Deck 21: Seciton 1: Adulthood: Cognitive Development

Question 1

Briefly outline the Seattle Longitudinal Study and identify the specific research design. State the five mental abilities assessed by the study and communicate at least three facts discovered about mental abilities across adulthood.

Answer 1

At the University of Washington in 1956, K. Warner Schaie tested a cross-section of 500 adults, aged 20 to 50, on five standard primary mental abilities considered to be the foundation of intelligence: 1) verbal meaning (vocabulary), 2) spatial orientation, 3) inductive reasoning, 4) number abilities, and 5) word fluency (rapid verbal association). The study used a cross-sequential research design.
Schaie confirmed that 1) people improve in most mental abilities during adulthood. 2) Each ability had a distinct pattern at each age and for each gender. There was a gradual rise and 3) then eventual decline of all abilities, with 4) men initially better at number skills and 5) women at verbal skills, and 6) gender convergence over time. Schaie found that 7) everyone declines by age 60 in at least one of the basic abilities, but 8) declines in all five skills were not apparent in everyone until age 88.

Question 2

Define selective optimization with compensation and identify how this theory relates to intelligence during adulthood. Give two examples of selective optimization with compensation.

Answer 2

Paul and Margret Baltes developed the theory of selective optimization with compensation to explain the way in which people maintain a balance in their lives by looking for the best way to compensate for physical and cognitive losses and to become more proficient in activities they do well. Such choices are critical, since every ability can be enhanced or diminished, depending on how, when, and why a person uses it. As such, selective optimization means that each person selects certain aspects of his or her intelligence to optimize and neglects the rest. If those aspects that are ignored happen to be the ones measured by IQ tests, then intelligence scores will fall, even if a person's selection results in improvement (optimization) in other areas of intellect. Examples of selective optimization with compensation include 1) using reading glasses, 2) enlarging the font on a computer screen, 3) wearing hearing aids, and 4) reducing multitasking. Sometimes older adults 5) write everything down-using their own shorthand and symbols-to compensate for their failing memory.

Question 3

Identify and describe the four ways in which experts think.

Answer 3

Expert thought is 1) intuitive, 2) automatic, 3), strategic, and 4) flexible. Intuitive means that experts rely more on their past experiences and on the immediate context when thinking than on formal procedures and rules. Automatic means that the complex action and thought required by most people facing a problem have become routine for experts, making it appear that most aspects of a task are performed instinctively by the expert. Strategic means that experts have more and better strategies to solve problems, especially when problems are unexpected or unusual. Flexible means that experts do not need to follow one pattern of thought, but rather can adapt their thinking to situations and even enjoy doing so.

Question 4

Define fluid and crystallized intelligence. Indicate what happens to fluid and crystallized intelligence as people age and how each relates to overall IQ scores.

Question 5

What has cross-sectional research determined about IQ? What has longitudinal research determined about IQ? Why is there a difference in the results? Which research design is scientifically valid in assessing age-related changes in IQ?

Question 6

What idea did Earl Hunt propose with respect to cognitive artifacts and their influence on the intelligence of an entire nation?

Question 7

Who introduced the concept of g, what does g stand for, and how can it be assessed? What is the current thinking on g?

Question 8

Describe what is meant by stressors. Indicate how stress could impair cognition.

Question 9

Describe Sternberg's three forms of intelligence. Identify when each might be most valued with respect to development.

Question 10

Define problem-focused coping and emotion-focused coping. Indicate which gender is most likely to use which form of coping.

Question 11

What is expertise?