Chapter TwentyOne

1
Chapter Twenty-One

• Middle Adulthood
• Cognitive Development

2
The Flynn Effect

• Evidence for the Flynn effect a trend toward
  increasing average IQ over generations comes
  from research comparing test scores over time
• in every country, younger cohorts outscored older
  ones
• because of Flynn effect, widely-used IQ tests
  are renormed about every 15 years
• Reasons for overall IQ rise
• wider education and experience
• better nutrition
• fewer toxins
• smaller family size

3
Two Clusters Fluid and Crystallized

• Fluid Intelligence flexible reasoning used to
  draw inferences, understand relations between
  concepts, and speedily process new ideas
• person with this intelligence would be quick and
  creative with words and numbers, as well as enjoy
  intellectual puzzles
• a test item for it might ask what comes next in
  each series? BDACZBYA 456345623456
• Reasons for overall IQ rise
• wider education and experience
• better nutrition
• fewer toxins
• smaller family size

4
Three Forms of Intelligence Sternberg

• Analytic
• mental processes that foster academic proficiency
  by making possible efficient learning,
  remembering, and thinking
• involves abstract planning, strategy selection,
  focused attention, and information processing
• Creative Intelligence
• involves capacity to be intellectually flexible
  and innovative in new situations
• divergent diverse, innovative, and unusual
  solutions
• Practical Intelligence
• involves capacity to adapt ones behavior to the
  contextual demands of a given situation
• includes accurate grasp of expectations and needs
  of people involved and an awareness of skills
  needed

5
Five Primary Abilities

• Schaie found 5 primary abilities
• verbal meaning
• spatial orientation
• inductive reasoning
• word fluency
• number ability this, unlike other 4 that
  increases from age 20 to the late 50s, shifts
  downward by age 40
• After age 60, decreases small but statistically
  significant
• cohort effect was found

6
Eight Intelligences Gardner

• Intelligences for
• linguistic
• logical-mathematical
• musical
• spatial
• body-kinesthetic
• naturalistic
• social understanding (interpersonal)
• self-understanding (intrapersonal)
• Gardner believes most people have capacity to
  achieve minimal proficiency in each, but that
  every person is more gifted in some abilities
  than in others
• Measuring intelligence reflects assumptions about
  what is measured also cultures and families
  value different intelligences
• psychometricians fears that most intelligence
  tests are valid measures of verbal and logical
  skills of North Americans, but not necessarily of
  people in other cultures

7
Culture and Abilities

• Cultural assumptions about aging affect concepts
  of intelligence and development of intelligence
  test
• U.S. culture values youth and devalues age
• abilities of youth (quick reaction time, etc.)
  are central to psychometric intelligence tests
• strengths of older adults (recognizing and
  upholding traditions, etc.) not as valued
• Measuring intelligence reflects assumptions about
  what is measured also cultures and families
  value different intelligences
• psychometricians fears that most intelligence
  tests are valid measures of verbal and logical
  skills of North Americans, but not necessarily of
  people in other cultures

8
The Stresses of Life

• Middle-aged adults in the thick of things
• parents to teens, children of aging parents, and
  responsible at work
• role overload needs strategies to deal with the
  stress that is everywhere
• Stressors circumstances or events that damage a
  persons physical or psychological well-being
• Measuring intelligence reflects assumptions about
  what is measured also cultures and families
  value different intelligences
• psychometricians fears that most intelligence
  tests are valid measures of verbal and logical
  skills of North Americans, but not necessarily of
  people in other cultures