Psychology
Influences on Intelligence
Influences on intelligence refer to the various factors that can impact an individual's cognitive abilities. These influences can include genetic predispositions, environmental factors such as education and socioeconomic status, as well as experiences and opportunities for cognitive stimulation. Understanding these influences is important in the study of intelligence and can help inform interventions and educational practices.
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12 Key excerpts on "Influences on Intelligence"
eBook - ePubChild and Adolescent Psychology
Typical and Atypical Development
- Stephen von Tetzchner(Author)
- 2018(Publication Date)
- Routledge(Publisher)
Chapter 5 , heritability estimates – the influence attributed to genes – is dependent on the environmental variation. If there is little environmental variation, the differences between individuals must mainly be caused by their genes, and vice versa. It is therefore of relevance that individuals from lower socioeconomic backgrounds are typically underrepresented in behavioral-genetic studies. The consequence will be a more narrow range of environmental variation, which will increase the heritability estimate and attribute less importance to environmental factors (Nisbett et al., 2012).Many hundreds of different genes are believed to be involved in cognitive development. Although thousands of children have been compared with regard to intelligence and genetic makeup, it has been difficult to single out the effects of individual genes, and many of the findings have not been replicable, indicating that they are chance findings (Chabris et al., 2012; Kleefstra et al., 2014). One finding in need of explanation is the fact that culture-dependent skills like vocabulary knowledge show a higher degree of heritability than skills that are not as culture-dependent, such as memory for digits and the ability to reconstruct a visual pattern (Kan et al., 2013). A possible explanation may be that some of the genes believed to be related to intelligence result in different degrees of environmental susceptibility. This is in line with research showing that children with a high IQ are more susceptible to experience than children with a low IQ (Brant et al., 2013).Environmental factors
Studies show that many environmental factors influence the development of intelligence. Nutrition during prenatal development and childhood has an impact on children’s intellectual development (Prado and Dewey, 2014). Longterm malnutrition can have permanent consequences, whereas the effect of shorter periods is reversible. However, it is not easy to distinguish the effect of nutrition from other factors: children who suffer from poor nutrition usually have parents who are undernourished themselves, live under difficult conditions and have little energy for interaction and play. The children may receive less stimulation and encouragement to pursue activities that promote intellectual development (Sigman and Whaley, 1998). In industrialized societies, lead and other contaminants are a possible source of cognitive problems (Dapul and Laraque, 2014; Needleman, 2004).
eBook - ePubCross-Cultural Psychology
Critical Thinking and Contemporary Applications, Sixth Edition
- Eric B. Shiraev, David A. Levy(Authors)
- 2016(Publication Date)
- Routledge(Publisher)
- According to the nativist approach to intelligence, human cognitive phenomena are inborn. They unravel as a result of biological “programming,” and environmental perception requires little active construction by the organism. There is evidence that heredity plays an important role in human intelligence. However, genetic links for individual differences and similarities do not imply that group differences—on the national level, for example—are also based on genetic factors.
- Some specialists imply that most intelligence tests benefit specific ethnic groups because of the test vocabulary—the words and items used in the test questions. Tests may contain internal bias because they use words that are familiar to only some groups. As a result, members of these groups receive higher scores than those who do not belong to these groups.
- Many environmental conditions have been found to influence performance on intelligence tests. Among them are availability of and access to resources, the variety of perceptual experiences, the predominant type of family climate, educational opportunities, access to books and travel, the presence or absence of cultural magical beliefs, general attitudes, and cultural practices.
- Intelligence scores are, in general, positively correlated with the socioeconomic status of the individual, and the link between socioeconomic conditions and test performance shows at an early age. A child’s IQ and the socioeconomic status of the child’s parents are also positively correlated. An affluent and educated family is likely to provide a better material environment for a child and also has more resources to develop the child’s intellectual potential than a poorer family. Poverty is responsible for a variety of indirect impacts on the intellectual development of children and adults.
