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Abstract

Investigated the relationship between Jensen's Level I-Level II mental abilities and how they correlate with problem solving. The Davis distinction between Type “O” and Type “C” tasks served as the model of problem solving. 110 college students served as subjects. The WAIS Digit Span subtest and Raven's Progressive Matrix Test were used to assess Level I and Level II abilities, respectively. A concept-identification task was selected to measure Type “O” problem solving and the WAIS Arithmetic subtest was chosen as the Type “C” problem. The Pearson correlation between Level I and Level II abilities of .07 was nonsignificant whereas all correlations between intelligence and problem-solving tasks proved to be significant. However, Level II correlated significantly higher with success at Type “O” problem solving than did Level I; no differences were found between Level I and Level II abilities and Type “C” problem solving. The results do not support Jensen's “twisted pear” hypothesis concerning the relationship between Level I-Level II abilities. Hypotheses concerning level of intelligence and problem solving were partially confirmed.

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Relationships between Level I and Level II Abilities and Problem Solving

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