Mental abilities and school achievement a test of a mediation hypothesis
- This study analyzes the interplay of four cognitive abilities - reasoning, divergent thinking, mental speed, and short-term memory - and their impact on academic achievement in school in a sample of adolescents in grades seven to 10 (N = 1135). Based on information processing approaches to intelligence, we tested a mediation hypothesis, which states that the complex cognitive abilities of reasoning and divergent thinking mediate the influence of the basic cognitive abilities of mental speed and short-term memory on achievement. We administered a comprehensive test battery and analyzed the data through structural equation modeling while controlling for the cluster structure of the data. Our findings support the notion that mental speed and short-term memory, as ability factors reflecting basic cognitive processes, exert an indirect influence on academic achievement by affecting reasoning and divergent thinking (total indirect effects: beta=.22 and .24. respectively). Short-term memory also directly affects achievement (beta=.22).
Verfasserangaben: | Miriam VockORCiDGND, Franzis Preckel, Heinz Rolling |
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DOI: | https://doi.org/10.1016/j.intell.2011.06.006 |
ISSN: | 0160-2896 |
Titel des übergeordneten Werks (Englisch): | Intelligence |
Verlag: | Elsevier |
Verlagsort: | New York |
Publikationstyp: | Wissenschaftlicher Artikel |
Sprache: | Englisch |
Jahr der Erstveröffentlichung: | 2011 |
Erscheinungsjahr: | 2011 |
Datum der Freischaltung: | 26.03.2017 |
Freies Schlagwort / Tag: | Academic achievement; Divergent thinking; Grades; Mental speed; Prediction; Reasoning; Short-term memory |
Band: | 39 |
Ausgabe: | 5 |
Seitenanzahl: | 13 |
Erste Seite: | 357 |
Letzte Seite: | 369 |
Organisationseinheiten: | Humanwissenschaftliche Fakultät / Strukturbereich Kognitionswissenschaften / Department Psychologie |
Peer Review: | Referiert |
Name der Einrichtung zum Zeitpunkt der Publikation: | Humanwissenschaftliche Fakultät / Institut für Psychologie |