Adulthood:
Cognitive Development
Age 25 +
What is adult IQ, and how does expertise develop?
What is intelligence?

Spearman’s “G”
◦ General intelligence
◦ One basic trait
◦ Inferred from vocabulary, memory, &
reasoning
How is age related to intelligence?
IQ – Once thought to decline after age 20
 Now only thought to decline at age 60, 70,
80
 Seattle longitudinal study

◦ Intellectual functioning in older adults increases
if they do paid work that is intellectually
stimulating.
What are the components of
intelligence?
What are two clusters (types) of
intelligence?

Fluid intelligence
◦
◦
◦
◦
Quick and flexible
Provides easy learning
Good working memory & abstract thought
Decreases during adulthood
 Can be temporarily counteracted by crystallized
intelligence

Crystallized intelligence
◦ Accumulated learning
◦ Vocabulary - Language
◦ Increases during adulthood
Fluid & Crystallized intelligence
Do you remember?
What is Spearman’s “G”?
 What is the difference between fluid and
crystallized intelligence?

◦ Which declines with age?
◦ How can this decline be temporarily
counteracted?
What are Sternberg’s types of
intelligence?

Analytic intelligence
◦ Book smarts
 Remembering things in high school and college

Creative intelligence
◦ Flexible
◦ Imaginative thinking
◦ Not standard or conventional

Practical intelligence
◦ Street smarts
How does age effect intelligence?
What do you gain and lose with age?
How can selective optimization &
compensation help adults?

People select what they want to focus on
◦ E.g. Pediatric nursing (Selection)

People compensate for aging or other
difficulties
◦ E.g. Wear glasses or increase type size on
computer (Compensation)

Build their nursing expertise
(Optimization)
Expert Cognition (Thinking)
How do experts think?
What is a selective expert?

Everyone has more skill and knowledge
than others in what they are interested in
What determines who is an expert?
E.g. Brain surgeon
 More skilled and knowledgeable than
novices

How do experts think?

Intuitive
◦ Rely on past experience
◦ More intuitive, less Stereotypical
◦ Knows when to bend formal procedures and
rules
◦ E.g. “Gut feeling” that this is what to do

Automatic
◦ Thinking without deliberate, conscious thought
 E.g. Driving
◦ Process most tasks automatically
 Saving conscious thought for unfamiliar challenges
How do experts think?
Cont.

Strategic
◦ Better strategies handling unexpected
problems

Flexible
◦ Being creative and flexible when needed.

Example = “The miracle on the Hudson”
Flight
What is the relationship between
expertise and age?
Expertise needs time, training, ability and
practice to develop
 Expertise can sometimes overcome the
effects of age
 Experienced adults often use selective
optimization with compensation

Do you remember?
What are Sternberg’s three types of
intelligence?
 How can adults use their intellectual
strengths to compensate for declining
abilities?
 What is intuitive and automatic thinking?
