Intelligence and technology: the impact of tools on the nature and development of human abilities

139 Pages·2005·16.47 MB·English

by  Robert J Sternberg and David Preiss

Intelligence and Technology
The Impact of Tools on the Nature and
Development of Human Abilities
THE EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY SERIES
RobertJ . Sternberg and Wendy M. Williams, Series Editors
Marton/Booth • Learning and Awareness
Intelligence and Technology
. Hacker/Dw1lovsky/Graesser, Eds.· Metacognition in Educational Theory
and Practice
The Impact of Tools on the Nature and
Smith/Pourchot, Eds. • Adult Learning and Development: Perspectives From
Educational Psychology Development of Human Abilities
Sternberg/Williams, Eds. • Intelligence, Instruction, and Assessment: Theory
Into Practice
Martinez • Education as the Cultivation ofI ntelligence
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Student and Teacher Learning
Edited by
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David D. Preiss
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Dai/Sternberg, Eds .• Motivation, Emotion, and Cognition: Integrative
Perspectives on Intelkctual Functioning and Development
Sternberg/Preiss, Eds. • Intelligence and Technology: The Impact of Tools on the
Nature and Development ofH uman AUlities
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Library of Congress Cataloging~in~Publication Data
Intelligence and technology: the impact of tools on the nature and
development of human abilities / edited by Robert]. Sternberg, David D.
Preiss.
p. cm.-(The educational psychology series)
Includes bibliographical references and indexes,
ISBN 0-8058-4927-0 (casebound: alk. paper)
1. Information technology-Social aspects. 2. Intellect. 1. Sternberg,
Robert]. H. Preiss, David, 1973- Ill. Series.
T58.5.1565 2005
153.9-dc22
2005004906
Books published by Lawrence Erlbaum Associates are printed on
acid~free paper, and their bindings are chosen for strength and
durability.
Printed in the United States of America
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 I
Contents
Foreword ix
Preface xiii
List of Contributors xxiii
PART I COGNITIVE TECHNOLOGIES IN mSTORICAL
AND CULTURAL EVOLUTION 1
1 Technology and Cognition Amplification 3
&ymond S. Nickerson
2 Technology and the Development ofIntelligence:
From the Loom to the Computer 29
Ashl.ey E. Maynard, Kaveri Subrahmanyam, and
Patricia M. Greenfield
3 Technology and Intelligence in a Literate Society 55
David R Olson
PART 11 COGNITIVE CONSEQUENCES OF
EDUCATIONAL TECHNOLOGIES 69
4 Do Technologies Make Us Smarter? Intellectual
Amplification With, Of and Through Technology 71
Gavriel Salomon and David Perkins
vii
viii CONTENTS
5 Cognitive Tools for the Mind: The Promises of
Technology-Cognitive Amplifiers or Bionic Prosthetics? 87
Susanne 1'. Lajoie
PART III TECHNOLOGICAL PARTNERSIDPS AT WORK 103 Foreword
6 Work in Progress: Reinventing Intelligence
for an Invented World 105
Alex Kirlik
7 Cooperation Between Human Cognition and Technology
in Dynamic Situations 135
Jean-Michel Hoc
8 Transferring Technologies to Developing Countries:
A Cognitive and Cultural Approach 159
Carlos Diaz-Canepa
PART IV INTELLIGENT TECHNOLOGIES AND
TECHNOLOGICAL INTELLIGENCES 181
9 Technologies for Working Intelligence 183
David D. Preiss and Robert J Sternberg This challenging collection of essays deals with the impact of evolving in
formation technologies on human mental life and, indeed, on the nature
10 We Have Met Technology and It Is Us 209 and organization of human culture as a store of information-processing
Michael Cale and Jan Derry techniques. What topic could be more relevant to our swiftly changing con
temporary world? For we are blessed, besotted, and threatened by such
Author Index 229 technologies and preoccupied by their uses. Some are seemingly benign, as
when the Internet broadens the horizons of the young, or when computers
Subject Index 237
take the Dickensian drudgery out of bookkeeping. Some are more worrying
in their impact, as when one speculates whether information technology
may promote imperialism by widening the gap between informationally
adept military powers and word-of-mouth local insurgents. This volume is
principally (though not exclusively) about the former, about changes in
thinking, feeling, and relating to each other created by the current infor
mation revolution. But it goes beyond its influences on individual mental
activity to consider how the new technologies might alter the cultures and
the economies that come to rely on them.
A word about this last point first. It is hardly news that technological
growth changes how life is lived on our globe. Is the new information revo
lution, like revolutions before it, going to skew still further the astonishing
maldistribution of wealth on our planet? To paraphrase James Wolfensohn,
the president of the World Bank, one sixth of the world's population owns
80% of the wealth, and another sixth subsists on less than a dollar a day.
