chapter 7

Question 1

Intelligence in Everyday Life

Answer 1

Intelligence involves more than just a particular fixed set of characteristics.

Question 2

Laypersons and experts agree on three clusters of intelligence:

Answer 2

• Problem-solving ability
• Verbal ability
• Social competence

Question 3

The Big Picture: A Life-Span View

– Theories of intelligence have four concepts:

Answer 3

▪ Multidimensional (many domains)
▪ Multidirectionality (different patterns for different abilities)
▪ Plasticity (range of ability modification)
▪ Interindividual variability (adults differ in direction of intellectual development)

Question 4

The Dual-Component Model of Intellectual Functioning: two types

Answer 4

Mechanics of intelligence and pragmatics of intelligence
Mechanics of intelligence governed more by biological and genetic forces
• Subject to an overall downward trajectory across adulthood

Question 5

– Pragmatics of intelligence

Answer 5

• Governed more by environmental–cultural factors

* Maintain an upward trajectory across adulthood

Question 6

– The psychometric approach

Answer 6

• Measuring intelligence as a score on a standardized
test
o Focus is on getting correct answers and information- processing mechanisms

Question 7

– The cognitive-structural approach

Answer 7

• Ways in which people conceptualize and solve problems emphasizing developmental changes in modes and styles of thinking

Question 8

– The structure of intelligence

Answer 8

the organization of interrelated intellectual abilities
• Lowest level—word fluency
• Second level—tests
• Third level—primary mental abilities
• Fourth level—secondary mental abilities
• Highest level—general intelligence

Question 9

– Factor:

Answer 9

The abilities measured by two interrelated tests

if performance on test is related to performance on another

Question 10

Primary and Secondary Mental Abilities

Answer 10

– Primary mental abilities: hypothetical constructs into which related skills are organized
– Secondary mental abilities: related groups of primary mental abilities (not measured directly)
– Primary mental abilities: 
▪ Number
▪ Word fluency
▪ Verbal meaning
▪ Inductive reasoning 
▪ Spatial orientation

Question 11

• Secondary mental ability =
− Primary mental ability (e.g., verbal comprehension)
− Primary mental ability (e.g., experiential evaluation)

Answer 11

(e.g., crystallized intelligence)
− Primary mental ability (e.g., verbal comprehension) • Vocabulary
• Similarities
− Primary mental ability (e.g., experiential evaluation)
• Social translations
• Social situations

Question 12

• Fluid Intelligence:

Answer 12

The abilities that:
– Make you a flexible and adaptive thinker
– Allow you to make inferences
– Enable you to understand the relations among concepts

Question 13

• Crystallized Intelligence:

Answer 13

The knowledge you have gained through life experiences and education.

Question 14

Fluid intelligence _____ throughout adulthood

Crystallized intelligence _____ throughout adulthood

Answer 14

declines

improves

Question 15

• Moderators of Intellectual Change
 – Cohort differences
– Information processing
– Social and Lifestyle variables
– Personality
– Health

Answer 15

– Cohort differences
• Cross-sectional studies document significant differences in intellectual performance with age
• Longitudinal investigations show no decrement and even an increase in performance
– 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
– Social and Lifestyle variables
• Differences in cognitive skills needed in different occupations make a difference in intellectual development
• Higher education and socioeconomic status also related to slower rates of intellectual decline
– Personality
• High levels of fluid abilities and a high sense of internal control lead to positive changes in people ’s perception of their abilities
• Being open to experiences helps buffer declines in fluid intelligence
– Health
• A connection between disease and intelligence has been established in general
• Cardiovascular disease has implications for intellectual functioning
• Physical exercise has considerable benefit
• Terminal decline is the gradual decline in cognitive function that occurs relatively near death

Question 16

• Piaget’s Theory

Basic Concepts

Answer 16

– Basic concepts
▪ Assimilation
o Use of currently available information to make sense out
of incoming information
▪ Accommodation
o Changing one’s thought to make a better approximation
of the world of experience

Question 17

• Piaget’s Theory periods

Answer 17

– Sensorimotor Period- infants intillegnece is seen in their actions
▪ Object permanence - objects continue to exist even if out of sight
– Preoperational Period
▪ Egocentrism-children believe all people and all inanimate objects experience the world as they do
– Concrete Operations Period
▪ Classification, conservation, mental reversing – Formal Operations Period
▪ Abstract thought

