PSY 3711 1st Edition Lecture 8 Outline of Last Lecture I Psychological measurement II How are constructs related to measures Outline of Current Lecture I Intelligence II Early history of cognitive ability III CHC hierarchical synthesis IV Investment theory V Major distinction in I O VI Measurement of abilities VII Validity of general cognitive ability VIII Job complexity IX Ability and contextual performance Current Lecture I II Intelligence a General cognitive ability the ability to learn i is a bit too simple of a definition ii intelligence is a complex set of phenomena iii in addition to learning from experience general cognitive ability includes understanding complex processing info adapting effectively to one s environment engaging in reasoning overcoming obstacles with thought b Terms i General cognitive ability GCA ii General mental ability GMA iii g iv intelligence Early history of cognitive ability a Spearman 1904 g i Observed positive correlation among ability tests ii Proposed that intelligence was effectively one thing b Thurstone 1940 primary abilities These notes represent a detailed interpretation of the professor s lecture GradeBuddy is best used as a supplement to your own notes not as a substitute III IV V VI i Disagreed with Spearman and suggested ability was made of verbal comprehension word fluency space number memory reasoning c Two big competing theories d Factor analysis i Statistical method that tries to see which variables in a set go together ii Trying to see if a more fundamental entity underlies the variables iii E g rate someone on the following traits sociable outgoing quiet dependable reliable hardworking first three and second three traits probably go together e g a person probably won t be really hardworking but very low on dependability e Who was right i There is a strong general factor among all cognitive ability tests ii There are also more specific abilities that some tests measure but not others group factors CHC hierarchical synthesis a Cattell horn carroll theory i At highest level in the hierarchy is g ii Next level down are several primary abilities specific abilities iii Lower levels are increasingly narrow abilities iv I O psychologists measure ability at different levels depending on the goals Investment theory a Individuals are born with a given mental potential differ at birth b Mental ability is influenced by factors that increase or reduce it and that direct the investment of mental potential c More specific abilities and knowledge represent the investment of attention time and effort into mastering them Major distinction in I O a Fluid reasoning Gf deliberate flexible control of attention to solve novel on the spot problems cannot be performed by relying on previously learned logic or memory b Crystallized knowledge Gc Gq and others c Fluid ability decreases over time Measurement of abilities a Tests can only directly measure an individuals current set of repertoire of learned behaviors They are not direct windows into innate talent b Current levels of abilities are the product of some combination of our developmental environment learning opportunities educational opportunities social environment interests genetics VII VIII IX Validity of general cognitive ability a Validity of ability measures varies with the complexity of the job b Validity of ability tests for moderate complexity is about 52 c Validity increases for high complexity jobs and decreases for low complexity jobs d Relationship between ability and job performance within a job appears to be linear Job complexity a Researchers have organized jobs in terms of their complexity to three dimensions i Data info numbers written materials ii People e g people greeter vs guidance counselor iii Things e g staple gun vs laser lathe b Research on the complexity of job tasks is used to generally organize jobs into more vs less complex categories of jobs c Not e that a job does not need to be more academic or require an advanced degree to be a more complex job although there is a relationship Ability and contextual performance a Greater emphasis on non cognitive predictors b Typically thought that cognitive abilities do not predict OCB as well as personality and attitudes c Similar to contextual performance CWB are generally thought to be more strongly related to personality and attitudes than to ability