Psychology Chapter 9 Section 4: What Influences Intelligence?

1. Psychology Chapter 9 Section 4:What Influences Intelligence?

2. Many psychologists believe that both heredity and environment influence intelligence. • Snyderman and Rothman surveyed a sample of 1,020 psychologists and educational specialists and found the following… • Forty-five percent believe that differences in IQ scores among people reflect both genetic and environmental factors. • Fifteen percent believe that these differences reflect environmental factors alone. • One percent believe that those differences reflect environmental factors alone. • Twenty-four percent believe that there is not enough research information to support any particular opinion.

3. Kinship Studies • If genetic factors are involved in intelligence, then closely related people should be more alike in terms of IQ scores than distantly related or unrelated people. • IQ scores of identical twins are more similar than those of any other group of people. • This finding holds even when the twins are reared apart and therefore in different environments.

4. Heritability is the extent to which variations in a trait from person to person can be explained by genetic factors.

5. Adoptee Studies • Most studies of adopted children have found that their IQ scores are more like those of the biological parents than those of the adoptive parents.

6. Environmental Influences on Intelligence – Home and Parenting • Studies have shown that home environment and styles of parenting influence the development of intelligence. • The following factors apparently contribute to high levels of intellectual functioning in children: • The parents are emotionally and verbally responsive to their children’s needs. • The parents provide enjoyable and educational toys. • The parents are involved in their children’s activities. • The parents provide varied daily experiences during the preschool years. • The home environment is well organized and safe. • The parents encourage the children the be independent- that is, to make their own decisions and solve their own problems whenever possible.

7. Preschool Programs • Many preschool programs and designed to provide young children with enriched early experiences. • Head Start, beginning in the 1960s, was designed to give economically disadvantaged children a better start in school. • Preschool programs such as Head Start have been shown to increase the IQ scores, achievement test scores, and academic skills of participants. • Participation is such programs even decreases the likelihood of juvenile delinquency and reliance of welfare programs.

8. Adults and Intelligence • Older people show some drop-off in intelligence as measured by scores on intelligence tests. • The decline is most notable in timed test questions. • Biological changes contribute to some of the decline.

9. A Seattle Study found that intellectual functioning in older people is linked to several environmental factors: • Level of income • Level of education • A history of stimulating jobs • Intact family life • Attendance at cultural events, travel, and reading • Marriage to a spouse with a high level of intellectual functioning • A flexible personality

10. No matter what genes a person may have inherited, that person’s intelligence is not fixed or unchangeable.