- In the United States, people with high IQ scores are disproportionally represented among doctors, scientists, lawyers, and business executives. Individuals with low intelligence scores are disproportionally represented among people on welfare, prison inmates, single mothers, drug abusers, and high school dropouts.
eBook - PDF- Nancy Ogden, Michael Boyes, Evelyn Field, Ronald Comer, Elizabeth Gould(Authors)
- 2021(Publication Date)
- Wiley(Publisher)
Feverpitched/Getty Images Louise Murray/robertharding/Alamy Stock Photo Societal needs and intelligence An individual’s particular expression of intelligence is often tied to the survival needs of his society. levels. The term environment can have a narrow or broad meaning. It can refer to our home setting, neighbourhood, extended family, school, or socio-economic group. It even can refer to biological events and expe- riences that a fetus confronts in its mother’s uterus. Or, it can refer to the sum of all such contexts. Four environmental influences have received particular attention in the study of intelligence: family and home, cul- ture, occupation, and schooling. Family and Home Environment The first overtly social environment to which we are exposed in life and the one that domi- nates our childhood is the family and home. Our parents’ childrearing methods and other characteristics, our interactions with siblings, the objects in our houses, family trips—these are all parts of our family and home environment. Do such environmental factors affect chil- dren’s intelligence? (See Practically Speaking 10.1.) Cultural Influences Most definitions of intelligence include how well people adapt to their environments (see Psychology Around Us 10.2). This criterion raises an important question: does the definition of intelli- gence change across different cultural environments? Many researchers say yes, the defini- tion of intelligence varies from culture to culture (see photo) (Matsumoto & Juang, 2016). Note that this is different from asking whether people from different parts of the world (or from different racial or ethnic groups) have different levels of intelligence. That question relates more to the idea of comparing general intelligence. Instead, here we are more concerned with comparing specific skill sets that constitute intelligence in different cultures.
eBook - ePub- James Arthur, Ian Davies(Authors)
- 2012(Publication Date)
- Routledge(Publisher)
Although it could be taken for granted that stimulating parents have a beneficial effect on their children's intellectual development, a different explanation is also possible: the more intelligent – curious, open-minded – a child is, the more stimulating his/her effect on the adults. As a consequence, this triggers a more inspiring intellectual reaction in the social environment. Without taking the contribution of genes into consideration, it would be hard to explain intellectual development and individual differences (Scarr, 1997). Education There is a strong correlation between education and intelligence. Although intelligence tests are the best predictors of school success, there are many other very important factors – for example motivation, interest, persistence, etc. – that play determining factors in school achievement. It is therefore important for teachers to pay attention not only to their students’ intellectual development but also to the development of their personalities. Intelligence and the length of education People with a higher level of intelligence spend more time in education than those with lower levels of IQ. In the United States this correlation is.55, which means that intelligence is responsible for about 30 per cent of the variance that may influence the total length of education (Neisser et al., 1996). However, social factors are also decisive. For example a given student's social background, the family SES and the parents’ values, and their visions of the child's future also play a determining role in the decision to pursue higher education. Still, intelligence is the strongest single predictor of school achievement. Formal schooling and intelligence development One of the main tasks of education is to foster children's development of intelligence. It is not easy to confirm whether education is able to fulfil this task effectively or not. However, some cases show – e.g
eBook - ePubEducation and Learning
An Evidence-based Approach
- Jane Mellanby, Katy Theobald(Authors)
- 2014(Publication Date)
- Wiley-Blackwell(Publisher)
- Empirical research suggests that individuals with higher IQ scores have: a different pattern of neural maturation; larger brains; greater grey- and white-matter volume; more efficient neural use of glucose in the brain during well-practised tasks; and more efficient neuronal connectivity. These structural differences indicate that it is reasonable to employ the concept of IQ and to expect IQ variations to be reflected in other tests of cognitive performance, including academic measures.
