It's all in your head
Intelligence: New findings and theoretical developments
Richard Nisbett et al.
American Psychologist, forthcoming
Abstract:
We review new findings and new theoretical developments in the field of intelligence. New findings include the following: (a) Heritability of IQ varies significantly by social class. (b) Almost no genetic polymorphisms have been discovered that are consistently associated with variation in IQ in the normal range. (c) Much has been learned about the biological underpinnings of intelligence. (d) "Crystallized" and "fluid" IQ are quite different aspects of intelligence at both the behavioral and biological levels. (e) The importance of the environment for IQ is established by the 12-point to 18-point increase in IQ when children are adopted from working-class to middle-class homes. (f) Even when improvements in IQ produced by the most effective early childhood interventions fail to persist, there can be very marked effects on academic achievement and life outcomes. (g) In most developed countries studied, gains on IQ tests have continued, and they are beginning in the developing world. (h) Sex differences in aspects of intelligence are due partly to identifiable biological factors and partly to socialization factors. (i) The IQ gap between Blacks and Whites has been reduced by 0.33 SD in recent years. We report theorizing concerning (a) the relationship between working memory and intelligence, (b) the apparent contradiction between strong heritability effects on IQ and strong secular effects on IQ, (c) whether a general intelligence factor could arise from initially largely independent cognitive skills, (d) the relation between self-regulation and cognitive skills, and
(e) the effects of stress on intelligence.
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The Mere Anticipation of an Interaction with a Woman Can Impair Men's Cognitive Performance
Sanne Nauts et al.
Archives of Sexual Behavior, forthcoming
Abstract:
Recent research suggests that heterosexual men's (but not heterosexual women's) cognitive performance is impaired after an interaction with someone of the opposite sex (Karremans et al., 2009). These findings have been interpreted in terms of the cognitive costs of trying to make a good impression during the interaction. In everyday life, people frequently engage in pseudo-interactions with women (e.g., through the phone or the internet) or anticipate interacting with a woman later on. The goal of the present research was to investigate if men's cognitive performance decreased in these types of situations, in which men have little to no opportunity to impress her and, moreover, have little to no information about the mate value of their interaction partner. Two studies demonstrated that men's (but not women's) cognitive performance declined if they were led to believe that they interacted with a woman via a computer (Study 1) or even if they merely anticipated an interaction with a woman (Study 2). Together, these results suggest that an actual interaction is not a necessary prerequisite for the cognitive impairment effect to occur. Moreover, these effects occur even if men do not get information about the woman's attractiveness. This latter finding is discussed in terms of error management theory.
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Wonderlic, Race, and the NFL Draft
Andrew Gill & Victor Brajer
Journal of Sports Economics, forthcoming
Abstract:
Extending the work of Berri and Simmons on the National Football League (NFL) player draft and the Scouting Combine, the authors use the Wonderlic cognitive ability test to test one implication of a simple Phelps model of statistical discrimination in the NFL draft. The authors treat Wonderlic scores as a noisy signal of a player's adaptability to the NFL game that may be more informative for White players than it is for Black players. The authors find that Wonderlic scores are important in explaining relative draft position for quarterbacks, offensive linemen, and tight ends. At the same time, the authors find limited evidence to support statistical discrimination based on Wonderlic scores.
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Why Aren't We Smarter Already: Evolutionary Trade-Offs and Cognitive Enhancements
Thomas Hills & Ralph Hertwig
Current Directions in Psychological Science, December 2011, Pages 373-377
Abstract:
Pharmacological enhancers of cognition promise a bright new future for humankind: more focus, more willpower, and better memory, with applications ranging from education to military combat. Underlying such promises is a linear, more-is-better vision of cognition that makes intuitive sense. This vision is at odds, however, with our understanding of cognition's evolutionary origins. The mind has evolved under various constraints and consequently represents a delicate balance among these constraints. Evidence of the trade-offs that have shaped cognition include (a) inverted U-shaped performance curves commonly found in response to pharmacological interventions and (b) unintended side effects of enhancement on other traits. Taking an evolutionary perspective, we frame the above two sets of findings in terms of within-task (exemplified by optimal-control problems) and between-task (associated with a gain/loss asymmetry) trade-offs, respectively. With this framework, psychological science can provide much-needed guidance to enhancement development, a field that still lacks a theoretical foundation.
