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 2004
TL;DR: Meta-analysis suggests that the relationship between intelligence and leadership is considerably lower than previously thought and provides meta-analytic support for both implicit leadership theory and cognitive resource theory.
Abstract: Meta-analysis was used to aggregate results from studies examining the relationship between intelligence and leadership. One hundred fifty-one independent samples in 96 sources met the criteria for inclusion in the meta-analysis. Results indicated that the corrected correlation between intelligence and leadership is .21 (uncorrected for range restriction) and .27 (corrected for range restriction). Perceptual measures of intelligence showed stronger correlations with leadership than did paper-and-pencil measures of intelligence. Intelligence correlated equally well with objective and perceptual measures of leadership. Additionally, the leader’s stress level and the leader’s directiveness moderated the intelligence– leadership relationship. Overall, results suggest that the relationship between intelligence and leadership is considerably lower than previously thought. The results also provide meta-analytic support for both implicit leadership theory and cognitive resource theory.
48 citations
Cites background from "Why g matters: The complexity of ev..."
...Similarly, Gottfredson (1997) concluded that no other individual difference “has such generalized utility across the sweep of jobs in the U.S. economy” (p. 83)....
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TL;DR: The authors analyzes the magnitude of individual differences in academic achievement and their growth over the first 9 years of schooling, and anchors the widening-gap phenomenon on the the academic achievement gap.
Abstract: This article analyzes the magnitude of individual differences in academic achievement and their growth over the first 9 years of schooling. The author anchors the widening-gap phenomenon on the the...
48 citations
Cites background from "Why g matters: The complexity of ev..."
...(p. 250) More recently, Gottfredson (1997) stated, “Although researchers disagree on how they define intelligence, there is virtual unanimity that it ref lects the ability to reason, solve problems, think abstractly, and acquire knowledge” (p. 93)....
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Posted Content•
TL;DR: Disconnected as mentioned in this paper is a path-breaking analysis of the relationship between schooling and employers in Latin America, using multiple surveys and multiple methods, and distinguishes carefully among different types of skills and the relationship of each type to employment outcomes and employer needs.
Abstract: Disconnected is a path-breaking analysis of the relationship between schooling and employers in Latin America. It is sophisticated in its design, using multiple surveys and multiple methods. It distinguishes carefully among different types of skills and the relationship of each type to employment outcomes and employer needs. It examines both the demand and the supply side of the labor market. And it provides guidance for further work. We commend this book to all readers, scholars, and practitioners concerned with schooling and job markets in Latin America.
48 citations
Cites background from "Why g matters: The complexity of ev..."
...The effects of cognitive skills on academic, work, and social outcomes have been extensively analyzed (Cawley, Heckman, and Vytlacil, 2001; Herrnstein and Murray, 1994; Neal and Johnson, 1996; Gottfredson, 1997; Hartigan and Wigdor, 1989; Mulligan, 1999; Murnane, Duhaldeborde, and Tyler, 2000; Lazear, 2003)....
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TL;DR: The long-term correlates of adolescent cognition include drinking behavior, survey participation, Internet use, and the timing of menopause are surveyed primarily using findings from the Wisconsin Longitudinal Study.
Abstract: Research on variation in cognitive abilities has focused largely on their genetic or experiential sources and on their economic consequences. This article takes a broader look at the consequences of cognitive ability—IQ—across the life course. Contrary to received wisdom, the effects of IQ on economic success are almost entirely mediated by educational attainment. Among persons with equal levels of schooling, IQ has little influence on job performance, occupational standing, earnings, or wealth. But there are other, sometimes surprising consequences of IQ throughout adult life. The long-term correlates of adolescent cognition include drinking behavior, survey participation, Internet use, and the timing of menopause. These are surveyed primarily using findings from the Wisconsin Longitudinal Study.
48 citations
Cites background from "Why g matters: The complexity of ev..."
...Standard works on testing have regularly included reviews of data on cognitive ability by occupation (Gottfredson, 1997b; Jensen, 1980; Matarazzo, 1972; Tyler, 1965; Wechsler, 1958), and there is, no doubt, a clear gradient in...
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...For example, Gottfredson (1997b) describes g as “the ability to deal with complexity” (pp. 81, 93)....
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...(Gottfredson 1997a, p. 13) Within the same volume of Intelligence, Carroll’s judicious review cites numerous efforts to define the meaning of intelligence and reports little agreement....
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...Standard works on testing have regularly included reviews of data on cognitive ability by occupation (Gottfredson, 1997b; Jensen, 1980; Matarazzo, 1972; Tyler, 1965; Wechsler, 1958), and there is, no doubt, a clear gradient in EDUCATIONAL RESEARCHER98 average levels of measured cognitive ability…...
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...The importance of cognitive ability is by no means as great, nor its malleability as slight, as is suggested by advocates like Herrnstein and Murray (Herrnstein, 1973; Herrnstein & Murray, 1994), Eysenck (1971), Jensen (1980, 1998), Seligman (1992), and Gottfredson (1997b)....
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TL;DR: The authors argue that the structural models of the constructs they study are relevant to clinicians, but few clinicians are able to translate the mathematically precise relations between constructs and their structural models to clinicians.
Abstract: Researchers often argue that the structural models of the constructs they study are relevant to clinicians. Unfortunately, few clinicians are able to translate the mathematically precise relationsh...
48 citations
Cites background from "Why g matters: The complexity of ev..."
...General ability scores are not only famously stable and reliable, but they are unmatched in terms of the number of studies providing evidence of predictive validity (Gottfredson, 1997)....
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