- The heritability of IQ ranges from about 25% in early childhood to 80% in adulthood, whilst the heritability of specific abilities varies widely. The impact of genes co-varies with the environment, so that people with similar genes may have differing IQs depending upon their experience.
- Amongst interventions purported to boost children's IQs, there is little evidence that learning a musical instrument or taking dietary supplements in later life is effective. Early childhood diet may be important, however, and sustained brain training programmes may also have some impact on IQ test scores, if not on intelligence itself.
Educational implications
- Some theories of intelligence that are popular with educators, such as Multiple Intelligences, do not actually have strong empirical support, and should therefore be employed with caution. Nonetheless, adopting a broad view of intelligence can ensure that pupils with non-academic strengths still feel valued and successful in an educational environment.
- A predominant focus on verbal and mathematical skills in schools can result in the strong spatial abilities exhibited by some pupils being overlooked and undervalued. Pupils with strong spatial abilities excel in STEM subjects, so educators and politicians should consider how to adapt the modern curriculum and teaching methods to use and reward these skills more frequently.
- Given the academic benefits of pupils adopting incremental theories of ability, teachers should be careful to praise effort rather than intelligence. Educators might also try to avoid signalling that ability is fixed, for example by not explicitly labelling ‘gifted and talented’ pupils and by not grouping pupils by ability from a young age.
eBook - ePubWISC-V
Clinical Use and Interpretation
- Lawrence G. Weiss, Donald H. Saklofske, James A. Holdnack, Aurelio Prifitera(Authors)
- 2019(Publication Date)
- Academic Press(Publisher)
At some point in the future, we expect that researchers will cease using racial/ethnic status groupings because of the fluidity of racial boundaries and the wide variability of culture and language within racial and ethnic groups. Future researchers may wish to study how socially constructed concepts of culture mediate development of the particular cognitive abilities assessed by most major intelligence tests in industrialized countries.At this point, we leave behind the study of racial/ethnic differences in intelligence, and hope that others will do the same. We now turn the proverbial corner and begin a preliminary discussion of home environment variables that enhance children’s cognitive development within and across cultural groups. In the remainder of this chapter, we present initial data regarding home environment and language variables, and impact on cognitive development and cognitive ability test scores.Further Considerations of Home Environment on Intellectual and Academic Development of Children
Many of the SES-related variables typically studied in intelligence research are assumed to operate on children’s development in two ways. First, there are the distal effects of the environment in terms of school quality, neighborhood safety, medical care, etc. Many of these are assumed to be captured indirectly by parent education and income level. Second, there are the proximal effects of how parents interact with children in terms of providing linguistically, intellectually, and academically stimulating and encouraging environments. Parent–child interactions may or may not be related to parent education and income. We treat these variables separately because, unlike SES, parents’ß behaviors and attitudes are more within their immediate control.Implicit assumptions are often made about the manner in which more educated mothers interact with their children in different ways from mothers with less formal education. More educated mothers are assumed to provide increased language stimulation to infants and toddlers, read more often to preschool-age children, assist elementary school children more with homework, and generally provide more intellectually stimulating activities throughout childhood and adolescence. This is a broadly sweeping assumption that deserves to be examined in more detail. It is quite possible that there is considerable variability in parenting practices within SES groups, and that this variability influences the cognitive development of children.
