Overview

1. Overview What does is mean to be intelligent? History of Intelligence Testing Nature of Intelligence 4 Phases of Aging Research on Intelligence Age-related decline Stability vs. Decline Manipulation of Adult IQ Growth of adult intellect

2. What is the everyday role of intelligence? • academic vs. practical intelligence • high IQ = success in life • competence = intelligence + ?? • same guidelines across the lifespan?

3. Sternberg et al. (1981) • investigated general intuitive beliefs about • intelligence • 3 major clusters of abilities • problem-solving • verbal ability • social competence

4. Sternberg et al. cont’d ... • how do conceptions change across lifespan? • 30-year-old  planning for the future, • open-minded • 50-year-old  willing to learn, established • career, authoritativeness • 70-year-old  socially active, up on current • events, accepting of change • motivation, effort, reading - common to all

5. Galton • intelligence is inherited • ability to process sensory information • poor correlation with scholastic success • Binet • low ability vs. adequate ability/low motivation • assessed reasoning, judgement, imagination • Terman • IQ = (Mental Age Chronological Age) * 100 • good for children, not adults

6. testing began in practical circumstances, • not to test everyday performance of adults • IQ tests are age-graded, • average score of 100 at each age level • move into cognition One ability (“g”) or several abilities?

7. The Primary Mental Abilities V Verbal Comprehension W Word Fluency N Number S Space M Associative Memory P Perceptual Speed I (or R) Induction or General Reasoning

8. Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS) VERBAL PERFORMANCE • Vocabulary • Digit Symbol • Similarities • Picture Completion • Arithmetic • Block Design • Digit Span • Picture Arrangement • Information • Object Assembly • Comprehension • Matrix Reasoning • Letter-Number • Sequencing • Symbol Search

9. Secondary Mental Abilities (a) Fluid Intelligence • “native mental ability’ • problem solving w/ complex relationships, • novel (relatively culture-free) materials • reflects quality of one’s brain (b) Crystallized Intelligence • depends on experience with the world e.g. personal experience, education, culture • non-novel intellectual judgments

10. Woodruff-Pak (1989) 4 phases of changing perspectives about intelligence in the 20th century • chronological • sequential • transitory • social, cultural and historical forces

11. Phase I: Age-Related Decline • unidimensional view from ~ 1920 - 1950 • psychometric measure was absolute • cross-sectional studies only • industrialization - focus on youth, • acquiring new skills

12. Yerkes (1921) • WW1 Army Alpha Examination • 1.7 million 18-60 yr-old officers • declines found over the age of 20 Wechsler (1944) • scores on intelligence scale designed to • conform with ‘decline’ with age “ decline of mental ability with age is part of the general senescent process of the organism as a whole”

13. Phase II: Stability vs. Decline • 1950s • societal attitudes changing towards old • increased life expectancy • sophisticated approaches: • cohort, type of ability • no longer univariate and unidimensional • complex  multivariate, multidimensional

14. Owens (1953) • 31yr follow-up of 127 men on Army Alpha • total scores showed gains • continued stability in Owens (1966) Confused - why the discrepancy?? • cross-sectional studies: cohort effects • longitudinal studies: selective drop-out • terminal drop: plagues both types

15. Age Differences in WAIS Verbal and Performance Scores (Wechsler, 1958) Wechsler (1958)

16. Primary Mental Abilities and Age • Seattle Longitudinal Studies SLS; Schaie et al. • sequential design began in 1956 • original group of adults (22-70yrs) retested • every 7 yrs • new group of adults tested at each 7yr • testing session, and then followed • allows for assessment of: • cross-sectional effects • longitudinal effects • cohort effects

17. SLS: Cross-Sectional Effects From HRR, p.308

18. SLS: Longitudinal Effects From Schaie (1994)

19. SLS: Global or specific changes? From Schaie (1989)

20. SLS: Cohort Effects 1970 1991

21. Secondary Mental Abilities and Age See HRR, p.309

22. Phase III: Manipulation of Adult IQ Phases I and II  “counting and classifying the wrinkles of aged behaviour” (Kastenbaum, 1968) Can we modify adults’ intelligence? Cohort differences can boost performance thru: • education • health • work

23. SLS  cohort differences > age differences  individual differences in decline onset If cohort effects = environment forces then Individual environment forces … can these be manipulated experimentally to alter functioning? • strong social impetus • e.g., Head Start Program

24. Mental Exercise & Cognitive Training • complex relationship btwn disease, lifestyle, • personal characteristics and intellectual decline • environment  intelligence naturalistic phenomenon!! But … what about cognitive training • training young (learning) vs. old (learning, • slowing, remediation) • plasticity = reserve capacity in older adults simple and effective strategy PRACTICE

