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PSGY1006 - Developmental > Intelligence - The Role of Heredity and Environment in IQ > Flashcards

Intelligence - The Role of Heredity and Environment in IQ Flashcards

1
Q

What does IQ stand for?

A

Intelligence Quotient

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2
Q

What is IQ?

A

Index of an individual’s intelligence

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3
Q

What are the two tests for IQ?

A

Verbal

Non-verbal

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4
Q

What are the advantages of non-verbal tests?

A

Eliminate issues with language, verbal abilities and cultural differences (not 100% of the time)

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5
Q

What did Francis Galton believe?

A

Reasoned intelligence is a product of natural selection

Genetically determined

Potential in theory of evolution for planned betterment - selective breeding

Intelligence = desirable characteristic

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6
Q

What did Binet and Simon do?

A

Developed 1st IQ tests to measure student abilities for education purposes

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7
Q

What did Lewis Terman and Maud Merrill do?

A

Developed Stanford-Binet scale

Studied sample of “gifted” children throughout their lives (longitudinal study)

Highly intelligent individuals not weaklings and misfits but healthy and stable

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8
Q

What did Lewis Terman do?

A

Military use (alpha, beta test) to assign soldiers to tasks appropriate to their abilities during WW1

Non-verbal test

Eugenics - promote selective breeding to cultivate desirable characteristics (intellectually and physically)

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9
Q

What did Cyril Burt do?

A

Advised British government to use aptitude tests to determine which children will go on to grammar schools (11+)

Research seemed to suggest occupational levels and social class determined by innate and hereditary levels of intellignece

Problems with his data and analysis - fabricated?

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10
Q

What are the issues with IQ tests?

A

Cultural bias in test construction and standardisation procedures

Intelligence tests favour groups from more affluent backgrounds and discriminate against less privileged racial, ethnic and social groups

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11
Q

What are the more recent IQ tests?

A

WISC = Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children

WASI = Wechsler Adult Scale for Intelligence

Include verbal and non-verbal tests (tap into both crystalised and fluid intelligence)

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12
Q

What is genotype?

A

Genetic makeup of an organism

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13
Q

What is phenotype?

A

Observable physical properties or an organism

Include organism’s appearance, development and behaviour

Includes both genotype and environmental influence

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14
Q

Can we measure genotype or phenotype?

A

Only phenotype

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15
Q

What does performance on IQ tests depend on?

A

Many factors

Therefore cannot determine how intelligence is determined - cannot isolate genetics

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16
Q

What is degree of genetic relatedness?

A

Looking at people with various degrees of relatedness can give us an understanding of the genetic basis of a concept

17
Q

What kind of distribution does IQ have?

A

Normal distribution

Typically seen in characteristics that are genetically predetermined

18
Q

What is the atheoretical definition of intelligence?

A

Intelligence is what IQ tests measure

No theory of intelligence that determines what questions should be included in an IQ test

However IQ tests highly correlate with each other and with other measures (WM, academic performance, problem solving, etc)

19
Q

What is correlation?

A

Statistical test and term that examines relationship between 2 or more variables

20
Q

What does the theory that intelligence is a singe construct believe?

A

Generalised intelligence

Measures
- Stanford-Binet
- Raven’s Progressive Standard matrices

21
Q

What is generalised intellignece?

A

Single construct that influences all cognitive function

Demonstrated through correlations of performances on different tests

22
Q

What does the theory that intelligence is a multiple construct believe?

A

Composed of fluid and crystallised intelligence

Supported by correlations between tests of FI and CI respectively

Both interact in some ways

Relatively stable FI but increasing CI across life span

23
Q

What is fluid intelligence?

A

Cognitive functioning component not influenced by the environment and fixed throughout lifetime

24
Q

What is crystalised intelligence?

A

Stored factual information which benefits from schooling can change throughout life span

25
Q

How is tested whether intelligence is genetically determined?

A

Twin studies
- valuable to examine genetic characteristics
- however hard to separate genetic and environmental factors

Degree of genetic relatedness
- examining individuals with varying levels of shared genes can help us pick apart genetic influences

26
Q

What are the environmental factors of intelligence?

A

Environment in the womb

Family environment

27
Q

How does the environment in the womb affect intelligence?

A

Mother’s health and habits can influence fetus development

28
Q

How does the family environment affect intelligence?

A

An enriched and stimulating environment correlates with IQ

29
Q

What was the method of Elardo et al’s (1975) study into the quality of family environment?

A

When speaking to children, mother’s voice conveys positive feeling
Mother structures child’s play periods
Mother reads stories at least 3 times weekly
Family provides learning equipment appropriate to age of the child
Child gets out of house at least 4 times a week
Mother shouts at child relatively infrequently
Mother spontaneously vocalises to child relatively frequently

Children observed at 6 months and 24 months

IQ tested at 3 years and 4.5 years

30
Q

What were the results of Elardo et al’s (1975) study into the quality of family environment?

A

Rating of family when child was aged 24 months correlated with IQ at 3 years = .70

Rating of family when child was aged 6 months correlated with IQ at 4.5 years = .44

31
Q

What are the important things to consider when deciding if intelligence is genetically or environmentally determined?

A

Covariance between inheritance and environment - intelligent children tend to have intelligent parents who provide enriched environment

Transactional process - intelligent children provoke an intelligent response that potentially feeds their development even further

Isn’t possible to specify which part of performance is due to heredity and which is due to environment

Estimates of heritability are based on population data and don’t necessary apply neatly to individual cases

32
Q

What was the Benton and Roberts (1988) study into whether taking vitamins can make you smarter - boost executive functions?

A

Study with 6 year old children

50% = vitamin supplement every day for 3 months

50% = placebo

IQ measured before and after study

Children in experimental group had greater IQ increase compared to control

33
Q

What was the Benton (2001) study into whether taking vitamins can make you smarter - boost executive functions?

A

Increase only observed in children with really poor nutrition

Children that have healthy lifestyle and rich diet didn’t benefit

34
Q

What was the Eysenck and Schoenthaler (1997) study into whether taking vitamins can make you smarter - boost executive functions?

A

Metanalysis

Hard to draw conclusions as different studies use different populations, vitamins and IQ tests

35
Q

What was the Owen et al (2010) study into whether cognitive (brain) training can make you smarter or increase cognitive abilities?

A

430 participants

Five cognitive domains (reasoning, memory, planning, visuospatial skills, attention)

6 week training period

Participants become better at cognitive task they trained on

Effects didn’t transfer or generalise to other tasks and to everyday cognition

36
Q

What is the confluence model (Zajonc, 1976) about why 1st born children may be smarter than their younger siblings?

A

First born children spend more time with intelligence adults

As number of siblings increases, children spend more time with each other

Interactions between children not as intellectually stimulating as between child and adults

37
Q

What is the dilution model (Blake, 198176) about why 1st born children may be smarter than their younger siblings?

A

Parental finite resources

First or alone child spends significant time with adults, gets more attention

As number of siblings increases, time parents spend with each child decreases

Less stimulating environment

38
Q

What is the Flynn effect?

A

IQ is increasing with time in the world

IQ maybe 25 points higher for a test designed in 1930s (even fluid intelligence)

Can’t be evolutionary - not enough time

Improvements in education, nutrition and supportive parenting styles

PSGY1006 - Developmental (8 decks)

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