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Journal ArticleDOI

Why g matters: The complexity of everyday life

01 Jan 1997-Intelligence (JAI)-Vol. 24, Iss: 1, pp 79-132
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)

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
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01 Jan 2008
TL;DR: In case of a legitimate complaint, the Library will make the material inaccessible and/or remove it from the website as mentioned in this paper, in case of legitimate complaints the material will be removed.
Abstract: Disclaimer/Complaints regulations If you believe that digital publication of certain material infringes any of your rights or (privacy) interests, please let the Library know, stating your reasons. In case of a legitimate complaint, the Library will make the material inaccessible and/or remove it from the website. Please Ask the Library: https://uba.uva.nl/en/contact, or a letter to: Library of the University of Amsterdam, Secretariat, Singel 425, 1012 WP Amsterdam, The Netherlands. You will be contacted as soon as possible.

27 citations


Cites background from "Why g matters: The complexity of ev..."

  • ...Higher cognitive abilities are associated with avoidance of a wide array of social and economic misfortunes (Gottfredson 1997; Gottfredson 2004) and appear to promote health (Whalley and Deary 2001)....

    [...]

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: An account of the impact that research synthesis methods, in the form of psychometric meta-analysis, has had on industrial/organizational psychology and illustrative example literatures, such as training and leadership, where meta- analysis had crucial impacts are presented.
Abstract: This paper presents an account of the impact that research synthesis methods, in the form of psychometric meta-analysis, has had on industrial/organizational (I/O) psychology. This paper outlines the central contributions of psychometric meta-analysis in providing a method for developing cumulative knowledge. First, this paper describes the concerns and the state of the field before the development of meta-analytic methods. Second, the paper explains how meta-analysis addressed these concerns. Third, the paper details the development of psychometric meta-analysis through VG research and describes how the use of psychometric meta-analysis spread to other topic areas in the field. Finally, the paper presents illustrative example literatures, such as training and leadership, where meta-analysis had crucial impacts. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

27 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The intelligence differences between handedness groups in the general population are negligible, and no differences in mean IQ scores were found between right‐hander and non‐right‐handers as well as between right-handers and mixed‐ handers.

27 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: Terman is widely seen as the “father of gifted education,” yet his work is controversial as discussed by the authors, and Terman's mixed legacy includes the pioneering work in the creation of intelligence tests, the first...
Abstract: Lewis Terman is widely seen as the “father of gifted education,” yet his work is controversial. Terman’s “mixed legacy” includes the pioneering work in the creation of intelligence tests, the first...

26 citations


Cites background from "Why g matters: The complexity of ev..."

  • ...Terman astutely observed that there was a wide range of IQ levels within many jobs, but that more prestigious jobs seemed to naturally have a minimum IQ level needed for entry and/or job success (Terman, 1919), a finding supported by modern research (e.g., Gottfredson, 1997b)....

    [...]

  • ...In the decades after his death, the pendulum has swung back to valuing genetic explanations for withingroup differences in intelligence (Gottfredson, 1997a), though neither extreme (i.e., purely environmental explanations or purely genetic explanations) will likely ever be a mainstream position…...

    [...]

  • ...Likewise, the claim that “special talent” is difficult to detect in an overall IQ score is a mainstream viewpoint today (e.g., Gottfredson, 1997a; Warne, 2016a)....

    [...]

  • ...The ingredients that Terman saw as necessary for an IQ-based meritocracy continued to exist well past his death and into the modern era (Gottfredson, 1997b)....

    [...]

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: This paper examined whether the General Factor of Personality (GFP) is related to the g factor of cognitive ability using data from the Vietnam Experience Study which randomly sampled 4462 Vietnam War veterans from a total sample of about five million Vietnam era army veterans.

26 citations

References
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Journal ArticleDOI
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

Journal ArticleDOI
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

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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

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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