A psychological discussion on abnormality

The statistical approach is one of many attempts to define abnormality. Certain behaviours are statistically rare in the population. The statistical definition of abnormality uses the bell curve to demonstrate which behaviours are statistically infrequent. Abnormality is defined as any score that falls two standard deviations or more from the mean; therefore to be abnormal your behaviour has to be different from 96% of the population.

The statistical approach implies that statistically infrequent scores, frequently high and low scores, should be considered abnormal. This definition faultiers when you consider illnesses like anxiety. Sufferers with extremely high levels of anxiety might require treatment, however extremely low levels would not. In fact low anxiety is be desirable for mental health. Definitions of abnormal must also define the behaviour as undesirable.

A two standard deviation cut-off is also an arbitrary point, thus raises to many questions itself. Why two?

Statistical definitions cannot be applied across groups or cultures.  People in different cultures have different standards of behaviour, is it therefore fair to judge someone’s behaviour on your standards?

Abnormality is an imprecise concept which is difficult to define. Abnormal behaviour can take different forms and involve different symptoms and there is no single feature that can be used to identify abnormal behaviour. The job of psychologists and doctors is to identify the features that are more likely to appear in abnormal than normal behaviour.

All definitions of abnormality have one criticism in common – they are culturally and time specific. Cultural relativism suggests that any judgement of what is right and wrong is specific to a society; an absolute statement cannot be made about such a specific event.  With regards to time, history shows that disorders of the 1960’s are considered normal within today’s society, e.g. DSM in 1969 saw homosexuality as a disorder.

Tourettes syndrome is an inherited neuropsychiatric disorder with onset in childhood, characterized by the presence of multiple physical tics and at least one vocal tic. Tourette’s was once considered a rare and bizarre syndrome, most often associated with socially inappropriate and derogatory remarks. However, this symptom is present in only a small minority of people; the more common tics are eye blinking, coughing, throat clearing, sniffing, and facial movements. People with Tourette’s have normal life expectancy and intelligence. The severity of the tics decreases for most children as they pass through adolescence, and extreme Tourette’s in adulthood is a rarity.

Genetic and environmental factors each play their role in the development of Tourettes, but the exact causes are unknown. A diagnosis is made on observation of the individual’s symptoms and family history, and after ruling out secondary causes of tic disorders.

It is a startling and sometimes frightening experience to unexpectedly come across a person with tourettes. For some people, such an experience is too shocking or fearsome. A person suffering from tourettes is greatly affected by this but so are those in his or her immediate environment. Families also must play a key role in learning about the disease and help while the person suffering undergoes therapy to reduce anxiety and symptoms.

There is no cure for Tourette’s and no medication that works universally for all individuals without significant adverse effects, but there are therapies that can help and medication to reduce the severity of the most troublesome tics. Knowledge, education and understanding are uppermost in management plans for tic disorders.

Behavioural therapy first came about from B.F. Skinners research during the 1950’s. Behaviour therapy is based upon Skinners operant conditioning principles and classical conditioning developed by Ivan Pavlov. During the 20^th century therapists began to combine these methods with cognitive therapy to form cognitive behaviour therapy.

This kind of therapy develops social skills and teaches strategies to lessen a stressor or trigger. This kind of therapy has shown to be useful in dealing with schizophrenia, with some empirical evidence to support it. However, with schizophrenia, behavioural programs have generally lost favour.

Behaviour modification techniques are used to change or improve behaviour, such as altering an individual’s behaviours and reactions to stimuli through positive and negative reinforcement. Edward Thorndike was the first to explore behaviour modification; Thorndike researched techniques in increasing positive behaviour through reinforcement and decreasing negative behaviour through punishment, with emphasis on the former. These techniques were all derived from behavioural psychology and proved to be most effective in altering behaviour.

Behavioural therapy and consultation has a strong emphasis on defining problems in terms of behaviour, which can then be measured in some way. The treatment techniques are ways of altering an individual’s current environment to help them function more fully. These techniques can then be applied to everyday life.

