Intelligence II Flashcards

Question

What is twin study?

Answer 1

Analysis of how traits differ in identical versus fraternal twins

Answer 2

analysis of how traits vary in individuals raised apart from their biological relatives

Answer 3

a field that examines how environmental influences affect the expression of genes

Answer 4

Degree to which variation in a trait stems from genetic differences among individuals. Example: So, if the heritability of a trait is 60 percent, that means that more than half of the differences among individuals in their levels of that trait are due to differences in their genes. By defini- tion, the other 40 percent is due to differences in their environments. Some traits, like height, are highly heritable

Answer 5

Finding that states average IQ scores have been rising at a rate of approximately three points per decade - In the 1980s, political scientist James Flynn noticed something decidedly odd. Over time, the average IQ of the population was rising at a rate of about three points per decade, a phenomenon now known as the Flynn effect. The magnitude of the Flynn effect is mind-boggling. It suggests that, on average, our IQs are a full 10 to 15 points higher than those of our grandparents

Answer 6

Genes set boundaries or limits for range of phenotypes based on environment.

Answer 7

our genetic makeup

Answer 8

our observable traits

Answer 9

gene that masks other genes’ effects

Answer 10

gene that is expressed only in the absence of a dominant gene

Answer 11

We can’t easily infer people’s genotypes by observing their pheno- types. In part, that’s because our phenotypes are shaped by environmental influences, such as parenting and life stressors in the case of our personality traits. Genotypes and phenotypes also differ because some genes are dominant, meaning they mask other genes’ effects. In contrast, other genes are recessive, meaning they’re expressed only in the absence of a dominant gene.

Answer 12

Numerous studies reveal that men are more variable in their overall IQ scores than women are. So although men don’t appear to have than the distribution of women. As higher average IQs than women do, there are more men at both the low and the high ends of the IQ bell curve. We don’t know the reason for this difference; researchers have, not surprisingly, proposed both genetic and environmental explanations. Females: Better verbal ability Males: Better spatial ability

Answer 13

Women tend to do better than men on some verbal tasks, like spelling, writing, and pronouncing words. This sex difference may have a hormonal component; even within women, some research suggests that verbal ability ebbs and flows along with the level of estrogen, a sex hormone that’s more plentiful in women than in men. In one study, women were best at quickly repeating tongue twisters (like “A box of mixed biscuits in a biscuit mixer”) when their estrogen levels were at their peak.

Answer 14

Schooling does make you smarter and raise your IQ, a child who went to school will have a higher IQ then a child who didn't even though they have the same age

Answer 15

Poverty does have an affect on IQ. Along with poverty often comes inadequate diet. Studies from poor areas in Central America suggest that malnutrition in childhood, especially if prolonged, can lower IQ.

Answer 16

Poor children are also especially likely to be exposed to lead as a result of drinking lead-contaminated water, breathing lead-contaminated dust, or eating lead paint chips. Such exposure is also associated with intellectual deficits.

Answer 17

a controversial article in the late 1960s, psychologist Arthur Jensen contended that IQ is highly heritable and therefore difficult to modify by means of environmental intervention. Yet he raised an important question: Can we boost IQ with early educational interventions? Some of the best evidence comes from studies of Head Start, a preschool program launched in the 1960s to give disadvantaged children a “jump-start” by offering them an enriched educational experience. The hope was that this program would allow them to catch up intellectually to other children. Dozens of studies of Head Start programs have yielded consistent results, and they’ve been somewhat disappointing. On the positive side, these programs produce short-term increases in IQ, especially among children from deprived environments. Although this knowledge fades overtime after the program ends.

Answer 18

The cumulative deficit hypothesis proposes that under conditions of marked social and environmental deprivation growth and development deficits in children will augment as children grow older.

Answer 19

On average, African Americans and Hispanic Americans score lower than Caucasian American do on standard IQ tests, and Asian Americans score higher than Caucasians do. Among Caucasians in the United States, the IQs of Jews are slightly higher than those of non-Jews. The average IQ difference between Caucasians and African Americans, which some researchers have estimated to be as high as 15 points, has received by far the most attention.

Answer 20

Some researchers have pointed out that IQ is heritable and have concluded that racial differences must therefore be due at least partly to genetic influences. Yet this is a faulty conclusion based on a misun- derstanding of how the heritability of a trait among individuals within a group relates to the heritability of this trait between groups.

Answer 21

extent to which the variability of a trait within a group is genetically influenced

Answer 22

extent to which differences in a trait between groups is genetically influenced