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Aneeta Rattan, Catherine Good & Carol Dweck
Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, forthcoming
Abstract:
Can comforting struggling students demotivate them and potentially decrease the pool of students pursuing math-related subjects? In Studies 1-3, instructors holding an entity (fixed) theory of math intelligence more readily judged students to have low ability than those holding an incremental (malleable) theory. Studies 2-3 further revealed that those holding an entity (versus incremental) theory were more likely to both comfort students for low math ability and use "kind" strategies unlikely to promote engagement with the field (e.g., assigning less homework). Next, we explored what this comfort-oriented feedback communicated to students, compared with strategy-oriented and control feedback (Study 4). Students responding to comfort-oriented feedback not only perceived the instructor's entity theory and low expectations, but also reported lowered motivation and lower expectations for their own performance. This research has implications for understanding how pedagogical practices can lock students into low achievement and deplete the math pipeline.
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Kyung Hee Kim
Creativity Research Journal, Winter 2011, Pages 285-295
Abstract:
The Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking (TTCT) was developed in 1966 and renormed five times: in 1974, 1984, 1990, 1998, and 2008. The total sample for all six normative samples included 272,599 kindergarten through 12th grade students and adults. Analysis of the normative data showed that creative thinking scores remained static or decreased, starting at sixth grade. Results also indicated that since 1990, even as IQ scores have risen, creative thinking scores have significantly decreased. The decrease for kindergartners through third graders was the most significant.
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Strategies for leader cognition: Viewing the glass "half full" and "half empty"
Alison Antes & Michael Mumford
Leadership Quarterly, forthcoming
Abstract:
Leader cognition proves to be central to organizational functioning as leaders generate solutions and provide direction when organizations encounter problems. This study examined the effects of utilizing different general thinking strategies for thinking through organizational problems on the formation of problem solutions and statements articulating a future vision. Specifically, the effects of focusing on the positive, the negative, or balancing positivity and negativity were examined regarding their influence on the quality, originality, and elegance of solutions and the viability of vision statements. Participants were asked to assume the role of a leader in an educational technology firm and provide a solution and vision statement to address the firm's challenges. The results revealed that a positivity strategy - thinking about positive outcomes and means for attaining success - resulted in lower quality solutions and less viable visions than a balanced positive-negative strategy - either thinking about negative outcomes and means for attaining success or positive outcomes and means for avoiding failure. Solution originality, however, was moderated by attribution of responsibility such that thinking about negative outcomes and avoiding failure resulted in more original solutions when responsibility for the conditions confronting the firm could be attributed externally rather than internally. The implications of these findings for understanding leader cognition and performance are discussed.
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Schooling in adolescence raises IQ scores
Christian Brinch & Taryn Ann Galloway
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, forthcoming
Abstract:
Although some scholars maintain that education has little effect on intelligence quotient (IQ) scores, others claim that IQ scores are indeed malleable, primarily through intervention in early childhood. The causal effect of education on IQ at later ages is often difficult to uncover because analyses based on observational data are plagued by problems of reverse causation and self-selection into further education. We exploit a reform that increased compulsory schooling from 7 to 9 y in Norway in the 1960s to estimate the effect of education on IQ. We find that this schooling reform, which primarily affected education in the middle teenage years, had a substantial effect on IQ scores measured at the age of 19 y.
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Acquiring "the Knowledge" of London's Layout Drives Structural Brain Changes
Katherine Woollett & Eleanor Maguire
Current Biology, 20 December 2011, Pages 2109-2114
Abstract:
The last decade has seen a burgeoning of reports associating brain structure with specific skills and traits. Although these cross-sectional studies are informative, cause and effect are impossible to establish without longitudinal investigation of the same individuals before and after an intervention. Several longitudinal studies have been conducted; some involved children or young adults, potentially conflating brain development with learning, most were restricted to the motor domain, and all concerned relatively short timescales (weeks or months). Here, by contrast, we utilized a unique opportunity to study average-IQ adults operating in the real world as they learned, over four years, the complex layout of London's streets while training to become licensed taxi drivers. In those who qualified, acquisition of an internal spatial representation of London was associated with a selective increase in gray matter (GM) volume in their posterior hippocampi and concomitant changes to their memory profile. No structural brain changes were observed in trainees who failed to qualify or control participants. We conclude that specific, enduring, structural brain changes in adult humans can be induced by biologically relevant behaviors engaging higher cognitive functions such as spatial memory, with significance for the "nature versus nurture" debate.
