Nature Vs. Nurture Flashcards
What is the Tabula Rasa?
When a child is born they are a blank slate to be filled with information
Who was John Locke?
An empiricist - based his work on evidence and observation
Claimed that through social interaction children learn:
- Speech
- Emotions
- Morals
- Exist within society
Who was Jean-Jacques Rousseau?
Agreed with Locke that society was a strong part of a child’s development
Saw society as a factor that corrupted a child, children are ‘angelic’
Coined the phrase ‘noble savage’ - a good child who becomes corrupted by society and all that is wrong with it
What is nativism?
the view that many skills or abilities are ‘native’ or hard wired into the brain at birth, the result of genetic inheritance
What is empiricism?
the view that humans are not born with built in ‘core knowledge’ or mental content and that all knowledge or mental context results from learning and experience
Who was Binet?
Invented the first intelligence test - Identified Mental Age (MA)
An individual’s level of ability relative to others
If their MA is lower than their CA they are likely to have learning difficulties at schol
What did Stern introduce?
Intelligence Quotient (IQ) IQ = MA/CA x 100 Therefore, the average IQ for one's age is 100
What is intelligence?
Verbal abilities
Problem solving
Memory
Usually ends up described as g (general intelligence)
What did Jensen find?
Evidence that white children were more intelligent than black or low SES children
Led to accusations of scientific racism
But more recent evidence shows similar 15-18 point IQ gap between black and white children
Group differences are 50-80% inheritable
What are the correlations of IQ between pairs of MZ twins (reared together and reared apart)?
reared together = 0.87
reared apart = 0.75
What are the correlations of IQ between pairs of DZ twins reared together and reared apart?
reared together = 0.55
reared apart = 0.35
Is IQ innate or acquired?
We currently have not found a specific gene which is strongly associated with cognitive ability
- missing heritability, the failure to find any genes associated with a cognitive ability
We know that IQ has a strong heritability component
But we also know that 50% of the variation in a population’s IQ is accounted for by genetic differences
Provide an example of IQ Gene X Environment interaction
Breastfeeding
Children who are breastfed are healthier and develop higher IQ - likely due to fatty acids present in breast milk
There is a gene which is involved in the genetic control of fatty acid pathways and has been linked to brain development
A variant of this gene allows breastfed children to score around 7 points higher on IQ tests
Outline the Minnesota Transracial Adoption study
Tested IQ scores of black or interracial children adopted by white advantaged families
At age 7:
- They scored above the white population average
- Those adopted by age 1 scored 20 points above black children raised in black communities
- Scores linked to genetic racial differences
At age 17:
- IQ scores for all groups lower but differences remain
Environment in important for ability at school level
What is the Flynn Effect
IQ rates increase by 3 points per decade in western societies so tests have to be re-standardised every few years to account for this
Reasons for this increase could be:
- Smaller family size, more time spent with individual children
- Improvements in education
- Development in technology to support learning
- Changes in diet
The Flynn Effect is currently reducing in the UK but increasing in China and India
