Lecture 2 - Nature-Nurture

Question 1

Who devised the first intelligence tests in the 20th C?

Answer 1

Binet and Simon, to assess children’s potential.

Question 2

What is generalised intelligence?

Answer 2

The idea that it is a single construct that affects all cognitive functioning, as demonstrated by test performance correlations.

Question 3

What are some intelligence tests?

Answer 3

Stanford-Binet, Raven’s Progressive Standard matrices.

Question 4

What is tested in Raven’s Progressive Standard matrices?

Answer 4

The ability to form perceptual relations between elements in a series.

Question 5

According to Cattell (1987), what is intelligence?

Answer 5

A multiple construct composed of fluid and crystallised intelligence which interact in some ways (correlational support) - FI is relatively stable and CI increases across lifespan.

Question 6

What is fluid intelligence?

Answer 6

A cognitive functioning component not influenced by schooling.

Question 7

What is crystallised intelligence?

Answer 7

An individual’s stored, factual information - benefits from schooling.

Question 8

How are FI and CI measured?

Answer 8

Mostly with WISC and WASI with verbal and performance sections - coded separately then combined to form overall score.

Question 9

What did the verbal part of WISC and WASI tests involve, and what did it measure?

Answer 9

Information, similarities, arithmetic, vocabulary, concepts, digit span.
Measured crystallised intelligence.

Question 10

What did the procedural part of WISC and WASI tests involve, and what did it measure?

Answer 10

Completing pictures, arrange pictures to stories, coding geometric objects, block design, maze.
Measured fluid intelligence.

Question 11

What have correlational twin studies shown about the heritability of intelligence (Plomin and DeFries, 1990)?

Answer 11

MZ together = 86%
MZ apart = 72%
DZ together = 60%
Non-twin together =  47%
Non-twin apart = 24%
Adopted = 34%
Therefore both genetics and environment play a role.

Question 12

What do heritability estimates across the lifetime estimate?

Answer 12

That intelligence becomes more heritidary as we age? 20% infancy –> 80% later life.

Question 13

What did Woodworth (1941) state?

Answer 13

That separated identical twins reared in similar environments show similar IQs, but not those reared in different environments.

Question 14

What did Devlin et al. (1997) point out?

Answer 14

That even identical twins reared apart shared an environment in the womb.

Question 15

What did Benton and Roberts (1988) find?

Answer 15

That the IQ of Welsh 12 year olds in the ‘vitamin’ group increased by average 9 points.

Question 16

What support/contradictory evidence is there for Benton and Roberts (1988)

Answer 16

Schoenthaler et al (1991) successfully replicated in 15 year olds in US.
Crombie et al (1990) did not find in Scottish children.

Question 17

What did Benton and Buts (1990) suggest?

Answer 17

That only children with impoverished diets benefit from supplements.

Question 18

According to Eldaro et al (1975), what factors contribute to an enriched family environment?

Answer 18

Mother:
- ‘s voice conveys poositive feeling
- structures play periods
- reads stories 3x/week
- shouts relatively infrequently
- spontaneously vocalises relatively frequently.
Family provides appropriate learning equipment, and child gets out of the house at least 4x/week.

Question 19

How did Eldaro et al (1975) come up with their environmental factors list?

Answer 19

77 w/c children observed at 6 and 24 mths and IQ tested at 3 and 4.5 years. Family ratings correlated with IQ.

Question 20

What did Plomin et al (1985) find?

Answer 20

That there’s a relationship between family environment and IQ for adopted children too.

Question 21

What is confluence theory?

Answer 21

The idea that birth order and number of siblings also influences IQ (Zajonc, 1985)

Question 22

What is the Flynn effect?

Answer 22

If IQ tests weren’t recalibrated to fall on normal distribution, we’d see a rise in IQ over history - 3% ‘superior intelligence’ in 1932, same test = 25% in 2007. Therefore perhaps IQ tests don’t measure intelligence.

Question 23

What did Herrnstein and Murray (1994) state?

Answer 23

That there’s a correlation between low IQ and crime, poverty etc. It’s genetically determined and therefore pointless to change environment.

Question 24

Why is the conclusion that black children are less naturally clever than white children wrong?

Answer 24

Because although they score lower in IQ tests on average, the means give a distorted picture (distribution score overlaps) and the gap has begun to narrow (Ogbu and Stern, 2001). Also, according to Nisbett (2003), concepts of intelligence vary between cultures and IQ tests are biased.

Question 25

What does Bouchard et al (1991) suggest?

Answer 25

That part of the link between genes and IQ may be indirect, e.g. genetic contribution to temperament + curiosity influences how well children learn at school. Nature could exert influence via nurture.

Question 26

What is covariance between inheritance and environment?

Answer 26

The fact that intelligent children tend to have intelligent parents who provide an enriched environment.

Question 27

What is transactional process?

Answer 27

Intelligent children provoke an intelligent response, potentially feeding their development further.