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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Dissertation•
31 Jul 2013
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors examined the core vocabulary that must be programmed in the SGDs of young francophone and bilingual children who live within a minority setting and found that 216 words represent 80.15% of the words used by junior and senior kindergarteners.
Abstract: The objective of this thesis was to discover ways of facilitating the selection of speechgenerating devices (SGD) and the programming of its vocabulary, among children aged 4 to 6 who have complex communication needs (CCN). The study first examined the core vocabulary that must be programmed in the SGDs of young francophone and bilingual children who live within a minority setting. Fifty-seven children who attend a French language school participated in recordings within their school environment. The analysis of the speech corpus of francophone children revealed that 216 words represent 80.15% of the words used by junior and senior kindergarteners. The analysis of the speech corpus of bilingual children and children who have language impairments revealed comparable results. By combining the francophone, bilingual and language impaired groups, a single list of 200 words was produced. These numbers are similar to those of studies that have been conducted in English in the United States and Australia; however the words are not the same. Moreover, only 61.50 % of the core words from our study can be found on the most recent English list. A translation would not have been sufficient, and in perspective, our study is important. In addition, only 44.50 % of the core words from our study are on the vocabulary selection checklist currently used for the francophone population in Northern Ontario. These words should be programmed into the SGDs of young francophone and bilingual children who attend a French language school in a minority environment, regardless of their linguistic ability. Thereafter, the impact of cognition and language on the navigation of an SGD was analyzed. Sixty-five children ranging from 48 to 77 months participated in the cognitive and linguistic assessments, as well as a SUPPLÉANCE À LA COMMUNICATION vi navigational task using the iPad2TM. Although significant correlations were found between navigation and multiple cognitive and linguistic factors, the subset of factors that best predict young children’s ability to navigate includes attention, categorization and reasoning. Within augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) assessments, attention, categorization and reasoning skills should be considered in order to ensure the proper selection of the SGD. The results of this study allow us to establish the words that are necessary in the programming of SGDs for francophone and bilingual children in a minority environment. Furthermore, they suggest that three subtests of the Leiter-R could be used to determine a child’s ability to navigate an SGD with dynamic paging.
9 citations
Additional excerpts
...niveau élevé de fonctionnement cognitif (Gottfredson, 1997)....
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01 Oct 2002
TL;DR: The Training Effects and Stressor Integration Module (TESTIM) as mentioned in this paper was developed to integrate the effects of training and environmental stressors to improve the realism of CGF behavioral realism.
Abstract: : Report developed under SBIR contract for topic A98-163. A key decision made at the highest levels of any military is the trade-off between allocating resources to system acquisition versus allocating resources to maintain force readiness through training. Advanced Distributed Simulations (ADS) provide a mechanism for tactical combat training through man-in-the-loop simulators and Computer Generated Forces (CGF). The potential for using ADS to address the trade-offs for allocating resources is dampened by the unrealistic behavior of CGF. Phase 1 of this project produced algorithms, data structures, and a methodology for incorporating the effects of training and environmental stressors to improve CGF behavioral realism. in Phase 11, we expanded and enhanced the technical feasibility for including these effects in CGF entities on simulated battlefields. The resulting product is called the Training Effects and Stressor Integration Module (TESTIM). it can provide the Army with the ability to improve the realism of CGF entities in ADS and other human performance models. TESTIM can also be used to assess the expected payoff of training in terms of improved performance.
9 citations
Cites background from "Why g matters: The complexity of ev..."
...General ability has also been shown to predict job performance, and in more complex jobs it does so better than any other single personal trait, including education and experience (Gottfredson, 1997)....
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...A general aptitude factor can be extracted from skill batteries such as the Armed Forces Vocational Aptitude Battery (ASVAB), intelligence category (CAT) and standard intelligence tests (Gottfredson, 1997)....
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...…U.S. Army found that individuals in the bottom 20% of their ability distribution required up to five times as much instruction and practice to attain minimal proficiency in basic military tasks such as rifle assembly (for a review, see Gottfredson, 1997; Sticht, Armstrong, Hickey, & Caylor, 1987)....
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...For example, there is evidence that general aptitude translates into more proficient learning skills and therefore faster learning (Gottfredson, 1997; Sticht, Armstrong, Hickey, & Caylor, 1987)....
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TL;DR: In this paper, a review of reports that addressed the acute or chronic neurological manifestations in COVID-19 patients who may present acute respiratory syndrome or not was presented. And the central (CNS) and peripheral nervous system (PNS) complications in SARS-Cov2-infected patients, and also the pathophysiology of neurological abnormalities were discussed.
Abstract: The sudden and storming onset of coronavirus 2 infection (severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 [SARS-CoV-2]) was associated by severe acute respiratory syndrome. Recently, corona virus disease 19 (COVID-19) has appeared as a pandemic throughout the world. The mutational nature of the virus, along with the different means of entering and spreading throughout the body has involved different organs. Thus, patients are faced with a wide range of symptoms and signs. Neurological symptoms, such as anosmia, agnosia, stroke, paralysis, cranial nerve deficits, encephalopathy, meningitis, delirium and seizures, are reported as common complications affecting the course of the disease and its treatment. In this review, special attention was paid to reports that addressed the acute or chronic neurological manifestations in COVID-19 patients who may present acute respiratory syndrome or not. Moreover, we discussed the central (CNS) and peripheral nervous system (PNS) complications in SARS-Cov2-infected patients, and also the pathophysiology of neurological abnormalities in COVID-19.
9 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors examined sex differences in performance at the top in international chess and found that the difference in performance in the top 10 and 50 of all international players is large at about one standard deviation and stayed roughly constant from 1975 to 2014.
9 citations
TL;DR: It is argued in this comment that Hunt’s analysis of the intelligence of nations is smarter than it is wise and that a better approach might be to compare nations as well for their creativity and wisdom.
Abstract: I argue in this comment that Hunt's analysis of the intelligence of nations is smarter than it is wise. It is based on too narrow a conception of intelligence. It also conflates correlation and causation with regard to the relation between IQ and socially defined success, both individual and familial. I suggest that a better approach might be to compare nations as well for their creativity and wisdom.
9 citations
Cites background from "Why g matters: The complexity of ev..."
...IQ is indeed important and is correlated with many criteria of success in our society and many others (Gottfredson, 1997)....
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...The correlation of IQ or its proxies with diverse criteria is one of the most well-established findings in psychology (Gottfredson, 1997; Schmidt & Hunter, 1998; Sternberg, 2012d; Sternberg & Kaufman, 2011)....
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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•
01 Jan 1983
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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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