P1:GnI CY183-FM 0521809886 April16,2003 11:10 This page intentionally left blank ii P1:GnI CY183-FM 0521809886 April16,2003 11:10 ThePsychologyofAbilities,Competencies, andExpertise Thegoalofthisbookistocharacterizethenatureofabilities,compe- tencies, and expertise and to understand the relations among them. Thebookthereforeseekstointegrateintoacoherentdisciplinewhat formerlyhavebeen,toalargeextent,threeseparatedisciplines.Such integration makes both theoretical and practical sense because abil- ities represent potentials to achieve competencies and, ultimately, expertise. Chapter authors (a) present their views on the nature of abilities,competencies,andexpertise;(b)presenttheirviewsonthe interrelationshipsamongthesethreeconstructs;(c)statetheirviews on how these three constructs can be assessed and developed; (d) present empirical data supporting their positions; (e) compare and contrast their positions to alternative positions, showing why they believe their positions to be preferred; and (f) speculate on the implicationsoftheirviewpointsforscience,education,andsociety. Robert J. Sternberg is IBM Professor of Psychology and Education andDirectoroftheCenterforthePsychologyofAbilities,Competen- cies, and Expertise (PACE Center), Department of Psychology, Yale University. He is currently President of the American Psychologi- calAssociationandEditorofTheAPAReviewofBooks:Contemporary Psychology. The author of more than 900 published works, includ- ingmultiplebooksandarticles,Sternberghaswonnumerousawards forhiswork. Elena L. Grigorenko holds a Ph.D. in general psychology from MoscowStateUniversityandaPh.D.indevelopmentalpsychology andgeneticsfromYaleUniversity.Dr.Grigorenkohaspublishedmore than100booksandarticlesandhaswonadissertationawardandthree earlycareerawards.ShehasworkedwithAmerican,Russian,Indian, and African children in multiple countries around the world. Her maininterestsareindividualdifferences,childdevelopment,andex- ceptionalchildren.Currently,Dr.GrigorenkoisAssociateProfessorof ChildStudiesandPsychologyatYaleandatMoscowStateUniversity. i P1:GnI CY183-FM 0521809886 April16,2003 11:10 ii P1:GnI CY183-FM 0521809886 April16,2003 11:10 The Psychology of Abilities, Competencies, and Expertise Editedby ROBERT J. STERNBERG YaleUniversity ELENA L. GRIGORENKO YaleUniversityand MoscowStateUniversity iii    Cambridge, New York, Melbourne, Madrid, Cape Town, Singapore, São Paulo Cambridge University Press The Edinburgh Building, Cambridge  , United Kingdom Published in the United States of America by Cambridge University Press, New York www.cambridge.org Information on this title: www.cambridge.org/9780521809887 © Cambridge University Press 2003 This book is in copyright. Subject to statutory exception and to the provision of relevant collective licensing agreements, no reproduction of any part may take place without the written permission of Cambridge University Press. First published in print format 2003 -  isbn-13 978-0-511-07262-8 eBook (EBL) -  isbn-10 0-511-07262-7 eBook (EBL) -  isbn-13 978-0-521-80988-7 hardback -  isbn-10 0-521-80988-6 hardback isbn--13 978-0-521-00776-4 paperback -  isbn-10 0-521-00776-3 paperback Cambridge University Press has no responsibility for the persistence or accuracy of s for external or third-party internet websites referred to in this book, and does not guarantee that any content on such websites is, or will remain, accurate or appropriate. P1:GnI CY183-FM 0521809886 April16,2003 11:10 Contents Preface pagevii ListofContributors xi 1 TraitComplexes,CognitiveInvestment, andDomainKnowledge 1 PhilipAckermanandMargaretE.Beier 2 IntelligenceasAdaptiveResourceDevelopmentand ResourceAllocation:ANewLookThroughtheLenses ofSOCandExpertise 31 RalfT.KrampeandPaulB.Baltes 3 DevelopingChildhoodProclivitiesintoAdult Competencies:TheOverlookedMultiplierEffect 70 StephenJ.Ceci,SusanM.Barnett,andTomoeKanaya 4 TheSearchforGeneralAbilitiesandBasicCapacities: TheoreticalImplicationsfromtheModifiabilityand ComplexityofMechanismsMediatingExpert Performance 93 K.AndersEricsson 5 OnAbilitiesandDomains 126 MichaelW.Connell,KimberlySheridan,andHowardGardner 6 ExpertiseandMentalDisabilities:Bridging theUnbridgeable? 