Cognitive abilities and behavioral biases Oechssler, Jörg; Roider, Andreas; Schmitz, Patrick W.
Journal of economic behavior & organization,
10/2009, Letnik:
72, Številka:
1
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We use a simple, three-item test for cognitive abilities to investigate whether established behavioral biases that play a prominent role in behavioral economics and finance are related to cognitive ...abilities. We find that higher test scores on the cognitive reflection test of Frederick Frederick, S., 2005. Cognitive reflection and decision-making. Journal of Economic Perspectives 19, 25–42 indeed are correlated with lower incidences of the conjunction fallacy and conservatism in updating probabilities. Test scores are also significantly related to subjects’ time and risk preferences. Test scores have no influence on the amount of anchoring, although there is evidence of anchoring among all subjects. Even if incidences of most biases are lower for people with higher cognitive abilities, they still remain substantial.
Cognitive abilities and portfolio choice Christelis, Dimitris; Jappelli, Tullio; Padula, Mario
European economic review,
2010, 2010-1-00, 20100101, Letnik:
54, Številka:
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We study the relation between cognitive abilities and stockholding using the recent Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE), which has detailed data on wealth and portfolio ...composition of individuals aged 50+ in 11 European countries and three indicators of cognitive abilities: mathematical, verbal fluency, and recall skills. We find that the propensity to invest in stocks is strongly associated with cognitive abilities, for both direct stock market participation and indirect participation through mutual funds and retirement accounts. Since the decision to invest in less information-intensive assets (such as bonds) is less strongly related to cognitive abilities, we conclude that the association between cognitive abilities and stockholding is driven by information constraints, rather than by features of preferences or psychological traits.
Results of a 30-year research program indicate that specific cognitive abilities (s) provide little or no incremental validity beyond general cognitive ability (g). Definitions of g and s are ...provided and examples from training and job performance are presented. All samples are large adding to confidence in the results. On average, the increased validity for multiple regressions between using g versus g plus s was 0.02. The weight of the evidence suggests that the increment of 0.02 is an artifact of measurement error. An alternative ability model that fails to separate g and s is presented.
•This paper presents a review of the current state of research on general cognitive and specific cognitive abilities.•It presents the results of a thirty-year research program based on studying the predictive efficiency of these two types of cognitive abilities in training and job performance for a wide array of jobs.•Results consistently showed that general cognitive ability is more predictive than specific abilities.
The longitudinal rank-order stability of cognitive ability increases dramatically over the life span. Theoretical perspectives differ in their emphasis on genetic mechanisms in explaining the ...longitudinal stability of cognition and how stability changes with development. However, the patterns of stability of genetic and environmental influences on cognition over the life span remain poorly understood. We searched for longitudinal studies of cognition that reported raw genetically informative longitudinal correlations or parameter estimates from longitudinal behavior genetic models. We identified 150 combinations of time points and measures from 15 independent longitudinal samples. In total, longitudinal data came from 4,548 monozygotic twin pairs raised together, 7,777 dizygotic twin pairs raised together, 34 monozygotic twin pairs raised apart, 78 dizygotic twin pairs raised apart, 141 adoptive sibling pairs, and 143 nonadoptive sibling pairs, ranging in age from infancy through late adulthood. At all ages, cross-time genetic correlations and shared environmental correlations were substantially larger than cross-time nonshared environmental correlations. Cross-time correlations for genetic and shared environmental components were, respectively, low and moderate during early childhood, increased sharply over child development, and remained high from adolescence through late adulthood. Cross-time correlations for nonshared environmental components were low across childhood and gradually increased to moderate magnitudes in adulthood. Increasing phenotypic stability over child development was almost entirely mediated by genetic factors. Time-based decay of genetic and shared environmental stability was more pronounced earlier in child development. Results are interpreted in reference to theories of gene-environment correlation and interaction.
There is an ever-growing “trend” of bilingualism, and bilingual individuals long ago outnumbered monolinguals, which has led to different discussions and debates. This paper studies the impact of ...bilingualism on the well-being and cognitive abilities of Kosovan adolescents. A sample of 200 Kosovan adolescents was assessed using the Language Experience and Proficiency Questionnaire (LEAP-Q), Cognitive Failures Questionnaire (CFQ), and The Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Well-being Scale (WEMWBS). Data were collected through the physical administration of questionnaires in schools. Of the 200 participants (age: 13-18), 82 (41%) were males and 118 were females (59%). The results confirm that bilinguals had better cognitive abilities, fewer cognitive failures, and better mental well-being. Moreover, the level of proficiency in the second language was positively correlated with mental well-being and negatively correlated with cognitive failures. Both of these relationships were statistically significant. Strengths, limitations, and future research directions are also discussed.
