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Author: Brown, Matt I.
Resulting in 1 citation.
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Brown, Matt I. Wai, Jonathan Chabris, Christopher F. |
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Can You Ever Be Too Smart for Your Own Good? Comparing Linear and Nonlinear Effects of Cognitive Ability on Life Outcomes Perspectives on Psychological Science published online (8 March 2021): DOI: 10.1177/1745691620964122. Also: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/1745691620964122 Cohort(s): NLSY79, NLSY97 Publisher: Association for Psychological Science (APS) Keyword(s): Armed Forces Qualifications Test (AFQT); Body Mass Index (BMI); British Cohort Study (BCS); Cognitive Ability; Depression (see also CESD); Educational Attainment; Health/Health Status/SF-12 Scale; Income; Sociability/Socialization/Social Interaction; Well-Being; Wisconsin Longitudinal Study/H.S. Panel Study (WLS) Permission to reprint the abstract has not been received from the publisher. Despite a long-standing expert consensus about the importance of cognitive ability for life outcomes, contrary views continue to proliferate in scholarly and popular literature. This divergence of beliefs presents an obstacle for evidence-based policymaking and decision-making in a variety of settings. One commonly held idea is that greater cognitive ability does not matter or is actually harmful beyond a certain point (sometimes stated as > 100 or 120 IQ points). We empirically tested these notions using data from four longitudinal, representative cohort studies comprising 48,558 participants in the United States and United Kingdom from 1957 to the present. We found that ability measured in youth has a positive association with most occupational, educational, health, and social outcomes later in life. Most effects were characterized by a moderate to strong linear trend or a practically null effect (mean R2 range = .002-.256). Nearly all nonlinear effects were practically insignificant in magnitude (mean incremental R2 = .001) or were not replicated across cohorts or survey waves. We found no support for any downside to higher ability and no evidence for a threshold beyond which greater scores cease to be beneficial. Thus, greater cognitive ability is generally advantageous--and virtually never detrimental. |
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Bibliography Citation
Brown, Matt I., Jonathan Wai and Christopher F. Chabris. "Can You Ever Be Too Smart for Your Own Good? Comparing Linear and Nonlinear Effects of Cognitive Ability on Life Outcomes." Perspectives on Psychological Science published online (8 March 2021): DOI: 10.1177/1745691620964122.
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