Some areas with proven effectiveness are with children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD); one study showed that over a several year period, children in the behaviour modification group had half the number of arrests as children in the medication group. Another area has been work with individuals and addiction, depression and insomnia.

Approaches and explanations of aggression in Psychology

The behaviourist approach was the dominate approach though-out the first half of the 20^th century. A behaviourist centres their approach on how environmental factors influence behaviour, suggesting that humans and other animals can learn from their environment known as classical conditioning, learn based on reinforcements or punishments called operant conditioning and we can also learn through observing those around us known as observational learning.

A study, although unholy unethical, did highlight this view. Watson & Ryder in 1920 used classical conditioning to great effect on Baby Albert, slowing conditioning Albert to be fearful of not only the intended white rats but everything white

B.F. Skinner illustrated the idea of operant conditioning through experiments involving animals (Anon A 2009). By putting an animal in a small cage, Skinner could affect the animal’s behaviour by forcing it to take a certain action in order to receive a reward. The action performed being the conditioned response and the reward the reinforcement.

Researchers like Edward Thorndike built upon these foundations by researching with cats and various puzzle boxes. Thorndike’s research concluded that behaviour responses should be reinforced when you want the person to repeat the action and ignored or punished when you want them to stop.

Behaviourism argues that a person’s environment determines their behaviour, which suggests that people have no free will to make their own decisions in life.  It also ignores the biological approach which would argue that in addition to the environment, chromosomes and hormones like testosterone and estrogens influence our behaviour.

Freud’s psychodynamic approach criticized behaviourism for not taking into account the unconscious mind and its influence on behaviour, suggesting that behaviourism relied too heavily on observable behaviours instead of looking more internal. Freud also rejected the idea that people are born with a blank slate or ‘tabula rasa’, suggesting that people are born with instincts.

Memory, thinking and problem solving also occur during stimulus and response which are cognitive responses. Cognitive psychology came to dominate the field after behaviourism.

Aggression refers to behaviour that is intended to cause pain or harm, it can take many forms from the physical to mental and verbal. Psychologists have put forward many theories to explain aggression and aggressive behaviour; firstly I will discuss the point of view of a behaviourist.

Albert Bandura suggested that rewards and punishment aid learning but also argued that observing others played a big part too. Bandura hypothesized that if a child sees aggressive behaviour go unpunished, they will go on to imitate that behaviour. Bandura’s bobo doll experiment in 1978 involved children observing adults show aggression to the bobo doll in a variety of forms; it resulted in some of the children acting in a more aggressive manner.  These experiments showed that a child can learn aggression from observing but also highlighted that it is not simply the parents who socialize their children, it is more the case that children socialize themselves.

Berkowitz and LePage’s approach to aggression was from the behaviourist’s classical conditioning theory. The weapons effect investigated the link between weapons and impulsive aggression, suggesting that the sight of weapons stimulates aggression through the classical conditioning processes resulting from the learned association of aggressive acts and weapons (Anon B 2009).

Aggression can also be taken from the point of view of a psychodynamic. Freudian theory emphasizes the involvement of innate drives which come into conflict at different ages in the life cycle, and the way these conflicts are resolved in childhood determines how they are manifested in adult behaviour (Anon C 2009).

Freud suggested that we are all born with an id and we go on to develop an ego and a superego. The id allows us to get our basic needs met with no consideration for anyone or anything, a handy tool when you are a newborn. The ego develops around age three and is the part of our personality that understands other people and their needs. By the age of five the superego develops, this being the moral part of us, the conscience that knows right from wrong. The id, being the devil on your shoulder, the superego being the angel and the ego looking for that healthy balance.

According to Freud the id, ego and superego are satisfied by two innate drives, sex and aggression.  In other words, everything we do is motivated by one of these two drives. Sex or Life force, represents our drive to live well and produce offspring. Aggression, also called Thanatos represents our need to stay alive and stave off threats to our power or even our existence. When the ego has a difficult time making both the id and the superego happy, it will employ one or more ego defense mechanisms, defenses like denial, intellectualism, projection and repression. These defenses are not necessarily unhealthy in fact a lack of them, or the inability to use them effectively can often lead to problems in life.