eBook - ePub- Ronald Comer, Nancy Ogden, Michael Boyes, Elizabeth Gould(Authors)
- 2017(Publication Date)
- Wiley(Publisher)
Research has suggested a link between family and home environment and children’s intelligence scores. A number of studies, for example, have examined the IQ scores of biological siblings and adoptive siblings. These investigations have found that when biological siblings are raised apart, the correlation between their IQ scores is +.22. In contrast, when children from different families are adopted and raised together, the correlation between their IQ scores is +.32. If family and home environment did not affect intelligence levels, we would expect a near-zero correlation between the IQ scores of adoptive siblings. Instead, they display a higher correlation than that displayed by biological siblings who are raised apart (Plomin & Spinath, 2004).Most of the assumptions about intelligence that we have looked at so far are Western-oriented. Western views of intelligence tend to be influenced by the Western value of individualism, while some other cultures place more emphasis on the community as a whole. Moreover, Westerners tend to equate high intelligence with rapid mental processing, whereas other cultures may value depth of thinking, even if it occurs at a slower rate (Sternberg, 2007a, 2007b; Sternberg et al., 1981). One study found that Taiwanese-Chinese theorists typically point to five factors at the root of intelligence: (1) a general cognitive factor; (2) interpersonal intelligence (knowing about others); (3) intrapersonal intelligence (knowing about oneself); (4) intellectual self-assertion (advocating for your own intellectual achievements); and (5) intellectual self-effacement (being humble about your intellectual achievements) (Yang & Sternberg, 1997; Sternberg, 2014). While the first three qualities are similar to factors in some Western definitions of intelligence, the final two are not. Also, Westerners often believe that intelligence further involves verbal skill and the ability to solve practical problems, features absent from the Chinese list.Occupational Influences
Researchers consistently have found a relationship between intelligence and job complexity (see photo). People of higher intelligence tend to work in more complex jobs (Hunt, 2010; Ganzach, 2003; Ganzach & Pazy, 2001). An obvious explanation for this relationship is that individuals of higher intelligence can handle complex jobs more readily than less intelligent people, and so are more likely to obtain and succeed in such positions.
eBook - PDFChild Psychology
Development in a Changing Society
- Robin Harwood, Scott A. Miller, Ross Vasta(Authors)
- 2012(Publication Date)
- Wiley(Publisher)
INTELLIGENCE: IQ TESTING AND THE PSYCHOMETRIC APPROACH Learning Objective 9.1: EXPLAIN HOW INTELLIGENCE TRADITIONALLY IS DEFINED AND MEASURED. Measuring Intelligence • Stanford-Binet • The Wechsler Scales • Other Tests of Childhood Intelligence Evaluating Intelligence Tests INDIVIDUAL AND GROUP DIFFERENCES IN IQ Learning Objective 9.2: IDENTIFY FACTORS THAT INFLUENCE INDIVIDUAL AND GROUP DIFFERENCES IN IQ. Genetic versus Environmental Influences on Individual IQ scores The Concept of Heritability Factors that Influence Performance on IQ Tests • Genetics • Cultural Bias in the Tests APPLICATIONS Reducing Stereotype Threat in Minority Populations • Influence of the Environment ALTERNATIVE CONCEPTIONS OF INTELLIGENCE Learning Objective 9.3: IDENTIFY ALTERNATIVE CONCEPTIONS OF INTELLIGENCE. Evolutionary Approaches Sternberg’s Triarchic Theory of Intelligence Gardner’s Theory of Multiple Intelligences Giftedness and Creativity SCHOOLING: VARIATIONS AND EFFECTS Learning Objective 9.4: EVALUATE DIFFERENT ASPECTS OF THE SCHOOLING EXPERIENCE AND HOW THESE AFFECT COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT. Culture and the Cognitive Effects of Schooling RESEARCH & SOCIETY Culture, Schooling, and the Mind Social Organization of Classroom Instruction • Teacher Expectations • Class Size and School Size • School Transitions • School Effectiveness • Schooling as a Mesosystem Ability Grouping • Tracking • Single-Gender Classrooms Mainstreaming and Inclusion: Teaching Students with Special Needs Motivation to Learn • Motivation to Achieve • Intrinsic and Extrinsic Motivation • Other Factors Associated with Motivation CONVERSATIONS with a Special Educator CULTURE, DIVERSITY, AND SCHOOLING Learning Objective 9.5: IDENTIFY THE WAYS IN WHICH CHILDREN’S CULTURAL AND SOCIOECONOMIC BACKGROUNDS MIGHT AFFECT THE SCHOOLING EXPERIENCE. Ethnicity Socioeconomic Status An Ounce of Prevention: Compensatory Education • The Abecedarian Project • Head Start Culture, Classroom, and Academic Performance 9 C H A P T E R 327
eBook - PDF- Earl Hunt(Author)
