Abstraction and Aging A Social Psychological Analysis [Paperback]

Abstraction is one facet of intellectual functioning. The study of abstraction allows extremely valuable insights into human intelligence. While this monograph indicates that the ability to think abstractly declines slightly with age, there are a number of variables determining abstract thinking and its relation to intelligence over the life-span. This monograph defines abstraction from all angles of thought, contrasting it with high-order thinking and stereotyped thinking; it discusses and evaluates tests of abstract thinking; and it presents new findings in sociological and psychological research on abstraction.Abstraction is one facet of intellectual functioning. The study of abstraction allows extremely valuable insights into human intelligence. While this monograph indicates that the ability to think abstractly declines slightly with age, there are a number of variables determining abstract thinking and its relation to intelligence over the life-span. This monograph defines abstraction from all angles of thought, contrasting it with high-order thinking and stereotyped thinking; it discusses and evaluates tests of abstract thinking; and it presents new findings in sociological and psychological research on abstraction.1 What is Abstraction? How is it Used? Why is it Important?.- 1.1 Introduction.- 1.2 Definitions, Distinctions, and Contrasts.- 1.3 Psychological Perspectives on Abstraction.- 1.4 Some Concrete Abstractions.- 1.5 Abstraction in Education.- 1.6 Refining the Definition of Abstraction.- 1.7 Chapter Summary.- 2 Abstraction Over the Life Course: Developmental and Methodological Concerns.- 2.1 Introduction.- 2.2 Abstraction and Cognitive Growth in Childhood.- 2.3 Intellectual Decline in Adulthood?.- 2.4 Mistaking Cohort Differences for Age Effects in Cross-Sectional Data.- 2.5 The Longitudinal Study of Adult Intellectual Development.- 2.6 Shortcomings of Longitudinal Designs and Studies.- 2.7 Differential Patterns of Development.- 2.8 Chapter Summary andlC%