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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TL;DR: In this paper, the authors investigated the relationship between cognitive variables (spatial ability, reasoning, numerical ability, inductive reasoning, and reasoning and verbal comprehension) and physical prowess in sport performance (agility circuit, coordination circuit, horizontal jump, swimming and sprint racing).
Abstract: There is some evidence about the low relationship between physical prowess and cognitive function (Posthuma, Mulder, Boomsma & de Geus, 2002). The aim of this paper is to investigate the relationship between cognitive variables (spatial ability, reasoning, numerical ability, inductive reasoning, and reasoning and verbal comprehension) and physical prowess in sport performance (agility circuit, coordination circuit, horizontal jump, swimming and sprint racing). Two studies were performance. In the first one we applied a battery of standardized cognitive tests and a battery of physical grading tests to 400 subjects. When we applied factor analysis to the physical prowess and the cognitive variables, we found one general factor in cognitive variables and one general factor in physical prowess. We found a low relationship between both factors (.21). In the second study we compare the cognitive abilities in elite and amateur sport people. Results show that elite gymnastics people present higher cognitive abilities than amateur sportspeople. It should be relevant in order to clarify the total set of variables involved in sport performance.
7 citations
Cites background from "Why g matters: The complexity of ev..."
...Several authors show the importance of the predictive factor of intelligence in different contexts (Gottfredson, 1997; Gottfredson & Deary, 2004; Hunter & Schmidt, 1996; De Juan-Espinosa, 1997; Hunt, 1995a; Hunt, 1995b; McHenry, Hought, Toquam, Hanson & Ashworth, 1990; Sternberg & Grigorenko, 1997)....
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10 Jun 2013
TL;DR: Cochrum-Nguyen et al. as mentioned in this paperocusing on the individual differences that may better equip employees to deal with stress-inducing situations, they explored the effects of polychronicity on job performance and job satisfaction.
Abstract: OF THE THESIS Predicting Job Performance and Job Satisfaction: An Examination of the Five-Factor Model of Personality, Polychronicity and Role Overload by Fiona L. S. Cochrum-Nguyen Master of Science in Psychology with a Concentration in Applied Psychology San Diego State University, 2013 A great deal of research has been conducted on the individual differences that predict job performance. However, less research has focused on the individual differences that may better equip employees to deal with stress-inducing situations. The current study explored the effects of polychronicity on job performance and job satisfaction. Polychronicity refers to an individual’s preference for engaging in multiple tasks simultaneously, as well as the belief that this preference is the best way to get things accomplished. The current study also examined the effects of an individual’s polychronicity on their interpretation of the stressor role overload, and how this impacts job performance. When individuals become overwhelmed by their work demands and feel as if they do not have the resources to deal with them, they experience role overload. The challenge-hindrance stressors framework suggests that an individual’s interpretation of a stressor as either a challenge or a hindrance influences whether that stressor will have a negative or positive effect on their work. Individuals with more polychronic orientations may be more predisposed to interpret a stressor such as role overload in a more positive way, as a challenge. Researchers have suggested that individuals with more polychronic tendencies may be less likely to feel the stress of role overload. Such individuals may consequently also experience more job satisfaction as a result. The current study investigated the effects an individual’s polychronic orientation has towards alleviating workplace stress and increasing job satisfaction and job performance. Thus, the purpose of this paper is to extend the research on employee characteristics such as polychronicity and the Big Five personality dimensions within a stressful environment. The current study utilized an online questionnaire through the Amazon Mechanical Turk service (MTurk). The sample for the present study was drawn from a diverse worker pool consisting of 100,000 users from over 100 different countries. The final sample size was 194 participants who completed the posted survey and received monetary compensation of $0.50. Correlations were used to explore relationships between the Big Five traits and job performance as well as the relationships between demographic variables and the variables of interest. Hierarchical regression analyses were used to test for the moderating effects of role overload on the polychronicity-job performance relationship and the polychronicity-job satisfaction relationship. The results indicated that polychronicity was significantly and positively related to job performance, job satisfaction, and role overload. Polychronicity was also found to be significantly positively related to Neuroticism. Exploratory analyses
7 citations
Cites background from "Why g matters: The complexity of ev..."
...The personality trait that has been found to be the most consistently predictive of an employee’s job performance is Conscientiousness (Gottfredson, 1997; Salgado, 1997; Schmidt & Hunter, 1998)....
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...Hall (1959) that refers to an individual’s preference for engaging in multiple tasks simultaneously, as well as the belief that this preference is the best way to get things accomplished....
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...Hall (1959) that refers to an individual’s preference for engaging in multiple tasks simultaneously, as well as the belief that this preference is the best way to get things accomplished. For example, those with stronger polychronic tendencies feel more efficient and productive when engaging in multiple activities at once. Conversely, monochronicity refers to an individual’s preference for engaging in only one activity at a time. Such individuals usually choose to complete a task before focusing on the next one, and tend to view any additional activities as stressinducing interruptions. According to Hall (1959), an individual’s preference for either monochronicity or polychronicity is due to a cultural, or societal, distinction....
