This monograph defines abstraction from various angles of thought, contrasting it with high-order thinking and stereotyped thinking. It discusses and evaluates tests of abstract thinking and presents recent findings in sociological and psychological research.

Abstraction is one facet of intellectual functioning. The study of abstraction allows extremely valuable insights into human intelligence. While this monograph indicates that the ability to think abstractly declines slightly with age, there are a number of variables determining abstract thinking and its relation to intelligence over the life-span. This monograph defines abstraction from all angles of thought, contrasting it with high-order thinking and stereotyped thinking. The author discusses and evaluates tests of abstract thinking and presents new findings in sociological and psychological research on abstraction.

What is abstraction?
how is it used? why is it important?
abstraction over the life course
developmental and methodological concerns
the social bases of intellectual functioning
empirical findings
the study of the social bases of intellectual functioning across the life course
issues, findings, direction for further research on abstraction.