UNIVERSIDAD AUTONOMA DEL

ESTADO DE MEXICO

FASE I 25- Septiembre- 2013

TRABAJO DE ARTICULO EN INGLES No. 1

GRUPO NO. 12

ARTICULO EN INGLES

“CAUSE OF INTELLIGENCE”

Angela Oswalt, MSW, edited by Mark Dombeck, PhD

Disponible en: http://www.sevencounties.org/poc/view_doc.php?type=doc&id=37684&cn=1272

BRENDA JAZMIN GONZALEZ JIMENEZ

CAUSES OF INTELLIGENCEAngela Oswalt, MSW, edited by Mark Dombeck, Ph.D.

Much intelligence research has focused on trying to explain the causes of

intelligence; where intelligence comes from. At various points in history, particular

psychological theorists have suggested that intelligence is primarily an inherited

quality (e.g., something formed by biological and genetic forces, and inherited from

one's parents) or, instead, primarily something influenced by children's environment

(e.g., something influenced by school and parental teachings and by exposure to life

experiences and opportunities). Both of these views have merit, as it turns out.

Currently, most researchers agree that a combination of both genetic and

environmental factors contribute to the development of intelligence.

Genetic Influences on Intelligence

One of the ways that researchers can determine whether intelligence is influenced by

genetics is to generate "heritability estimates." Heritability estimates are a

mathematical way of representing the extent to which genetics contribute to individual

differences in observed behavior such as IQ test scores. Heritability is represented as

a numerical proportion that ranges from 0.0 (a case where genes do not contribute at

all to differences) to 1.0 (a case where genes explain all of the observed differences

between IQ scores). A heritability estimate of .40 would suggest that on average;

about 40% of observable differences on a particular trait are caused by genetics.

Often, heritability estimates are generated based on studies of identical twins who

share identical genetics but who have experienced different environments and

opportunities while growing up.

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Based on such studies of identical twins' IQ scores, researchers have determined that

the heritability of intelligence is approximately .50. This heritability value suggests that

about half of intelligence is more or less determined or caused by a child's genetics

and biology. The other half is determined by environmental factors which include

children's socioeconomic status (a measure of family wealth and social status), parent

and caregiver attitudes towards education (whether they believe it is important),

cultural and educational opportunities, and other similar social factors.

Cultural Influences on Intelligence

IQ scores are influenced by specific cultural experiences, such as exposure to certain

language customs and knowledge from an early age. For instance, many low-income

African American children are raised with a language style which may be

characterized by an emphasis on storytelling and the recounting of personal

experiences (e.g., "Did you hear about what Mrs. Smith did this morning?"). Many

questions appear in this conversational style, but a fair portion of the time, they

function more as rhetorical devices designed to engage a conversation rather than as

specific requests for precise information. This style of questioning encourages social

bonding but it is not particularly good preparation for traditional intelligence tests

which typically demand that children generate a specific single correct response to an

examiner's questions. Being used to thinking and responding differently in their day to

day lives versus what is demanded of them during testing; such children can end up

scoring lower on IQ tests than equally-intelligent peers simply because the testing

situation itself does not well fit their life preparation.

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In contrast, caregivers in middle income (and above) white and Asian families tend to

spend a fair amount of time asking children specific knowledge-based questions that

have a single "correct" answer (e.g., What is this word? What shape is a stop sign?).

These knowledge-based questions are more like the questions that are used in

traditional IQ tests. Therefore, these children may feel more comfortable dealing

these types of tasks, and therefore score maximally well (in relationship to their actual

intelligence) on such tests.

Socioeconomic Influences on Intelligence

Family socioeconomic status (SES) also affects children's development of

intelligence. Specifically, research suggests that children from low SES families tend

to have lower IQ scores.

Socioeconomic status has to do with a family's economic and social hierarchy status.

Higher SES families have higher family incomes and greater access to necessary and

optional but desirable resources than lower SES families. Correspondingly, it is much

easier for higher SES families to provide for children's needs in terms of food,

clothing, shelter and health care, and to offer them an enriched array of opportunities

such as education and daycare than for lower SES families.

Children who feel safe, well-fed, and rested, who are healthy, and whose parents

value their intellectual development will be better able and motivated to concentrate

their energy and attention on mental tasks and tests. In contrast, children who

constantly feel afraid for their safety; who are hungry, sick, or chronically exhausted;

and whose parents are overwhelmed and not focused on children's education will

simply not have as much energy or motivation to spend pursuing their cognitive

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development. As well, parents who are not struggling to simply meet children's basic

needs have the luxury of energy and time they can spend reading to children, playing

games with them, and becoming involved in their homework and school related

activities. This extra time and attention builds children's intellectual skills and also

communicates to children that education is highly valued and important, giving them

an advantage over children whose parents cannot provide such attention.

Educational Influences on Intelligence

Researchers have also found that the amount of time children spend in school is

highly related to IQ scores. The more time children spend in school, the higher their

IQ scores tend to be. The likely explanation for this finding is that teachers train

children to answer factual questions, solve problems, and learn specific bodies of

knowledge which then prepares them to answer questions appearing in IQ tests

which have been formulated along similar lines and which draw upon the same

bodies of knowledge taught in school. It follows that children who have more frequent

exposure to educational environments are more prepared to respond to IQ style

questions in a testing situation, and thus tend to do better on IQ tests than children

who do not have as much of this sort of preparation. Therefore, children who miss out

on educational opportunities because they're often absent or truant from school, or

because they change schools frequently can end up disadvantaged when taking an

IQ test.

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COMENTARIO

According to this article, intelligence maybe affected on different terms, more importantly on their environment and genetics. I think that not necessarily, just for the reason that there are many children that don’t have access to education at all, yet they present a very high intelligence level. On the other hand, many children that do have the opportunity to education, and their parents “worry” about their future, don’t have a high level of intelligence. Yeah, maybe genetics plays a big role in this, but as seen in some countries, where education is not reachable to all children, and their parents generically don’t show a high intelligence level, and children do may be for other reasons.

There´s many reason to intelligence that at this moment we haven’t discovered, since all the time these “intelligence classifications” are always changing, so we can’t just classify every children´s intelligence level, just by the way he/she lives, or the education he/she gets at home, they’re many different reason to a person’s intelligence that it can’t just fit into simple classifications.

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