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Gordon Hodson & Michael Busseri
Psychological Science, forthcoming
Abstract:
Despite their important implications for interpersonal behaviors and relations, cognitive abilities have been largely ignored as explanations of prejudice. We proposed and tested mediation models in which lower cognitive ability predicts greater prejudice, an effect mediated through the endorsement of right-wing ideologies (social conservatism, right-wing authoritarianism) and low levels of contact with out-groups. In an analysis of two large-scale, nationally representative United Kingdom data sets (N = 15,874), we found that lower general intelligence (g) in childhood predicts greater racism in adulthood, and this effect was largely mediated via conservative ideology. A secondary analysis of a U.S. data set confirmed a predictive effect of poor abstract-reasoning skills on antihomosexual prejudice, a relation partially mediated by both authoritarianism and low levels of intergroup contact. All analyses controlled for education and socioeconomic status. Our results suggest that cognitive abilities play a critical, albeit underappreciated, role in prejudice. Consequently, we recommend a heightened focus on cognitive ability in research on prejudice and a better integration of cognitive ability into prejudice models.
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Aaron Buchko, Kathleen Buchko & Joseph Meyer
Computers in Human Behavior, March 2012, Pages 688-695
Abstract:
The purpose of this study was to determine if the use of PowerPoint as an information communication tool would enhance recall of information presented in a non-classroom field setting. We examined the effect of PowerPoint on the recall of information presented in religious sermons. Three test conditions were examined: (1) PowerPoint slides containing words only, (2) slides containing visual images only, and (3) slides containing both words and visual images, along with a control condition in which information was presented without the use of the PowerPoint slides. In addition, we tested the type of information recall: information about the slides, information about the slide content, and general recall of information from the sermon. While there were limited differences in recall based on the treatment conditions and the type of information being recalled, overall the use of the PowerPoint slides did not appear to have a significant effect on subjects' ability to recall information. We conclude that greater effort must be made to understand the effects of PowerPoint presentations on human memory and cognition.
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Physiologic Dysfunction Scores and Cognitive Function Test Performance in US Adults
Roni Kobrosly et al.
Psychosomatic Medicine, January 2012, Pages 81-88
Objective: To investigate the relationship between a measure of cumulative physiologic dysfunction and specific domains of cognitive function.
Methods: We examined a summary score measuring physiologic dysfunction, a multisystem measure of the body's ability to effectively adapt to physical and psychological demands, in relation to cognitive function deficits in a population of 4511 adults aged 20 to 59 who participated in the Third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (1988-1994). Measures of cognitive function comprised three domains: working memory, visuomotor speed, and perceptual-motor speed. "Physiologic dysfunction" scores summarizing measures of cardiovascular, immunologic, kidney, and liver functions were explored. We used multiple linear regression models to estimate associations between cognitive function measures and physiologic dysfunction scores, adjusting for socioeconomic factors, test conditions, and self-reported health factors.
Results: We noted a dose-response relationship between physiologic dysfunction and working memory (coefficient = 0.207, 95% confidence interval = 0.066-0.348, p < .0001), which persisted after adjustment for all covariates (p = .03). We did not observe any significant relationships between dysfunction scores and visuomotor (p = .37) or perceptual-motor ability (p = .33).
Conclusions: Our findings suggest that multisystem physiologic dysfunction is associated with working memory. Future longitudinal studies are needed to clarify the underlying mechanisms and explore the persistency of this association into later life. We suggest that such studies should incorporate physiologic data, neuroendocrine parameters, and a wide range of specific cognitive domains.
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Angela Duckworth, Patrick Quinn & Eli Tsukayama
Journal of Educational Psychology, forthcoming
Abstract:
The increasing prominence of standardized testing to assess student learning motivated the current investigation. We propose that standardized achievement test scores assess competencies determined more by intelligence than by self-control, whereas report card grades assess competencies determined more by self-control than by intelligence. In particular, we suggest that intelligence helps students learn and solve problems independent of formal instruction, whereas self-control helps students study, complete homework, and behave positively in the classroom. Two longitudinal, prospective studies of middle school students support predictions from this model. In both samples, IQ predicted changes in standardized achievement test scores over time better than did self-control, whereas self-control predicted changes in report card grades over time better than did IQ. As expected, the effect of self-control on changes in report card grades was mediated in Study 2 by teacher ratings of homework completion and classroom conduct. In a third study, ratings of middle school teachers about the content and purpose of standardized achievement tests and report card grades were consistent with the proposed model. Implications for pedagogy and public policy are discussed.