Indeed, worldwide wealth mal distribution is paralleled at national levels as
ix
x FOREWORD FOREWORD xi
well, with America as perhaps the most striking example. Two of the chap came to be appreciated-and, indeed, when the possible importance of the
ters in the pages following deal particularly with the puzzling psycho-cultural latter as aids to the former became fully apparent.
problems created by introducing "advanced" information technologies into Now, nearly a half-century later, we are all of us deep into the question of
cultures or subcultures where they are not ordinarily found, and both of how human problem solvers use technologically proficient "free-standing,"
them (one by Ashley Maynard, Kaveri Subrahmanyam, and Patricia Green problem-solving programs as adjuncts in our efforts to get answers to our
field, the other by Michael Cole and Jan Derry) make plain that culture problems. Indeed, we are now asking how (not whether) formal problem
has a compelling effect in shaping minds and that technology makes huge solving programs can help us formulate our problems better. This, in turn,
differences. (and not surprisingly) has led us to inquire whether human culture itself
The overwhelming consensus of this book's authors is that it is the uses of a cannot be conceived of as a stored and shared collection of ways of for
technology that matters, that our minds appropriate ways of representing the mulating problems and, indeed, of storing customary approaches to their
world from using and relating to the codes or rules of available technology. solution. To be sure, this is not altogether new: Mter all, it was a question
Yet, it is not simply that we are sbaped by the "tools" that we use, as in the by that motivated both Plato and Aristotle. Indeed, Giambattista Vico was pre
now classic story of human evolution-that human beings are is not simply occupied with it some 3 centuries ago. They, too, wondered about how the
Homo sapiens, but also Homo faber. It is also that certain forms of tool use human mind was affected by this "inner-outer" interaction.
permit us to create a metarepresentation of the world and the uses of mind in The essays in this book now take it for granted, quite properly, that the
coming to d,at representation. Technologies for storing, transforming, and mind is not locked away from the culture's treasury of formal problem
appropriately retrieving information provide occasion for "turning around" solving programs, that it uses tbem constantly and, indeed, constantly adds
on our own usages, for seeing them in new and more detached ways, and for to the treasury. Now, finally, we are explicitly asking the crucial question of
sharing our representation with others. In the process, we enter and come how this process affects the mind. As several of this volume's authors ask,
to take for granted a world of knowledge that we can use. how shall we now think of the relation between mind and the culture that
This process cannot be oversimplified as just the amplification of human both shapes and enables it? The final chapter pays a fitting tribute to tbe
mental functions by computers-the amplification of memory by systems of anthropologist Leslie White who, a half century ago, posed this problem in a
storage-and-retrieval, of thought by problem-solving and trouble-shooting particularly lucid and challenging way. I join the tribute. But I would like to
programs, etc. One soon learns, reading the pages of this intriguing book, broaden it to include the many others who have dared cope with this same
that there is also something more than amplification involved, that there problem, each in their own way-Vico, to be sure, but also Wilhelm Wundt,
is something more "meta" about our approach to mental functioning that Emile Durkeim, George Herbert Mead, and, yes, Benjamin Lee Whorf and
results. Indeed, under these circumstances the boundary between what is John von Neumann. All of them would read this book with wonder-and
"inner" and what is "outer" gets more porous-as well it might. Is that crucial astonishment.
boundary threatened?
I must say one final thing to put this book into historical perspective. In -JEROME BRUNER
1956, I wrote a book along with two colleagues titled A Study of Thinking. New York University
It dealt with how people categorized the things and events of the world and
their "strategies" for ordering their encounters with possible instances of
the categories they were using. Historically minded commentators like to
say now that the book helped precipitate what is now, in retrospect, called the
Cognitive Revolution. At the time, it received a quite mixed reaction: Some
felt, in those behavioristically inclined days, that it was too mentalistic. In
fact, the book was inspired principally by John von Neumann's early work on
computational theory, work largely unknown to psychologists in those days.
It is interesting to note that it was only when computational theorists began
discovering the programmatic nature of"machine prOblem solving" that the
complementary relationship between human and machine problem solving
Preface
We live in a world that is increasingly dependent on technology. The dif
fusion of computers and information technologies has changed the nature
of multiple activities that were previously accomplished using paper-based
technologies. New technologies have not only been created by the cognitive
skills of their inventors, these technologies have transformed the nature of
cognitive skills. To illustrate, today the use of word processors is so prevalent
that writing relates progressively less to the cultivation of expression on pa
per and more to effective computer use. There is evidence that this change
restructures the writing process, as planning and reviewing with word proces
sors involves more cognitive effort than does working in longhand (Kellogg
& Mueller, 1993). Moreover, it is possible to correct errors and to restructure
material in ways that were never possible without computer technology.
