sparrowsfall comments on Rationality in the Media: Don't (New Yorker, May 2009) - Less Wrong
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While this may not be practically helpful since one can do little about one's IQ, some might find interesting this recent study showing correlation between cognitive skills and patience, as well as other economically valuable preferences.
If this is safe, the patient marshmallow kids' 210-point SAT advantage is unsurprising (if less than revealing in terms of causation).
(A quick search didn't turn this up on LW or OB, but excuse me if it's a repeat.)
From the abstract: http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2009/04/23/0812360106.short?rss=1
Individuals with better CS are more patient, in both short- and long-run. Better CS are also associated with a greater willingness to take calculated risks. Second, CS predict social awareness and choices in a sequential Prisoner's Dilemma game. Subjects with better CS more accurately forecast others' behavior and differentiate their behavior as a second mover more strongly depending on the first-mover's choice. Third, CS, and in particular, the ability to plan, strongly predict perseverance on the job in a setting with a substantial financial penalty for early exit."
Ungated pdf: http://www.cemmap.ac.uk/resources/files/rustichini.pdf
"While this may not be practically helpful since one can do little about one's IQ,"
I think you can change one's IQ. I have believed that ever since I read Dweck.
I recently stumbled upon a paper published last year that suggests that fluid intelligence can be trained and that the training effect is dosage-dependent:
Improving fluid intelligence with training on working memory Jaeggi et al. PNAS. 2008.
Speaking of IQ, Linda S. Gottfredson recently published Logical fallacies used to dismiss the evidence on intelligence testing which might be of interest to some of the readers.
For anybody who's interested in trying the "dual n-back" task mentioned in Jaeggi et al., there is Brain Workshop, a free, open-source implementation, with a lively community of users.
Hey thanks for this. I'm always up for an article in intelligence research.
I agree that IQ is somewhat malleable, but I'm by no means confident that all attempts to raise IQ, e.g. test-taking skills, will reduce akrasia, or improve planning, or risk taking decisions.