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.
Did you find this useful? Give us your feedback
Citations
More filters
TL;DR: A meta-analysis of 22 studies of sex differences in university students of means and variances on the Progressive Matrices disconfirm the frequent assertion that there is no sex difference in the mean but that males have greater variability.
Abstract: A meta-analysis is presented of 22 studies of sex differences in university students of means and variances on the Progressive Matrices. The results disconfirm the frequent assertion that there is no sex difference in the mean but that males have greater variability. To the contrary, the results showed that males obtained a higher mean than females by between .22d and .33d, the equivalent of 3.3 and 5.0 IQ conventional points, respectively. In the 8 studies of the SPM for which standard deviations were available, females showed significantly greater variability (F(882,656) = 1.20, p .05).
223 citations
Cites background from "Why g matters: The complexity of ev..."
...Secondly, Gottfredson (1997) estimates that an IQ of 125 is adequate to ascend to all levels in the labour market....
[...]
...Nevertheless, the magnitudes of the suggested sex differences with regard to either mean levels or variability would not be sufficient to explain the sex biases currently observed in the labour market (Gottfredson, 1997; Lynn & Irwing, 2004; Powell, 1999)....
[...]
...progressive matrices in university students:...
[...]
TL;DR: Intervention studies on the biological effects of LA, ALA and LC-PUFAs, and the effects of genetic variants in FADS1 and FADS2, 5-LO and cyclooxygenase-2 should be taken into consideration both in the determination of nutritional requirements and chronic disease risk.
Abstract: The tissue composition of polyunsaturated fatty acids is important to health and depends on both dietary intake and metabolism controlled by genetic polymorphisms that should be taken into consideration in the determination of nutritional requirements. Therefore at the same dietary intake of linoleic acid (LA) and alpha-linolenic acid (ALA), their respective health effects may differ due to genetic differences in metabolism. Delta-5 and delta-6 desaturases, FADS1 and FADS2, respectively, influence the serum, plasma and membrane phospholipid levels of LA, ALA and long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids during pregnancy, lactation, and may influence an infant's IQ, atopy and coronary heart disease (CHD) risk. At low intakes of eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), polymorphisms at the 5-lipoxygenase (5-LO) level increase the risk for CHD whereas polymorphisms at cyclooxgenase-2 increase the risk for prostate cancer. At high intakes of LA the risk for breast cancer increases. EPA and DHA influence gene expression. In future, intervention studies on the biological effects of LA, ALA and LC-PUFAs, and the effects of genetic variants in FADS1 and FADS2, 5-LO and cyclooxygenase-2 should be taken into consideration both in the determination of nutritional requirements and chronic disease risk. Furthermore, genome-wide association studies need to include environmental exposures and include diet in the interaction between genetic variation and disease association.
217 citations
TL;DR: This article used the final release of the Young Adult Human Connectome Project, providing a full hour of resting-state fMRI per subject; controlled for gender, age and brain volume; and derived a reliable estimate of general intelligence from scores on multiple cognitive tasks.
Abstract: Individual people differ in their ability to reason, solve problems, think abstractly, plan and learn. A reliable measure of this general ability, also known as intelligence, can be derived from scores across a diverse set of cognitive tasks. There is great interest in understanding the neural underpinnings of individual differences in intelligence, because it is the single best predictor of long-term life success. The most replicated neural correlate of human intelligence to date is total brain volume; however, this coarse morphometric correlate says little about function. Here, we ask whether measurements of the activity of the resting brain (resting-state fMRI) might also carry information about intelligence. We used the final release of the Young Adult Human Connectome Project (N = 884 subjects after exclusions), providing a full hour of resting-state fMRI per subject; controlled for gender, age and brain volume; and derived a reliable estimate of general intelligence from scores on multiple cognitive tasks. Using a cross-validated predictive framework, we predicted 20% of the variance in general intelligence in the sampled population from their resting-state connectivity matrices. Interestingly, no single anatomical structure or network was responsible or necessary for this prediction, which instead relied on redundant information distributed across the brain.This article is part of the theme issue 'Causes and consequences of individual differences in cognitive abilities'.
