The Inspection Time and Over-Claiming Tasks as Predictors of MBA Student Performance

Elementary cognitive tasks (ECTs) are typically used in laboratory settings for basic research on the structure of intelligence. More recently, ECTs have been shown to predict important educational and clinical outcomes. Here we found that ECTs possess both criterion and incremental validity over IQ and the graduate management admission test (GMAT) as predictors of (N = 116) MBA student grades and scores on a capstone exam. Validity coefficients for the ECTs ranged from 0.24 to 0.50. A median split on an ECT component showed that the best-performing ECT group had substantially higher grades, exam scores, IQs and GMAT scores. The inspection time ECT possessed significant incremental validity over both IQ and the GMAT. ECTs could therefore be promising additions to the arsenal of assessment techniques currently used in predicting important real-world outcomes

Putting Spearman\u27s Hypothesis to Work: Job IQ as a Predictor of Employee Racial Composition

Job complexity and employee intelligence covary strongly. Likewise, race differences exist on mean IQ / g scores. Spearman’s hypothesis predicts that race differences on cognitive tests are mainly g differences, and that the former should covary with how well mental tests measure the latter. Here we use jobs as “mental tests,” and predict that as job IQ increases, the percent of White and Asian workers will increase, while the percent of Black workers will decrease. We found moderate to strong support for Spearman’s hypothesis across these three racial groups. We also found a very large correlation (.86) between job IQ and complexity, as measured by the U.S. Federal Government’s Dictionary of Occupational Titles classification scheme. In sum, like different mental tests, different jobs are more or less g-loaded. And, consistent with Spearman’s hypothesis, the g-loading of a job predicts its demographic composition

Black-White Differences on IQ and Grades: The Mediating Role of Elementary Cognitive Tasks

The relationship between IQ scores and elementary cognitive task (ECT) performance is well established, with variance on each largely reflecting the general factor of intelligence, or g. Also ubiquitous are Black-White mean differences on IQ and measures of academic success, like grade point average (GPA). Given C. Spearman\u27s (Spearman, C. (1927). The Abilities of Man. New York: Macmillan) hypothesis that group differences vary directly with a test\u27s g loading, we explored whether ECT performance could mediate Black-White IQ and GPA differences. Undergraduates (139 White and 40 Black) completed the Wonderlic Personnel Test, followed by inspection time and choice reaction time ECTs. Despite restriction of range, ECT performance completely mediated Black-White differences on IQ (d=0.45). Group differences on GPA (d=0.73), however, were larger and ECT performance did not mediate them. We discuss findings in light of Spearman\u27s hypothesis

Only In America: Cold Winters Theory, Race, IQ, And Well-Being

ColdWinters Theory (CWT; Lynn, 1991) offers a viable explanation for race differences in intelligence. It proposes that IQ gaps exist because of different evolutionary pressures faced by the ancestral humanswho left Africa, comparedwith thosewho remained. Support for CWT comes by showing correlations between national temperature and IQ. Here we test whether temperature correlates with IQ (and other well-being variables) across the 50 U.S. states. Although human evolution is recent, copious and regional (Wade, 2014), insufficient time has passed for it to have operated on non-native residents of the USA. Instead, CWTmust predict no difference—or remain agnostic—on the existence of state-level correlations between temperature and IQ. Nonetheless, even after controlling for race, temperature strongly predicts state: IQ, religiosity, crime, education, health, income and global well-being. Evolution is therefore not necessary for temperature and IQ/well-being to co-vary meaningfully across geographic space

The Assurance of Learning Tool as Predictor and Criterion in Business School Admissions Decisions: New Use for an Old Standard?

The Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business incorporates program assessment as an integral part of the accreditation process. Assessment tools created to meet assurance of learning standards, however, must go beyond grades and measure student learning directly. The author shows that an in-house assessment tool predicted student learning and correlated well with admissions criteria used to select students into an MBA program. Specifically, assessment exam scores from 182 MBA students correlated 0.47 with their final MBA grades. The assessment exam scores themselves were also well predicted by student GMAT scores and undergraduate grades. The results show that assurance of learning assessment tools can be useful for more than just accreditation decisions. (Contains 2 tables.

Big Data And The Well-Being Nexus: Tracking Google Search Activity By State IQ

In the era of “big data,” internet search activity can provide interesting insight into human behavior. Here we used the Google Correlate algorithm (a database tracking billions of user searches) to identify search terms that co-varied most strongly with U.S. state-level IQ and wellbeing (see Pesta, McDaniel, & Bertsch, 2010). First, we identified the 100 strongest positive (e.g., crock pot applesauce, custom woodworking) and negative (e.g., ASVAB for Dummies, Hello Kitty) search term covariates for state IQ. We then rationally clustered search terms into composites (e.g., “food,” “job seeking activity”) based on similarity of concept. Thereafter, we correlated the composite scores with other well-being variables (e.g., crime, health). Search-term composite scores correlated stronglywith allwell-being variables.We offer post-hoc explanations for the various composite-score correlations, showing how state differences in internet search activity fit within the “well-being nexus” for the U.S.Moreover, we explore how the use of Google Correlate can inform additional research inquires in this domain

County-level USA: No Robust Relationship between Geoclimatic Variables and Cognitive Ability

Using a sample of ~3,100 U.S. counties, we tested geoclimatic explanations for why cognitive ability varies across geography. These models posit that geoclimatic factors will strongly predict cognitive ability across geography,even when a variety of common controls appear in the regression equations.Our results generally do not support UV radiation (UVR) based or other geoclimatic models. Specifically, although UVR alone predicted cognitive ability at the U.S. county-level (β = -.33), its validity was markedly reduced in the presence of climatic and demographic covariates (β = -.16), and was reduced even further with a spatial lag (β = -.10). For climate models,average temperature remained a significant predictor in the regression equation containing a spatial lag (β = .35). However, the effect was in the wrong direction relative to typical cold weather hypotheses. Moreover,when we ran the analyses separately by race/ethnicity, no consistent pattern appeared in the models containing the spatial lag. Analyses of gap sizes across counties were also generally inconsistent with predictions from the UVR model. Instead, results seemed to provide support for compositional models