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...The personality trait that has been found to be the most consistently predictive of an employee’s job performance is Conscientiousness (Gottfredson, 1997; Salgado, 1997; Schmidt & Hunter, 1998)....
[...]
...Hall (1959) that refers to an individual’s preference for engaging in multiple tasks simultaneously, as well as the belief that this preference is the best way to get things accomplished. For example, those with stronger polychronic tendencies feel more efficient and productive when engaging in multiple activities at once. Conversely, monochronicity refers to an individual’s preference for engaging in only one activity at a time. Such individuals usually choose to complete a task before focusing on the next one, and tend to view any additional activities as stressinducing interruptions. According to Hall (1959), an individual’s preference for either monochronicity or polychronicity is due to a cultural, or societal, distinction. Hall proposed that “high context” societies found in Middle Eastern or Central and South American cultures tend to be more flexible with their time and more willing to shift comfortably from one activity to another, whereas “low context” societies found in Western culture tend to focus on one activity at a time before moving on to the next. Hall (1959) further postulated that individualistic cultures more commonly exhibit monochronicity, and that collectivist cultures tend to exhibit polychronicity....
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7 citations
Dissertation•
18 Oct 2011
TL;DR: The study conveys the challenges I faced as a student teacher in a career path of initial teacher education aggravated by an unfamiliar education dispensation, my subsequent initiation into my career as a professional teacher, and my quest to remain a scholarly practitioner by enrolling for post graduate teacher education studies.
Abstract: This study is essentially a representation of my lived experience of my professional development as a teacher from the moment of my enrollment in a teacher education programme through my initial appointment as a professional teacher and my continued post graduate studies in education while being a teacher. However, I was faced with the challenge that I had no prior experience of the newly adopted Outcomes Based Education system which I will need to operate in when qualified. This drawback made me even more determined to make a success of my career. I therefore decided to engage in a qualitative participatory action research study to ensure that I will continually improve my OBE practices in a scholarly way. The study conveys the challenges I faced as a student teacher in a career path of initial teacher education aggravated by an unfamiliar education dispensation, my subsequent initiation into my career as a professional teacher, and my quest to remain a scholarly practitioner by enrolling for post graduate teacher education studies. I may have found a way in which effective continual professional development in a scholarly way may be available to every teacher besides that of formal post graduate
7 citations
Journal Article•
TL;DR: In particular, the authors realizar una instantanea, una foto fija, realizada ante el conjunto de avances y descubrimientos realizados durante this siglo en el ambito del estudio de la inteligencia.
Abstract: El estudio de la inteligencia ha sido uno de los apartados mas caracteristicos de la Psicologia a lo largo del siglo XX. Desde los trabajos de los pioneros Ch.Spearman, A.Binet, y L.L.Thurstone hasta la actualidad los avances en este terreno han sido constantes y tambien polemicos. Como en cualquier otra disciplina cientifica el debate en torno a los modelos, el contraste de las predicciones y de aplicaciones ha sido intenso y a veces ha superado el estricto marco de la Psicologia para convertirse en un debate socio-politico debido a la importancia de este fenomeno en la vida cotidiana. En este articulo queremos realizar una descripcion, necesariamente breve, de lo que hoy la Psicologia sabe de la inteligencia humana, lo que falta por descubrir, asi como las consecuencias y posibilidades que se derivan de aplicar estos conocimientos. Esta descripcion esta motivada por las recientes polemicas y declaraciones que se han realizado en torno a este topico. Pretendemos realizar una instantanea, una foto fija, realizada ante el conjunto de avances y descubrimientos realizados durante este siglo en el ambito del estudio de la inteligencia. No es un «back to basics», sino un punto y seguido en la investigacion psicologica de la inteligencia humana.
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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.
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
11,512 citations
Book•
01 Jan 1983
TL;DR: The Tenth Anniversary Edition of Intelligence explains the development of intelligence in the 21st Century through the applications of language, linguistics, mathematics, and more.
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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Abstract: This study investigated the relation of the “Big Five” personality dimensions (Extraversion, Emotional Stability, Agreeableness, Conscientiousness, and Openness to Experience) to three job performance criteria (job proficiency, training proficiency, and personnel data) for five occupational groups (professionals, police, managers, sales, and skilled/semi-skilled). Results indicated that one dimension of personality, Conscientiousness, showed consistent relations with all job performance criteria for all occupational groups. For the remaining personality dimensions, the estimated true score correlations varied by occupational group and criterion type. Extraversion was a valid predictor for two occupations involving social interaction, managers and sales (across criterion types). Also, both Openness to Experience and Extraversion were valid predictors of the training proficiency criterion (across occupations). Other personality dimensions were also found to be valid predictors for some occupations and some criterion types, but the magnitude of the estimated true score correlations was small (ρ < .10). Overall, the results illustrate the benefits of using the 5-factor model of personality to accumulate and communicate empirical findings. The findings have numerous implications for research and practice in personnel psychology, especially in the subfields of personnel selection, training and development, and performance appraisal.
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