Individuals with formal reasoning ability are more likely to develop long-term values than those who have not reached this stage. Not all adolescents reach formal operational thinking, and not all same-aged adolescents are at the same stage of development. Adolescents from various cultures show considerable variability in abstract reasoning abilities, and social institutions such as the family and school accelerate or retard the development of formal operations. Adolescents from various cultures show considerable variability in abstract reasoning abilities, and social institutions such as the family and school accelerate or retard the development of formal operations. The degree of urbanization, literacy, and the amount of education all relate to formal thought development.
Different people have different aptitudes for solving different types of problems.
Gardner feels we should stop measuring people according to one unitary dimension and instead think in terms of various intellectual strengths.