Highlights • Sex differences in cognitive abilities are changing and vary across nations. • Some differences are found in infancy but depend on task characteristics. • Fraternal-twin studies help ...establish the role of prenatal androgens. • International data help explain the role of economic prosperity and gender equity. • Modifying biological and environmental factors could maximize cognitive potential.
Studies that investigate cognitive ability in African children and estimate the general cognitive abilities of African adults tend to work with existing models of intelligence. However, African ...philosophy and empirical studies in cross-cultural psychology have demonstrated that conceptualizations of human cognitive ability vary with location. This paper begins with the assumption that the existing Anglo-American models of cognitive abilities are valuable but limited in their capacity to account for the various conceptualizations of valued cognitive abilities in different human societies. On the basis of this assumption, I employ extant empirical evidence generated through ethnographic studies across Africa to formulate what an African model of valued human cognitive ability ought to be. The output of this formulation has been so christened a model of valued cognitive ability in order to draw attention to the fact that models of cognitive abilities have currency and values in each human society. This value allocation is expected to influence which elements of cognitive ability each human society will promote and develop. In addition, implications for theory, research and praxes are discussed.
Genes account for between approximately 50% and 70% of the variation in cognition at the population level. However, population-level estimates of heritability potentially mask marked subgroup ...differences. We review the body of empirical evidence indicating that (a) genetic influences on cognition increase from infancy to adulthood, and (b) genetic influences on cognition are maximized in more advantaged socioeconomic contexts (i.e., a Gene × Socioeconomic Status interaction). We discuss potential mechanisms underlying these effects, particularly transactional models of cognitive development. Transactional models predict that people in high-opportunity contexts actively evoke and select positive learning experiences on the basis of their genetic predispositions; these learning experiences, in turn, reciprocally influence cognition. The net result of this transactional process is increasing genetic influence with increasing age and increasing environmental opportunity.
Visual search (VS) comprises a class of tasks that we typically perform several times during a day and requires intentionally scanning (with or without moving the eyes) the environment for a specific ...target (be it an object or a feature) among distractor stimuli. Experimental research in lab-based or real-world settings has offered insight into its underlying neurocognitive mechanisms from a nomothetic point of view. A lesser-known but rapidly growing body of quasi-experimental and correlational research has explored the link between individual differences and VS performance. This combines different research traditions and covers a wide range of individual differences in studies deploying a vast array of VS tasks. As such, it is a challenge to determine whether any associations highlighted in single studies are robust when considering the wider literature. However, clarifying such relationships systematically and comprehensively would help build more accurate models of VS, and it would highlight promising directions for future research. This systematic review provides an up to date and comprehensive synthesis of the existing literature investigating associations between common indices of performance in VS tasks and measures of individual differences mapped onto four categories of cognitive abilities (short-term working memory, fluid reasoning, visual processing and processing speed) and seven categories of traits (Big Five traits, trait anxiety and autistic traits). Consistent associations for both traits (in particular, conscientiousness, autistic traits and trait anxiety – the latter limited to emotional stimuli) and cognitive abilities (particularly visual processing) were identified. Overall, however, informativeness of future studies would benefit from checking and reporting the reliability of all measurement tools, applying multiplicity correction, using complementary techniques, study preregistration and testing why, rather than only if, a robust relation between certain individual differences and VS performance exists.
Government commitment to early-life education intervention has contributed to human capital accumulation and economic growth in developing countries. Using data from the China Family Panel Studies, ...we investigate the effects of the primary school consolidation program on children’s cognitive development and behavioral performance. Using a cohort difference-in-differences model, we find that rural children who experienced school consolidation performed better in cognitive tests and had higher levels of openness of the Big Five personality traits, but lower levels of extraversion. Further analysis suggests that early-life education intervention generates long-term effects. Those who experienced school consolidation had higher educational attainment, better occupational fit, and more consistent independent learning, but difficulties in interpersonal interaction. Our findings imply that early-life education intervention should pay more attention to the cultivation of socio-emotional abilities.
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