ON OVERALL LIFE OUTCOMES
- The effects of intelligence-like other psychological traits-are probabilistic, not deterministic.
- White adults in this range marry, work, and have children (Hermstein & Murray, 1994), but, as Table 10 shows, they are nonetheless at great risk of living in poverty (30%), bearing children out of wedlock (32%), and becoming chronic welfare dependents (31%).
- At this IQ level, fewer than half the high school graduates and none of the dropouts meet the military’s minimum AFQT enlistment standards.
- Most occupations are within reach cognitively, because these individuals learn complex material fairly easily and independently.
- Such as divorce, illness, and occasional unemployment, they rarely become trapped in poverty or social pathology.
THE FUTURE
- Complexity enriches social and cultural life, but it also risks leaving some individuals behind.
- Society has become more complex-and g loaded-as the authors have entered the information age and postindustrial economy.
- Accordingly, organizations are “flatter” (have fewer hierarchical levels), and increasing numbers of jobs require high-level cognitive and interpersonal skills (Camevale, 1991; Cascio, 1995; Hunt, 1995; Secretary’s Commission on Achieving Necessary Skills, 1991).
- There is evidence that increasing proportions of individuals with below-average IQs are having trouble adapting to their increasingly complex modern life (Granat & Granat, 1978) and that social inequality along IQ lines is increasing (Herrnstein & Murray, 1994).
- As the military experience also illustrates, however, what is good pedagogy for the low-aptitude learner may be inappropriate for the high-aptitude person.
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381 citations
TL;DR: How parental education level moderates the genetic and environmental contributions to variation in verbal IQ is examined in 1909 non-Hispanic Whites and African American sibling pairs from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health.
Abstract: This article examines how parental education level moderates the genetic and environmental contributions to variation in verbal IQ. Data are from 1909 non-Hispanic Whites and African American sibling pairs from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health, which obtained nationally-based samples of identical (MZ) twins, fraternal (DZ) twins, full and half siblings, cousins (in the same household), and biologically unrelated siblings. In the whole sample, the variance estimate for heritability (h2 = .57, SE = .08) was greater than that for shared environment (c2 =.13, SE = .04). Both heritability and the shared environmental estimate were moderated, however, by level of parental education. Specifically, among more highly educated families, the average h2 = .74 (SE = .10) and the average c2 = .00 (SE = .05). Conversely, among less well-educated families, heritability decreased and shared environmental influences increased, yielding similar proportions of variance explained by genetic and environmental factors, average h2 = .26 (SE = .15), and average c2 = .23 (SE = .07).
369 citations
Cites background from "Why g matters: The complexity of ev..."
...Brighter children may extract information from their environments more rapidly, handle complex information better, and expose themselves to information at a greater rate than do less able children (Carroll, 1997; Gottfredson 1997)....
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TL;DR: It is argued that skill-building interventions should target “trifecta” skills—ones that are malleable, fundamental, and would not have developed eventually in the absence of the intervention.
Abstract: Many interventions targeting cognitive skills or socioemotional skills and behaviors demonstrate initially promising but then quickly disappearing impacts. Our paper seeks to identify the key features of interventions, as well as the characteristics and environments of the children and adolescents who participate in them, that can be expected to sustain persistently beneficial program impacts. We describe three such processes: skill-building, foot-in-the-door and sustaining environments. We argue that skill-building interventions should target "trifecta" skills - ones that are malleable, fundamental, and would not have developed eventually in the absence of the intervention. Successful foot-in-the-door interventions equip a child with the right skills or capacities at the right time to avoid imminent risks (e.g., grade failure or teen drinking) or seize emerging opportunities (e.g., entry into honors classes). The sustaining environments perspective views high quality of environments subsequent to the completion of the intervention as crucial for sustaining early skill gains. These three perspectives generate both complementary and competing hypotheses regarding the nature, timing and targeting of interventions that generate enduring impacts.
369 citations
Cites background from "Why g matters: The complexity of ev..."
...…the single strongest predictor of many measured traits and abilities, including occupational level and performance (Schmidt & Hunter, 2004), and strongly predicts other life outcomes as well (Cawley, Conneely, Heckman, & Vytlacil, 1997; Gottfredson, 1997; Heckman, 1995; Herrnstein & Murray, 1994)....
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...General intelligence is the single strongest predictor of many measured traits and abilities, including occupational level and performance (Schmidt & Hunter, 2004), and strongly predicts other life outcomes as well (Cawley, Conneely, Heckman, & Vytlacil, 1997; Gottfredson, 1997; Heckman, 1995; Herrnstein & Murray, 1994)....
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TL;DR: This article found that high levels of the two personality traits examined are more beneficial for performance in high- than low-complexity jobs, and that job complexity moderated the curvilinear personality-performance relationships such that the inflection points after which the relationships disappear were lower for low complexity jobs than they were for high complexity jobs.
Abstract: The relationships between personality traits and performance are often assumed to be linear. This assumption has been challenged conceptually and empirically, but results to date have been inconclusive. In the current study, we took a theory-driven approach in systematically addressing this issue. Results based on two different samples generally supported our expectations of the curvilinear relationships between personality traits, including Conscientiousness and Emotional Stability, and job performance dimensions, including task performance, organizational citizenship behavior, and counterproductive work behaviors. We also hypothesized and found that job complexity moderated the curvilinear personality–performance relationships such that the inflection points after which the relationships disappear were lower for low-complexity jobs than they were for high-complexity jobs. This finding suggests that high levels of the two personality traits examined are more beneficial for performance in high- than low-complexity jobs. We conclude by discussing the implications of these findings for the use of personality in personnel selection.
369 citations
TL;DR: The finding that breastfeeding and IQ are moderated by a genetic variant in FADS2, a gene involved in the genetic control of fatty acid pathways shows that environmental exposures can be used to uncover novel candidate genes in complex phenotypes and shows that genes may work via the environment to shape the IQ.
Abstract: Children's intellectual development is influenced by both genetic inheritance and environmental experiences. Breastfeeding is one of the earliest such postnatal experiences. Breastfed children attain higher IQ scores than children not fed breast milk, presumably because of the fatty acids uniquely available in breast milk. Here we show that the association between breastfeeding and IQ is moderated by a genetic variant in FADS2, a gene involved in the genetic control of fatty acid pathways. We confirmed this gene-environment interaction in two birth cohorts, and we ruled out alternative explanations of the finding involving gene-exposure correlation, intrauterine growth, social class, and maternal cognitive ability, as well as maternal genotype effects on breastfeeding and breast milk. The finding shows that environmental exposures can be used to uncover novel candidate genes in complex phenotypes. It also shows that genes may work via the environment to shape the IQ, helping to close the nature versus nurture debate.
365 citations
References
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TL;DR: The ten-year edition of the 10th anniversary edition as mentioned in this paper is devoted to the theory of multiple intelligences and its application in the socialization of human intelligence through Symbols Implications And Applications.
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Book•
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Abstract: * Introduction to the Tenth Anniversary Edition Background * The Idea of Multiple Intelligences * Intelligence: Earlier Views * Biological Foundations of Intelligence * What Is an Intelligence? The Theory * Linguistic Intelligence * Musical Intelligence * Logical-Mathematical Intelligence * Spatial Intelligence * Bodily-Kinesthetic Intelligence * The Personal Intelligences * A Critique of the Theory of Multiple Intelligences * The Socialization of Human Intelligences through Symbols Implications And Applications * The Education of Intelligences * The Application of Intelligences
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