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Relations between intelligence and the development of metaconceptual knowledge

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Abstract

Across two studies, we developed and tested a declarative metacognitive interview to investigate the effects of developmental level and verbal intelligence on children's metaconceptual understanding of processes related to concept use and object categorization. Metaconceptual knowledge developed throughout elementary school, with near ceiling scores for adults. IQ scores correlated positively with metaconceptual interview scores for all groups of children. Study 2 confirmed a relationship between scores on the metaconceptual interview and performance on a Twenty Questions task for which strategic performance was presumed to depend on such knowledge, though metaconceptual knowledge was most important when IQ was lower. Implications for theory development and hypotheses about how metaconceptual knowledge develops are discussed.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Indiana University, Bloomington, USA

    Joyce M. Alexander, Jennifer Albano, Thea Freygang & Brianna Scott

  2. Indiana University–Purdue University, Indianapolis, USA

    Kathy E. Johnson

  3. Department of Counseling and Educational Psychology, 201 N. Rose Ave., Room 4038, Bloomington, IN, 47405-1006, USA

    Joyce M. Alexander

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  1. Joyce M. Alexander
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  2. Kathy E. Johnson
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  3. Jennifer Albano
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  4. Thea Freygang
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Correspondence to Joyce M. Alexander.

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Alexander, J.M., Johnson, K.E., Albano, J. et al. Relations between intelligence and the development of metaconceptual knowledge. Metacognition Learning 1, 51–67 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11409-006-6586-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11409-006-6586-8

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