214 citations
TL;DR: Path analyses indicate that interference control activity may affect gF through a common set of processes that also influence WM span, and suggest that individual differences in interference-control mechanisms are important for understanding the relationship between gF and WM span.
Abstract: Fluid intelligence (gF) and working memory (WM) span predict success in demanding cognitive situations. Recent studies show that much of the variance in gF and WM span is shared, suggesting common neural mechanisms. This study provides a direct investigation of the degree to which shared variance in gF and WM span can be explained by neural mechanisms of interference control. The authors measured performance and functional magnetic resonance imaging activity in 102 participants during the n-back WM task, focusing on the selective activation effects associated with high-interference lure trials. Brain activity on these trials was correlated with gF, WM span, and task performance in core brain regions linked to WM and executive control, including bilateral dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (middle frontal gyrus; BA9) and parietal cortex (inferior parietal cortex; BA 40/7). Interference-related performance and interference-related activity accounted for a significant proportion of the shared variance in gF and WM span. Path analyses indicate that interference control activity may affect gF through a common set of processes that also influence WM span. These results suggest that individual differences in interference-control mechanisms are important for understanding the relationship between gF and WM span.
213 citations
Cites background from "Why g matters: The complexity of ev..."
...The gF dimension in particular has been found to predict performance consistently, not just in cognitively demanding laboratory tasks but also for important, “real-world” socioeconomic outcomes (e.g., educational and career success; Gottfredson, 1997)....
[...]
TL;DR: Although the model draws heavily upon correlation evidence, each of its paths may be tested independently and the presented model may be used to explore causation and further develop theoretical approaches to understanding the relation between ability and nonability traits underlying human performance.
Abstract: Despite the recent increase in the number of studies examining empirical links between personality and intelligence (see Hofstee, 2001; Zeidner & Matthews, 2000), a theoretical integration of ability and nonability traits remains largely unaddressed. This paper presents a possible conceptual framework for understanding the personality-intelligence interface. In doing so, it conceptualizes three different levels of intelligence, namely, intellectual ability (which comprises both Gf and Gc), IQ test performance and subjectively assessed intelligence (a mediator between personality, intellectual ability and IQ test performance). Although the model draws heavily upon correlation evidence, each of its paths may be tested independently. The presented model may, therefore, be used to explore causation and further develop theoretical approaches to understanding the relation between ability and nonability traits underlying human performance.
212 citations
Cites background from "Why g matters: The complexity of ev..."
...In fact, correlational evidence for the predictive validity of ability tests with regard to real-world performance is usually regarded as evidence that ability/IQ tests are sound indicators of intelligence (see Barrick & Mount, 1991; Gottfredson, 1997; Hunt, 1999; Hunter & Hunter, 1984; Schmidt, Ones, & Hunter, 1992)....
[...]
...This hypothesis may be better understood in terms of adaptive models such as that proposed by Matthews (1999). In this model, the development of ability and nonability traits are explained in terms of interactions underlying equally speci®c adaptations....
[...]
References
More filters
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
9,611 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors 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).
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.
8,018 citations
TL;DR: An up-to-date handbook on conceptual and methodological issues relevant to the study of industrial and organizational behavior is presented in this paper, which covers substantive issues at both the individual and organizational level in both theoretical and practical terms.
Abstract: An up-to-date handbook on conceptual and methodological issues relevant to the study of industrial and organizational behavior. Chapters contributed by leading experts from the academic and business communities cover substantive issues at both the individual and organizational level, in both theoretical and practical terms.
7,809 citations
TL;DR: Because of the extraordinary clarity and importance of the Commission's Report, the editors of the Communica t ions decided to reprint the Report's main section in its entirety and present it to you here.
Abstract: released a remarkab le report, A Nation at Risk. This Report has s t imulated in the media considerable discussion about the problems in our schools, speculation about the causes, and ass ignment of blame. Astonishingly, f e w of the media reports have focused on the specific f indings and recommendat ions of the Commission. A lmos t none of the med ia reports tells that the Commission i tsel f re frained f rom speculation on causes and f rom assignment of blame. Because of the extraordinary clarity and importance of the Commission's Report, the editors of the Communica t ions decided to reprint the Report's main section in its entirety. We are p leased to present it to you here.
5,832 citations