- 2010(Publication Date)
- Cambridge University Press(Publisher)
CHAPTER 9 Environmental Effects on Intelligence More of your conversation would infect my brain. Shakespeare, Coriolanus , act 2 , scene 1 Shakespeare was right (again). Every expe-rience we have leaves an imprint on our brains, and from it, on our minds. Clearly physical experiences can change the brain. It has been claimed that early species of Homo got a leg up on the evolutionary lad-der when they began to eat fish. 1 In modern days, lecithin , a substance found in a num-ber of foods, including fish and eggs, has been studied to see if it can enhance learn-ing. (The results are mixed.) We do not stop there; we concern ourselves with the social environment. If we do not believe that social experiences can affect the brains of children, why do we have decency ratings for movies and television programs? And why would it be possible to sell video programs for infants with names like Baby Einstein ? 2 How might 1 Broadhurst, Cunnane, & Crawford, 1998 . 2 C The Disney Corporation. we manipulate the environment to improve intelligence? There are two ways this question can be interpreted. The less interesting interpreta-tion is “Can the environment be manipu-lated to improve test scores?” A more inter-esting question is “Can the environment be manipulated to improve general mental competence?” The answer to both questions is “yes.” Environment is a catch-all term. In dis-cussing environmental effects on intelli-gence it is useful to make a distinction between the physical environment and the social environment. The physical environ-ment involves things like nutrition, air pol-lutants, and disease – anything that makes itself felt by direct physical action. The social environment involves things like education, social actions that enhance or threaten secu-rity, and opportunities for self-development of cognitive skills. Both the social and the physical environment alter the brain’s activ-ity and, as Shakespeare said, infect (leave a physical trace on) the brain.
eBook - PDFIn the Know
Debunking 35 Myths about Human Intelligence
- Russell T. Warne(Author)
- 2020(Publication Date)
- Cambridge University Press(Publisher)
section 3 Influences on Intelligence With a firm understanding of the nature of intelligence (from the Introduction and Section 1) and how g is measured (from Section 2), a few questions inevitably arise: Where does intelligence come from? Why are some people smarter than others? Can I raise my intelligence (or my child’s)? This section is designed to address these questions by debunking common misconceptions about the influences on intelligence. With seven chapters, this section is the longest in the book. Chapter 11 addresses the frequently seen claim that intelligence tests (and related tests, like college admissions tests) are merely measures of an examinee’s wealth. Chapter 12 addresses the genetic influences on intelligence and what that means for interventions to raise IQ. In Chapter 13, I discuss how relatively subtle genetic differences in genes can result in important differences in intelligence. The last four chapters of this section are all concerned with how intelligence can be improved. In Chapter 14, I investigate whether fluctuations in IQ scores mean that intelligence is malleable through interventions to raise g. Chapter 15 discusses interventions with more detail, as I consider the results of common attempts to raise intelligence, such as preschool programs. Chapter 16 is an examination of “brain- training” games that have become popular in the early twenty-first century. Finally, Chapter 17 discusses whether interventions to improve IQ can result in equal IQs among individuals. The source of individual differences – and whether g can be changed or improved – has been part of the scholarly research on intelligence since Sir Francis Galton coined the term “nature versus nurture” in the late nineteenth century. Since Galton’s day, psychologists have learned that both nature (in the form of genetics) and nurture (i.e., the environment) are important in determining a person’s intelligence level. That is an uncontroversial statement; 105
eBook - ePub- Peter Mitchell, Fenja Ziegler(Authors)
- 2013(Publication Date)
- Psychology Press(Publisher)
11 DOI: 10.4324/9780203736357-11Contents
Introduction What is inherited? Intelligence: Heredity versus environment Describing and testing the concept of intelligence Problems with testing intelligence Heritability of intelligence Evaluating the twin studies Environmental factors and IQ The social environment IQ, elitism, and racism SummaryThe role of heredity and environment in intelligence 11
Chapter Aims- To introduce the concept of intelligence
- To introduce ways in which intelligence is measured.
