Abstract
Over a century of research on between-person differences has resulted in the consensus that human cognitive abilities are hierarchically organized, with a general factor, termed general intelligence or “g,” uppermost. Surprisingly, it is unknown whether this body of evidence is informative about how cognition is structured within individuals. Using data from 101 young adults performing nine cognitive tasks on 100 occasions distributed over six months, we find that the structures of individuals’ cognitive abilities vary among each other, and deviate greatly from the modal between-person structure. Working memory contributes the largest share of common variance to both between- and within-person structures, but the g factor is much less prominent within than between persons. We conclude that between-person structures of cognitive abilities cannot serve as a surrogate for within-person structures. To reveal the development and organization of human intelligence, individuals need to be studied over time.
Highlights
The quantitative measurement of intelligence is one of the greatest accomplishments in the behavioral sciences (Nisbett et al, 2012)
Latent factor correlations with ability factors from an established paper-and-pencil test of intelligence showed that the ability factors of the practiced tasks show patterns of good convergent and discriminant validity at pretest, which do shift to some degree at posttest
Presentation times of episodic memory and working memory tasks were individually adjusted based on pretest performance to avoid floor or ceiling effects, and kept constant throughout the daily testing occasions
Summary
The quantitative measurement of intelligence is one of the greatest accomplishments in the behavioral sciences (Nisbett et al, 2012). A century or more of research has resulted in a consensus view that human cognitive abilities are hierarchically organized (Carroll, 1993). At the bottom of the hierarchy, numerous specific abilities, such as numerical reasoning or verbal fluency, can be identified. Differences between individuals in specific abilities form broader abilities like reasoning or episodic memory, which again show substantial positive correlations with one another. This pattern has led researchers to postulate the concept of a general cognitive ability, or ‘‘g,’’ at the top of the hierarchy
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
