Beyond General Intelligence

by Scott Barry Kaufman

What is intelligence? Since intelligence tests were originally constructed with the practical goal of identifying students in need of alternative education (Binet & Simon, 1916), items were devised to measure a general ability to profit from explicit instruction. Indeed, Spearman (1904) discovered a consistent tendency for cognitive test items to positively correlate with one another and he labelled this common variance g (for general intelligence). In this dissertation, I argue that g is Explicit Cognitive Ability (ECA) and I aim to go beyond g by expanding the methodologies and dependent measures traditionally studied by intelligence researchers.;Toward these goals, I proposed a dual-process theory of human intelligence in which intelligent behavior is jointly influenced by Controlled and Autonomous forms of Cognition. While Controlled Cognition is largely constrained by Central Executive Functions, Autonomous Cognition is not. Further, Autonomous Cognition predicts a range of intelligent outcomes above and beyond ECA. The theory was largely supported in a sample of 177 English Sixth Form College students between the ages of 16-18. Neither implicit learning (IL) of probabilistic sequential patterns nor latent inhibition (LI) of stimuli that was previously tagged as irrelevant was related to ECA or Intellect. IL was, however, positively associated with specific components of cognitive ability, foreign language achievement, Openness to Experience, self-reported holistic intuition and impulsivity. Further, decreased LI (i.e., increased flexibility) was positively associated with self-reported faith in affective intuition and creative achievement in the Arts.;Additionally, self-reported desire and Openness to Intellectual Engagement (e.g., abstract thought), Affective Engagement (e.g., emotions), and Aesthetic Engagement (e.g., Art, Music and Fantasy) displayed differential patterns of predictions with the ability measures as well as deductive reasoning. They were also differentially related to self-report measures of the Big Five (Costa & McCrae, 1992), impulsivity, need for uniqueness, and creative achievement in the Arts and Sciences. Further, Fantasy Engagement predicted deductive reasoning even after controlling for ECA. The results suggest that variations in both Controlled-Reflective and Autonomous-Spontaneous forms of cognition can contribute to a more complete understanding of human intelligence.

393 pages, NOOKstudy eTextbook

About the author

Scott Barry Kaufman, Ph.D., is a humanistic psychologist exploring the depths of human potential. He has taught courses on intelligence, creativity, and well-being at Columbia University, NYU, the University of Pennsylvania, and elsewhere. In addition to writing the column Beautiful Minds for Scientific American, he also hosts The Psychology Podcast, and is author and/or editor of 9 books, including Transcend: The New Science of Self-Actualization, Wired to Create: Unravelling the Mysteries of the Creative Mind (with Carolyn Gregoire), and Ungifted: Intelligence Redefined. In 2015, he was named one of "50 Groundbreaking Scientists who are changing the way we see the world" by Business Insider. Find out more at http://ScottBarryKaufman.com.