Why g matters: The complexity of everyday life
Summary (1 min read)
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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Citations
79 citations
79 citations
Cites background from "Why g matters: The complexity of ev..."
...For example, Gottfredson (1997) argues that reasoning, problem solving, and decision-making are among the most powerful predictors of overall job performance....
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79 citations
79 citations
Cites background from "Why g matters: The complexity of ev..."
...…of g in predictive research because of their strong relations with a number of socially important variables, including academic attainments (e.g., grades and years of schooling), occupational and social status, job performance, and income (Godttfredson, 1997; Jensen, 1998; Neisser et al., 1996)....
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...Cattell–Horn–Carroll Cognitive Abilities and Their Effects on Reading Decoding Skills: g Has Indirect Effects, More Specific Abilities Have Direct Effects...
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78 citations
Cites background from "Why g matters: The complexity of ev..."
...…also well known that IQ is predictive of academic performance, job performance, income, health, longevity, and dealing successfully with the demands of everyday life (e.g., Brody, 1997; Ceci & Williams, 1997; Gottfredson, 1997; Sternberg et al., 2001; Deary et al., 2004; Gottfredson & Deary, 2004)....
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...It is also well known that IQ is predictive of academic performance, job performance, income, health, longevity, and dealing successfully with the demands of everyday life (e.g., Brody, 1997; Ceci & Williams, 1997; Gottfredson, 1997; Sternberg et al., 2001; Deary et al., 2004; Gottfredson & Deary, 2004)....
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