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Executive control and the experience of regret
Patrick Burns, Kevin Riggs & Sarah Beck
Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, March 2012, Pages 501-515
Abstract:
The experience of regret rests on a counterfactual analysis of events. Previous research indicates that regret emerges at around 6 years of age, marginally later than the age at which children begin to answer counterfactual questions correctly. We hypothesized that the late emergence of regret relative to early counterfactual thinking is a result of the executive demands of simultaneously holding in mind and comparing dual representations of reality (counterfactual and actual). To test this hypothesis, we administered two regret tasks along with four tests of executive function (two working memory tasks, a switch task, and an inhibition task) to a sample of 104 4- to 7-year-olds. Results indicated that switching, but not working memory or inhibition, was a significant predictor of whether or not children experienced regret. This finding corroborates and extends previous research showing that the development of counterfactual thinking in children is related to their developing executive competence.
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Mindful maths: Reducing the impact of stereotype threat through a mindfulness exercise
Ulrich Weger et al.
Consciousness and Cognition, forthcoming
Abstract:
Individuals who experience stereotype threat - the pressure resulting from social comparisons that are perceived as unfavourable - show performance decrements across a wide range of tasks. One account of this effect is that the cognitive pressure triggered by such threat drains the same cognitive (or working-memory) resources that are implicated in the respective task. The present study investigates whether mindfulness can be used to moderate stereotype threat, as mindfulness has previously been shown to alleviate working-memory load. Our results show that performance decrements that typically occur under stereotype threat can indeed be reversed when the individual engages in a brief (5 min) mindfulness task. The theoretical implications of our findings are discussed.
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What is it about Picasso? Infants' categorical and discriminatory abilities in the visual arts
Trix Cacchione, Wenke Möhring & Evelyn Bertin
Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts, November 2011, Pages 370-378
Abstract:
Research on infants' early development of aesthetic perception has focused on their ability to discriminate and evaluate auditory stimuli such as musical intervals or faces differing along their level of attractiveness. However, infants' discriminatory and evaluative responses in the domain of the visual arts have, as of today, not been examined. Artistic paintings are complex visual stimuli. Multiple cues such as color, style of brushing, common subjects, and others must be considered to discriminate and evaluate paintings from different artists. The authors examined infants' visual attention to works of 2 painters, namely Picasso and Monet. Results suggest that infants discriminate and categorize different paintings but that they display a spontaneous preference for paintings by Picasso.
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Mirjam Münch et al.
Behavioral Neuroscience, forthcoming
Abstract:
In sighted humans, light intensity, timing, exposure duration, and spectral composition of light are important to entrain the endogenous circadian pacemaker to the 24-h day-night cycle. We tested the impact of two realistic office lighting conditions during the afternoon on subjective sleepiness, hormonal secretion, and cognitive performance in the early evening hours. Twenty-nine young subjects came twice and spent 8 h (12:00-20:00) in our laboratory, where they were exposed for 6 h to either artificial light (AL) or to mainly daylight (DL). In the early evening, we assessed their salivary cortisol and melatonin secretion, subjective sleepiness, and cognitive performance (n-back test) under dim light conditions. Subjects felt significantly more alert at the beginning of the evening after the DL condition, and they became sleepier at the end of the evening after the AL condition. For cognitive performance we found a significant interaction between light conditions, mental load (2- or 3-back task) and the order of light administration. On their first evening, subjects performed with similar accuracy after both light conditions, but on their second evening, subjects performed significantly more accurately after the DL in both n-back versions and committed fewer false alarms in the 2-back task compared to the AL group. Lower sleepiness in the evening was significantly correlated with better cognitive performance (p < .05). In summary, even short-term lighting conditions during the afternoon had an impact on cognitive task performance in the evening. This rapid effect was only distinguishable on the second day of training, when a difficult task had been sufficiently practiced.
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Is the Map in Our Head Oriented North?
Julia Frankenstein et al.
Psychological Science, forthcoming
Abstract:
We examined how a highly familiar environmental space - one's city of residence - is represented in memory. Twenty-six participants faced a photo-realistic virtual model of their hometown and completed a task in which they pointed to familiar target locations from various orientations. Each participant's performance was most accurate when he or she was facing north, and errors increased as participants' deviation from a north-facing orientation increased. Pointing errors and latencies were not related to the distance between participants' initial locations and the target locations. Our results are inconsistent with accounts of orientation-free memory and with theories assuming that the storage of spatial knowledge depends on local reference frames. Although participants recognized familiar local views in their initial locations, their strategy for pointing relied on a single, north-oriented reference frame that was likely acquired from maps rather than experience from daily exploration. Even though participants had spent significantly more time navigating the city than looking at maps, their pointing behavior seemed to rely on a north-oriented mental map.