- To assess the roles of nature and nurture in intelligence.
- To highlight some of the problems faced when testing intelligence.
Introduction
Intelligence really matters to people’s lives; those that are deemed intelligent are perceived to be cut out for better jobs and more prosperous and fulfilling lives. The idea of intelligence as a measurable entity is only about a 100 years old, and yet it is firmly ingrained in our folk psychological perception of ourselves and others that we can be ranked in terms of our intelligence. One of the central questions that researchers have investigated is whether intelligence is inherited or whether it is a result of education and other environmental factors, in other words, it figures in the nature–nurture debate. Unlike some other topics, this debate reaches beyond the realms of academia and pure scientific interest because intelligence is assigned such high status in our society and, moreover, it has implications for educational and social policy. In this chapter we look at how intelligence is measured and reflect on the role of nature and nurture.What is Inherited?
Before we look specifically at intelligence, it is worthwhile establishing more generally whether there is some way of telling which part of the way we are, and the way we behave, is determined by the genes passed on to us from our parents. At a glance, this may seem a simple question to answer. All we have to do is watch newborn babies: They have had little or no time to learn and so presumably whatever they can do is determined genetically, and therefore is likely to be inherited from the mother, the father, or both. By observing newborns we could compile a long list of behaviors: crying, swallowing, blinking, defecating, sucking, yawning, sneezing, coughing, grasping, etc.
eBook - ePubIntelligence
A New Look
- Hans Eysenck(Author)
- 2018(Publication Date)
- Routledge(Publisher)
5 The Biological Basis of IntelligenceAlthough Galton suggested reaction time and similar tests as biological measures of brain functioning, they are obviously just a halfway house in that direction. What he had in mind did not then exist, namely electronic ways and means of investigating directly what was going on in the brain, such as the electroencephalograph, the positron emission tomography (PET) scan, or the magnetic resonance imaging technique. In turning now to results established with the use of such modern techniques, it may be useful to consider Figure 5.1 which contrasts three different conceptions of intelligence.This figure shows on the left, the hypothesized biological background of intelligent behaviour. Genetic factors determine neurological structures, physiological mechanisms and biochemical secretions, the interplay of these with each other, and with the information constantly impinging on the cortex through the messages brought to it by the ascending afferent pathways. Those messages are transmitted through the brain, from cell to cell, through the synapses that link the axons of one cell with the dendrites of another (or indeed many others!) We can measure what is going on in the brain by means of the EEG, by recording averaged evoked potentials, the contingent negative variation, the galvanic skin response, and so on. This is what is meant by biological intelligence. (I shall explain some of these concepts presently.)Differences in this biological intelligence can be measured by means of IQ tests, but only indirectly, and with an admixture of inputs from many environmental sources—socioeconomic status, education, family upbringing, cultural factors, and so on. This is psychometric intelligence or IQ, and we have already discussed this fairly thoroughly. Finally, we have social or practical intelligence, for example, the application of IQ to worldly affairs, like earning a living, engaging in marriage, or interacting with other people. Success in all this is partly due to IQ, but here we also have a whole host of external factors, all of which may influence the outcome—personality, mental disorder, drinking habits, motivation, nutrition, health, and above all, luck. Clearly, this social or practical intelligence is too complex a concept to be of any scientific value; science relies on the reduction of complex concepts to simpler, more elementary ones.To bring in other completely unconnected factors in this fashion is not useful; we would want to study each separately, and also its interaction with all the others. RT and IT studies straddle the space between biological intelligence and psychometric intelligence; we must now turn to a consideration of biological intelligence itself.
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