156 ElenaL.Grigorenko 7 TheEarlyProgressofAbleYoungMusicians 186 MichaelJ.A.HoweandJaneW.Davidson v P1:GnI CY183-FM 0521809886 April16,2003 11:10 vi Contents 8 Expertise,Competence,andCreativeAbility: ThePerplexingComplexities 213 DeanKeithSimonton 9 BiologicalIntelligence 240 RobertJ.Sternberg 10 WhatCausesIndividualDifferencesin CognitivePerformance? 263 RichardE.Mayer Index 275 P1:GnI CY183-FM 0521809886 April16,2003 11:10 Preface Somepeoplestudyabilities,somestudyexpertise,butfewstudyboth. Traditionally, the study of abilities has been seen as relatively distinct fromthestudyofexpertise,andtheliteraturesthathavedevelopedin thesetwoareasarelargelydistinctaswell. Abilitytheoristshavearguedaboutalternativefactorial,process,bio- logical,contextual,orothermodelsofexpertise,but,withfewexceptions (suchasHowardGardner),havedrawnonlysparselinksbetweentheir studiesandstudiesofexpertperformance.Individualswithhighlevels ofexpertisearesimplyassumedtohavedevelopedthesehighlevelsof expertiseasafunctionoftheirhighlevelsofabilities. Expertise theorists have argued about what it is that makes some- oneanexpert,suchasoutstandinginformationprocessingorahighly organized knowledge base, or they have argued about how expertise isacquired,forexample,throughdeliberatepracticeorskilledappren- ticeship. They have failed to consider fully the role of expertise in the developmentandmaintenanceofexpertise,andindeed,fewexpertise theoristshaveusedanytestsofabilitiesintheirresearch. Competenciesoftenhavebeenviewedasanendpointinthestudyof abilities (for example, as providing criteria against which measures of abilitiesarevalidated)orasabeginningpointinthestudyofexpertise (forexample,asprovidingabaselinefornovices,oratleast,nonexperts, against which expertise performance can be compared). Competency theoristshavesometimeslinkedtheirworktoabilities,andsometimes toexpertise,butrarelytoboth. The result of this separation among the studies of abilities, compe- tencies, and expertise is that the field of psychology lacks relatively vii P1:GnI CY183-FM 0521809886 April16,2003 11:10 viii Preface comprehensive accounts of how abilities, competencies, and expertise relate, for example, through the development of abilities into compe- tenciesandlaterintovaryinglevelsofexpertise. The mission of this book is to present alternative viewpoints of the relationships among abilities, competencies, and expertise. The book therefore seeks to integrate into a coherent discipline what formerly have been, to a large extent, separate disciplines. Such an integration makes both theoretical and practical sense, because abilities are of in- terest because they represent potentials to achieve competencies and, ultimately,expertise. Psychology students often wonder how there can exist within the fieldofpsychologywidelydiscrepanttheoriesofthesamephenomenon. Theyalsowonderhowtheoriescanbesowellabletoaccountforcertain kindsoffactspertainingtoagivenphenomenon,butnotforotherkinds offacts.Oneofthereasonsthatsuchpuzzlesariseisthatinvestigators tendtolimittheirresearchtoparticularparadigms,toparticularaspects ofphenomena,orboth. Forexample,onemightarguethatg(generalintelligence)theorists tend to rely on studies showing the internal and external validities of measuresoftheso-calledgeneralfactorofintelligence,butlargelydis- count many studies that show discriminant validity for other, non-g- basedmeasures.Atthesametime,multiple-intelligencetheoristslargely discountthevoluminousevidencethatseemstofavorageneralfactor. Moregenerally,abilitiestheoristslargelyignoretheliteratureonexper- tisethatshowstheimportanceofdeliberatepracticeinthedevelopment ofexpertise,whereasexpertisetheoristslargelyignoretheliteratureon abilitiesshowinghowmuchdifferenceabilitiescanmaketotheattain- mentofexpertlevelsofperformancesofdiversekinds.Thisbookinte- gratesbothparadigmsandmultiplefacetsofwhatwebelievetobethree highlyinterrelatedphenomenathatforcepsychologicalresearchersas well as consumers of such research to confront other paradigms and aspectsofphenomenathattheymaynothavefullyconfrontedintheir pastthinking. The book may be of interest to differential, cognitive, educational, school, industrial/organizational, counseling, and biological psychol- ogists who wish to learn about the relations among abilities, compe- tencies,andexpertise.Itmayalsobeofinteresttoeducators,cognitive scientists,andcognitiveneuroscientistsinterestedinquestionsrelated totheseconstructs.Thebookhasbeenwrittenatalevelcomprehensible toadvancedundergraduatestudents.