Question 18

– Postformal thought:

Answer 18

haracterized by recognition that:
• Truth may vary from situation to situation
• Solutions must be realistic to be reasonable
• Ambiguity and contradiction are the rule
• Emotion and subjective factors usually play a role in thinking

Question 19

– Reflective judgment:

Answer 19

a way adults reason through dilemmas involving affairs, religion, science, personal relationships
• Occurs in stages

Question 20

• Integrating Emotion and Logic
– Adults make decisions on
Neuroimaging evidence:
• Integration of emotion and logic occurs in the

Answer 20

– Adults make decisions on emotional grounds
• As people grow older, two things happen in terms of the integration of emotion and thought
o Rich emotional experience accumulated over time can be brought to bear on tasks that are not too difficult
o When the demands of the task are great, arousal narrows the ability to bring emotions to bear
– Neuroimaging evidence:
• Integration of emotion and logic occurs in the prefrontal cortex and anterior insula
• These pathways are disrupted in mental disorders

Question 21

• Decision Making
Older adults use ____ optimal strategies
Older adults do not perform well when decision making involves a
Older adults may not be as motivated to do well in
In common everyday decision-making situations
▪ Older adults are less susceptible to

Answer 21

– Older adults use less optimal strategies
– Older adults do not perform well when decision making involves a high degree of working memory capacity
– Older adults may not be as motivated to do well in artificial situations
– In common everyday decision-making situations
▪ Older adults are less susceptible to irrational biases

Question 22

• Fluid versus crystallized intelligence
Age differences are likely when decisions rely on
Age differences are much less likely when decisions rely on

Answer 22

– Age differences are likely when decisions rely on
speedy mental processing
– Age differences are much less likely when decisions rely on acquired knowledge and experience

Question 23

• Emotion and decision making
Older adults focus more on______information when
making health-related decisions
Older adults are more_____ with their decisions

Answer 23

– Older adults focus more on positive information when
making health-related decisions
– Older adults are more satisfied with their decisions

Question 24

• Problem-Solving

– We use our_________ to solve problems

Answer 24

– We use our intellectual abilities to solve problems
• Some people are better than others at problem-solving
• Why is that? Could it have to do with the kinds of abilities we use regularly versus the ones we use only occasionally?

Question 25

– Denny’s model of unexercised and optimally exercised abilities

Answer 25

• Unexercised ability: The ability a normal, healthy adult would exhibit without practice or training (e.g., fluid intelligence)
• Optimally exercised ability: The ability a normal, healthy adult would demonstrate under the best conditions of training or practice (e.g., crystallized intelligence)

Question 26

• Practical Problem-Solving
– Observed Tasks of Daily Living (OTDL)
• OTDL directly influenced by:
• OTDL indirectly influenced by:

Answer 26

– Observed Tasks of Daily Living (OTDL)
• OTDL directly influenced by: 
o Age
o Fluid intelligence
o Crystallized intelligence
• OTDL indirectly influenced by: 
o Perceptual speed
o Memory
o Several aspects of health

Question 27

• Expertise
Experts use a\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_ structures to
 Experts don't always
Expertise tends to 
 Most people now receive
Learning styles change as 
 Lifelong learning is the

Answer 27

– Experts use well-established knowledge structures to
solve problems
• Experts don’t always follow the rules as novices do
• Expertise tends to peak by middle age and drop off slightly after that
– Lifelong learning
• Most people now receive education after college
• Learning styles change as people age
• Lifelong learning is the best way to approach the need for keeping active cognitively

Question 28

• Creativity and Wisdom

creativity peaks when?

Answer 28

– Creativity
• Novel, high in demand and task appropriate
• Creative contributions peak in the early 40s
– Wisdom
• Four characteristics:
o Deals with important matters of life
o Is truly “superior” knowledge, judgment, and advice o Has extraordinary scope, depth, and balance
o Is well intended and combines mind and virtue

Question 29

There is ___ association between age and wisdom

Answer 29

– There is no association between age and wisdom

– Culture and wisdom
• Japanese adults use more wisdom-related reasoning strategies than Americans
– General personal conditions, specific expertise, and facilitative life contexts create wisdom
– Evidence suggests that wise people are happier, have better mental health, are humble, enjoy better quality of life, and a higher level of perceived control over their lives

Question 30

stages of reflective judgment

Answer 30

prereflective reasoning
quasi-reflective reasoning
reflective reasoning