CHAPTER SEVENCHAPTER SEVEN

Higher-Order Cognitive Functions

Describe an Intelligent Person

• Form a group consisting of 3 or 4 students.• Imagine your group is looking for one more

member who will give your group the best chance at winning an intelligence competition.

• Create a list of the characteristics you are looking for in your new member.

Intelligence Test: Build a bridge over the creek with the materials provided

Intelligence Test: Make a profit at the PCC flea market

Intelligence Test: Survive 3 days in the desert

Intelligence

• An individual’s mental ability

• Traditional g or general factor (Spearman, 1904): the ability to infer and apply relationships on the basis of experience

Fluid-crystallized theory (Cattel & Horn, 1960s):

• Fluid Reasoning includes:– flexible and adaptive

thinking– ability to draw inferences– ability to see

relationships between concepts

• Crystallized Intelligence includes: – knowledge acquired

through life experience– education in a particular

culture

the view that intelligence is divided into two factors:

Defining Intelligence

A Life-Span View of Intelligence includes four concepts: 1. Multidimensionality: There are many domains of intellectual abilities

Defining Intelligence

2. Multidirectionality: Abilities change over life span, but the pattern of change depends on each ability

Defining Intelligence

3. Plasticity: The ability to modify cognitive functioning and skills over time

-Reserve capacity: abilities that are there to be used but are currently untapped

4. Interindividual variability: Adults differ in the direction of their intellectual development

Research Approaches to Intelligence

• The psychometric approach– Measuring intelligence as a

score on a standardized test• Focus is on getting correct

answers on math + verbal + visuospatial questions

• The cognitive-structural approach– Ways in which people

conceptualize and solve problems emphasizing developmental changes in modes and styles of thinking

A Cognitive-Structural Approach to Intelligence

• Gardner’s Theory of Multiple Intelligences includes:– traditional abilities –

• math• verbal• visuospatial

– nontraditional abilities • kinesthetic• music• nature• interpersonal• intrapersonal (self

smarts)

Psychometric Measurement of Intelligence• Primary mental abilities - intellectual abilities that are

focused on in the psychometric approach:– Numerical facility—basic math skills and reasoning– Word fluency—production of verbal descriptions– Verbal Meanings—vocabulary– Inductive reasoning—extrapolating from facts to general concepts– Spatial orientation—ability to reason 3-dimensionally– Perceptual Speed—rapid visual processing– Verbal memory—ability to recall language

Age-Related Changes in Primary Abilities

• Data from Schaie’s Seattle Longitudinal Study of more than 5,000 individuals from 1956 to 1998 in six testing cycles:– People tend to improve on primary abilities until late 30s or early 40s.– Scores stabilize until mid-50s and early 60s.– By late 60s consistent declines are seen.– Nearly everyone shows a decline in one ability, but few show decline

on four or five abilities.

Moderators of Intellectual Change

• Information processing– Perceptual speed may account for

age-related decline.– Working memory decline may

account for poor performance of older adults if coordination between old and new information is required.

• Health– A connection between disease and intelligence has been established in general and for cardiovascular disease in particular.

Moderators of Intellectual Change

• Social and lifestyle variables– Slower rates in intellectual

decline are related to:• Gaining skills needed

in different occupations

• Higher education and socioeconomic status

• A cognitively engaging lifestyle

• Personality– High levels of fluid

abilities and a high sense of internal control lead to positive changes in people’s perception of their abilities.

Appearance and physical changes that lead young to treat person as “old”

Infantilizing and patronizing speech (“honey,” “dear,” “cute”)

Lack of stimulation from being treated as dependent child

Social elements of language involve the Communication Predicament Communication Predicament

ModelModel

Neuropsychological Assessment

• Involves administering several standardized cognitive tests:

– tailored to the client– gather information about a client’s brain functioning

• Trail Making Test (“Trails”)– Assesses executive functions, or frontal lobe functioning:

• attention• scanning visual stimuli• following sequence of numbers

Training studies• Project ADEPT and Project ACTIVE

– Seven year follow-up to the original Project ADEPT showed significant training effects.• 64% of trained group’s performance was above the pre-

training level compared to 33% of the control group.– Project ACTIVE training slows declines and has reversed

14-year declines in some abilities

Going Beyond Piaget

• Postformal Thought—cognition that is characterized by dialectical thinking:– truth varies from situation to situation– solutions must be realistic to be reasonable– ambiguity and contradiction are the rule rather than the exception– emotion and subjective factors usually play a role in thinking– understanding is negotiated give and take– interest in engaging in dialogues

Wisdom• Involves practical knowledge• Is given altruistically• Involves psychological insights• Based on life experience• Implicit conceptions of wisdom

are widely shared within a culture and include:– Exceptional level of functioning– A dynamic balance between

intellect, emotion, and motivation– A high degree of personal and

interpersonal competence– Good intentions

Pragmatics of Intelligence

• Wise people are experts who are able to apply their abilities to the solution of real-life problems.