Computers and hand-held calculators have also changed the nature of
mathematical abilities. In past times, for example, the number factor in
Thurstone's (1938) theory was measured, in large part, by tests ofarithmetic
computation (Thurstone & Thurstone, 1941). Achievement tests would also
emphasize arithmetic computation as one of two or three basic skills (with
the others usually identified as arithmetic problem solving and perhaps
arithmetic concepts). Today, such tests would seem to many people to rep
resent an anachronism, as hand-held calculators and computers have ren
dered arithmetical-computational skills much less important than they were
in the past.
xiv PREFACE PREFACE xv
Finally, there is evidence that computers have had an impact on the na computer technology has evolved (Lin, 2000). For instance, programming
ture of visual skills as well. For example, there appears to be a causal re was considered an important skill in the early 1980s, but less so today, when
lation between the amount of practice with computer applications (such Internet-related skills seem to be more important. On the other hand, nowa
as video games) and higher levels of performance in spatial and visual days the skills necessary for being an empowered citizen not only require
tasks (Greenfield, 1998; Subrahmanyam, Greenfield, Kraut, & Gross, 2001). the mastering of a few computer applications-the technological-literacy
Based on this evidence, Greenfield (1998) proposed that the proliferation of factor-but also require the acquisition of the ability to use problem-solving
computer applications may be related to the reported increase in raw-score intellectual capabilities in an information-technology context (Hunt, 1995;
equivalents of nonverbal IQs during the last century (Flynn, 1987). Lin, 2000). In brief, as software and computer applications evolve, they
Certainly, the computer revolution has increased our awareness of the make perceptible the secularly changing nature of human abilities. The
cognitive consequences of technology. The nature of its impact on cog technological-literacy arena is consistent, thus, with Sternberg'S claims
nition has been strongly debated among educators, however. The massive that human skills are adaptive and, to a large extent, context dependent
implementation of the use of computers in schools has actually raised the (Sternberg, 1985, 1990, 2000; Sternberg & Wagner, 1986).
question of whether computers, by altering the technological base of liter An intimate relation between technology and cognition is not exclusive
acy, are generating a new form ofliteracy (Tuman, 1992). Some researchers to the computer era, however. In effect, it has been suggested that writing
are optimistic about the prospects of using computers and new technologies should be given the status of a technology with the power to restructure hu
in education to foster student learning (Reinking, 1998). Accordingly, some man thinking (Olson, 1994). There is an essential relation between human
psychologists view computers as one of the main sources of change in the intelligence and technology. Tools mediate the relation between mind and
educational sys'tem (Gardner, 2000). Notwithstanding this optimistic stance, environment: At the same time that abilities are shaped by the technological
research has shown that computers do not improve academic achievement setup that constitutes their environment, human beings actively create and
per se: Their impact depends on a positive confluence of several variables, use tools and devices to adjust and to shape their environment.
such as student engagement, group participation, frequent interaction and As a result, investigation of the cognitive consequences of technology
feedback from mentors, and connections to real-world contexts (Roschelle, should not be considered an auxiliary matter restricted to the inquiry on
Pea, Hoadley, Gordin, & Means, 2000). Moreover, there is evidence that computer applications. In effect, studying the psychological side of cultural
successful implementation of technology in the classroom is mediated by tools is key to understanding a number of relevant observable facts, such as
teachers' instructional philosophies (Becker, 1999). Thus, diffusion of com the earlier-mentioned rise in IQ scores during the 20th century (Greenfield,
puters in the schools not only has increased our appreciation of the cognitive 1998), the acquisition of language by the child (Tomasello, 1999,2000),
consequences of technology but also of the social processes that mediate its and the cognitive consequences of literacy (Olson, 1994), among others.
impact. Although these different phenomena may seem to belong to disparate areas
There are other ways the computer revolution has called attention to of psychology, attention to technology could help us to understand the
the impact of technology on cognition, in addition to its impact on edu basic and generic mechanisms that underlie all of them. Consequently, the
cational practices. As computer-based forms replace paper-based forms of technology-cognition interface should receive more systematic attention
communication, the average skills required in work settings have changed and the integration between different psychological streams of research
as well. The term computer literacy is commonly used to illustrate the fact that relevant to technology should be encouraged.
paper-related skills such as reading and writing are not enough to be a "pro A long-standing tradition in psychology has been the systematic study
ductive citizen" in the information society (Reinking, 1998). However, the of the role of tools in the development of higher psychological processes
nature of these new skills is not completely clear. Consequently, the notion (Bruner & Olson, 1977; Luria, 1976; Vygotsky, 1978, 1986). In addition,
of computer literacy is used morc as an intuitive notion than as a clear-cut within psychology, inquiries into the psychological consequences of tech
construct. Additionally, the malleable nature of information technology has nology is present in a wide range of its subdisciplines: cultural and so
made it more difficult to delimit a definite notion of computer literacy. cial psychology, industrial! organizational and human factors psychology,
In fact, there are no easily identifiable paradigmatic skills such as reading and developmental and educational psychology. This volume presents a
and writing in the computer arena. On the one hand, the skills compos multifaceted, but unified, statement of the different approaches involved in
ing computer literacy are technology-dependent, so they have changed as the study of this relevant topic.