25. Denney (1982) • Unexercised Ability  fluid intelligence, not dependent on experience, unlikely trained ability a normal, healthy adult exhibits w/out practice/training • Optimally exercised Ability crystallized intelligence, skills used daily ability a normal, healthy adult demonstrates under the best conditions of training/practice

26. Denney’s Unexercised & Optimally Exercised Abilities See HRR, p.322

27. Adult Development and Enrichment Project(ADEPT; Baltes & Willis, 1982) • tested/trained fluid abilities using tests of • figural relations, induction, memory/attention • used 3 levels of intervention (1) minimal direct training (familiarity) (2) tailored interventions (practice, feedback, review) (3) no training control • repetition improved performance, especially • mass practice • long-term and transfer effects w/ (2) varied by • ability, strongest effects w/ figural relations

28. Schaie & Willis (SLS;1986, 1992) • longitudinal design, training compared with • prior functioning • classified as either declining or remaining • stable from 1970 - 1984 • Reasoning or Space training based on status • ability specific training reversed declines • documented over a 14 year period • improved performance in non-decliners • 7 years later, training effects substantial, • greatest for decliners

29. Hayslip (1989, 1995) • non-cognitive fluid ability interventions (1) inductive reasoning training (ADEPT) (2) stress inoculation training (reduce anxiety) (3) no training (4) post-test (just took final test) • both training groups improved performance • range of transfer to other fluid abilities narrow • long term effects but may require booster

30. Phase IV: Growth of Adult Intellect • recognition of importance of aging adults • i.e., size, social and economic power • new focus - notion of growth • def’n and measures of intelligence • increasingly important issues • context in which one lives • ecological validity questioned • reject traditional for everyday measures • explore qualitative changes

31. Problems with Traditional Psychometric Testswith Older Adults • many tasks not like problems they face • removed from academic environment • less formal education • increasing years since school • emphasis on speed in performance • motivation, anxiety, caution

32. Willis & Schaie (1986) • experimental everyday intellectual tasks • (labels, maps, charts, paragraphs, forms, • advertisements, technical documents, news text) • everyday tasks correlated w/ primary abilities • overall performance on everyday tasks was • primarily predicted by fluid abilities, • secondarily by crystallized ability • labels, charts, maps, forms, ads  fluid • paragraph comprehension  crystallized • old not always better than young

33. Diehl et al. (1995) • objective and naturalistic measures of • everyday intelligence (1) Observed Tasks of Daily Living (OTDL) (food preparation, medication intake, phone use) (2) Everyday Problems Test (EPT) pencil-and-paper: meal prep.; meds, phone use; shopping, house, financial management, transportation (3) Mental Abilities (4) reported ADLs that needed assistance

34. Diehl et al. (1995), cont’d ... • scores on OTDL correlated w/ EPT, mental • abilities and number of difficulties w/ ADLs • performance on OTDL, EPT strongly • influenced by fluid intelligence measures, as • well as age and crystallized intelligence • OTDL, EPT affected by: • health, indirectly thru cognitive abilities • age  traditional tests tap into practical intelligence

35. Everyday Problem Solving: Denney et al. • 3 studies, adults aged 20-80 (1) same set of problem to solve (2) age-appropriate problems to solve (3) problems typically faced by older adults, devised in consultation w/ older adults  same general findings across studies • increases up to middle-age, then declines • influenced by experience, but experience • cannot completely overpower aging effects • older adults as good as young adults

36. Denney: Everyday Problem Solving Denney (1982)

37. Cornelius & Caspi (1987) • adminstered 3 tests to 20-78 year olds (1) Everyday Problem Solving Inventory (EPSI) (2) Verbal MeaningTest (3) Letter Series Test • EPSI modestly correlated w/ (2) and (3) • EPSI, Verbal Meaning increased w/ age • Letter Series decreased w/ age • education unrelated to EPSI, highly related • to (2), moderately related to (3) • EPSI performance unrelated to familiarity

38. Cornelius & Caspi (1987) cont’d ...

39. Wisdom: How does in relate to intelligence? Intelligence  how to accomplish tasks Wisdom  consideration of whether a particular course of action should be pursued Other conceptualizations of wisdom:  integration of cognition and affect Philosophical: understanding abstract relations btwn one’s self and the rest of humanity vs.Practical: ability to display superior judgment wrt important matters of real life

40. Factual Knowledge Strategic Knowledge WISDOM Life-span Contextualism Value Relativism Recognition & Management of Uncertainty

41. Studies of wisdom have shown: • older adults perform as well as younger • adults • an individual’s experience and training are • important . . . but they’re not everything • wisdom manifests itself optimally within • human social interactions