Do we need intelligence? Some reflections on the perceived importance of "g"

The decline in psychometric measures of general intelligence (g) and perfor mance of similar laboratory-based tasks has been pivotal in shaping psychog erontology's views of the aging intellect, and by extension, the ability to learn. However, parallel to this is the consideration that the motivation and intellectual needs of older adults may change. The study presented heir found that levels of need for cognition are closely related to older adult s' performance on Piagetian tasks, indicating an intellectual lifestyle pre ference that operates alongside, and interactively with, performance on tra ditional intellectual measures. The implications of this are discussed.