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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01 Jan 2017
TL;DR: The future of research lies in the realm of technology and that neuromarketing, unlike traditional research, has predictive power thanks to the brain scans and it is argued that all those ethical issues that are already present in the public space should be discussed and sorted out as soon.
Abstract: The rapid advancement of technology raises ethical issues that need to be addressed in the near future. According to Kurzweil law, technology progresses at an exponential rate. Ethics, on the other hand, advances much slower and doesn’t keep pace with the number and complexity of issues brought by technology. Considering that technology’s speed of evolution won’t slow down because ethics can’t keep pace with it, we argue that all those ethical issues that are already present in the public space should be discussed and sorted out as soon. Otherwise, they will become deeper and generate even more problems. The chapter discusses at length about the cognitive and body enhancements, achieved through either medical or bionic implants, and the changes that these enhancements induce in our behavior. Computers and the internet are some of the greatest enhancers ever and they managed to change the attitude of the millennials and Generation Z towards ownership and work. Our goal was to raise questions regarding the challenge of ethical and moral principles and values by the rapid development of technology. We then argued that the future of research lies in the realm of technology and that neuromarketing, unlike traditional research, has predictive power thanks to the brain scans. It was not our intention to solve or find answers to any of those issues that we raised. For some of them, it might be too soon to draw a conclusion. And for the others, there are competent bodies that can enforce suitable measures.
01 Jan 2021
TL;DR: The nature of intelligence testing in schools and its controversial effects on students' academic achievement, and their mental health, plays a significant part in education policy reforms, aiming at creating more equitable learning environments as mentioned in this paper.
Abstract: One of the key factors affecting students’ learning and performance, as well as the nature of effective learning environments globally is the ubiquitous use of intelligence testing in schools, and elsewhere to determine specific abilities, including giftedness and identify intellectual disabilities. In schools, intelligence testing is used to award scholarships in private schools and to stream students by abilities. Competing discourses on the nature of intelligence and intelligence testing demonstrate the on-going unresolved controversies surrounding conceptualization of intelligence and intelligence testing in society, especially its continuing use to measure a person’s cognitive ability and performance. Created more than a century ago, the intelligence tests are still widely used to measure performance on specific tasks, and especially predicting potential academic achievement in schools. The nature of intelligence testing in schools and its controversial effects on students’ academic achievement, and their mental health, plays a significant part in education policy reforms, aiming at creating more equitable learning environments.
TL;DR: A comprehensive, thorough, and systematic literature review as mentioned in this paper reviewed the existing studies that have contributed to the importance of intelligences in various types of teams and found that cognitive ability, emotional intelligence, and cultural intelligence can be considered important factors contributing to various team-related outcomes.
Abstract: Abstract With organizations moving towards team-based structures, there is a great interest in studying organizational teams. Using a comprehensive, thorough, and systematic literature review, this study reviews the existing studies that have contributed to the importance of intelligences in various types of teams. This study intends to structure existing research, identify its current trends, and provide an overview of recent research strands and topics on the role of intelligences in organizational teams. Searches were conducted of Web of Science and EBSCO databases, and 44 eligible studies, published in Chartered Association of Business Schools (ABS) ≥ 2-star journals, were identified. The results indicate that cognitive ability, emotional intelligence, and cultural intelligence can be considered important factors contributing to various team-related outcomes. Furthermore, the findings demonstrate a growing interest in research on global virtual teams, which is a trend that is predicted to continue. Suggestions for future research directions are discussed.
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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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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