-
xvi PREFACE PREFACE xvii
GOALS AND OVERVIEW OF THE BOOK 1. What is the approach you use to study technology, tool use, and cog
nition?
To our knowledge, there has been no previous book that puts together 2. Why do you use this approach?
into one complete volume the progress that has been made in recent years
3. "'What questions does your approach answer and not answer? What are
across different perspectives. This volume is inclusive and multidisciplinary.
its strengths and weaknesses?
It includes historical, comparative, sociocultural, cognitive, educational,
4. How does your approach relate to other approaches?
industrial/organizational, and human factors approaches. Authors are re
5. What are the theory or theories underlying your work?
searchers from different countries and varied research areas who have par
ticipated in order to stimulate international multidisciplinary discussion. 6. What data have you obtained based on your approach, and how do
This book can be useful to a wide audience interested in understanding you interpret them?
the impact of technological tools on intellectual development. Moreover, 7. Where do you see your research program going in the future?
it should foster dialogue between researchers and professionals from dif
ferent subfields of the psychological sciences. Thus, it should be instru Authors were instructed to write in a way that is interpretable to first-year
mental in unifying technological inquiries within psychology (Sternberg & graduate students in psychOlogy, with no specialized background.
Grigorenko, 2001; Sternberg, Grigorenko, & Ralmar, 2001). The foreword of this volume is written by Jerome Bruner, to whom the
The goal of the book is to have readers reflect on the impact of various book is dedicated.
technologies on human abilities, competencies, and expertise. Some of the Part I deals with "Cognitive Technologies in Historical and Cultural Evo
questions addressed are: lution." The chapters in this part deal with the history of cognitive tech
nologies and how they have evolved with culture, but also, helped culture
• What is the impact of different technologies on human abilities? evolve.
• How does technology enhance or limit human intellectual functioning? Chapter 1, "Technology and Cognition Amplification," is by Raymond
S. Nickerson. Technology, broadly conceived as the building of artifacts
• What is the cognitive impact of complex technologies?
or procedures-tools-to help people accomplish their goals, predates
• What is the cognitive impact of the transfer of technologies?
recorded history. The practice of building tools that aid one or another
• How can we design technologies that foster intellectual growth?
human function-perceptual, motor, cognitive-is probably nearly as old
• How does technology mediate the impact of cultural variables on hu as technology itself. The first part of this chapter focuses on the development
man intellectual functioning? of artifacts and procedures designed to facilitate calculating and comput
ing: number systems, the abacus, logarithms, the slide rule, special-purpose
The diversity and richness of technology relates to different forms of devices, the general-purpose pocket calculator, and the modern electronic
abilities, competencies, and expertise. In consequence, many psychologists, computer. In the second part, attention is turned to the question of what
educators, and others are interested in exploring the ways in which technol aspects of technology could benefit from amplification by current or near
ogy and human abilities interact, but they lack a handy source ofinformation future technology and the problem of determining whether any particular
to satisfy their interest. We believe this volume provides them with relevant technological aid to cognition is doing more good than harm.
perspectives and information. Chapter 2, 'Technology and the Development of Intelligence: From
On a theoretical level, discussion regarding the interaction of technol the Loom to the Computer," is by Ashley E. Maynard, Raveri Subrah
ogy and the human mind is instrumental in advancing our understanding manyam, and Patricia M. Greenfield. This chapter elaborates on the work
of the role of cultural tools in the development of human intelligence. In of Greenfield (1998). It argues that only an explanation of the worldwide
an age that puts more and more emphasis on the biological basis of com rise in IQ that focuses on cultural history can account for the particu
petencies or on the innate, long-time-ago-evolved capacities of the human lar patterning of changes known as the Flynn effect. The strategy used to
mind, discussion of the interaction of technology and human abilities can construct this argument goes as follows: (a) identify historical changes in
play a balancing role in psychology. the ecocultural niche that could account for these changes in test perfor
With regard to this volume, authors were asked to address the following mance, (b) cite both traditional and "natural" experiments to demonstrate a
core questions: causal link, and (c) develop theory and evidence regarding the mechanisms