Yale psychologists, Dollard et al in the 1939 studied aggression and drives with the frustration-aggression hypothesis.

‘This study takes as its point of departure the assumption that aggression is always a consequence of frustration. More specifically the proposition is that the occurrence of aggressive behaviour always presupposes the existence of frustration and, contrariwise, that the existence of frustration always leads to some form of aggression.’ – Dollard et al 1939,

Dollard suggested that there was a direct positive proportionality between the amount of aggression and the amount of frustration. Aggression levels were dependent on the strength of the drive toward a goal, the degree of frustration.

1. Behaviourist –

The behaviourist approach can be seen as somewhat artificial due the laboratory surroundings. Humanism rejects using experiments to measure behaviour, as they create an artificial environment which equates to lower ecological validity.

With reference to Bandura’s bobo doll experiment, were the children familiar with the bobo toy? It could have been seen as a toy you can hit, it’s not aggressive to beat a drum.

The bobo doll experiment did highlight the importance of modelling in children but there is more to human aggression than watching others behave aggressively. You would also have to consider the ethics of the experiment as they were exposing children to aggressive behaviour with the knowledge that some would imitate it.

1. Psychodynamic –

Freud’s theories were coloured by the social and cultural context of his time. Freud also largely made his observations on the middle and upper class groups in society, giving him a slightly distorted view on society as a whole.

From a scientific viewpoint, the notion of Thanatos and other theories from Freud continue to be highly controversial.

Dollard’s study of aggression and drives with the frustration-aggression hypothesis could be looked from the stimulus equals response theory which would be a behavioural approach and not innate drives.

Later research has shown that frustration does not lead to aggression, that frustration can lead to no aggression and that aggression can occur without frustration.

The widespread acceptance of the frustration-aggression notion is perhaps attributable more to its simplicity than to its predictive power. In point of fact, the formula that frustration breeds aggression does not hold up well under empirical scrutiny in laboratory studies in which conditions regarded as frustrative are systematically varied frustration, as commonly defined, is only one and not necessarily the most important factor affecting the expression of aggression. – Bandura 1973

References

Anon A. (2009) Simply Psychology – The Behaviourism approach [online] available from: http://www.simplypsychology.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/behaviourism.html  (accessed on 28/10/09)

Anon B. (2009) European Journal of Social Psychology [online] available from: http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/journal/112465457/abstract?CRETRY=1&SRETRY=0 (accessed on 28/10/09)

Anon C. (2009) The Structural Model of Personality [online] available from: http://psychology.about.com/od/theoriesofpersonality/a/personalityelem.htm (accessed on 26/10/09)

Bandura, A. (1937) Albert Bandura – A Biographical Sketch [online] available from: http://www.des.emory.edu/mfp/bandurabio.html (accessed on 24/10/09)

Dollard, J. (1939) The Frustration-Aggression Hypothesis [online] available from: http://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=8897361 (accessed on 26/10/09)

Gross, R. (1996) Psychology – The Science of Mind and Behaviour, 3rd revised edition, Hodder Arnold H&S.

Swallow, C. (2009) Lessons notes – Unit 1.4 [online] available from: http://blackboard.nhc.ac.uk/webapps/portal/frameset.jsp?tab_id=_2_1&url=%2fwebapps%2fblackboard%2fexecute%2flauncher%3ftype%3dCourse%26id%3d_13380_1%26url%3d (accessed on 3/11/09)

Is personality linked to birth order. Correlation analysis report

Abstract

Birth order is defined as a person’s position in the sequence of birth; some psychologists suggest that birth order can have a profound and lasting effect on psychological development. Alfred Adler developed a series of personality traits which could be attributed to each child’s position within a family. However there have been strong criticisms and most of the claims about birth order have not been supported by scientific research. This project will research North Hertfordshire college students in the Stevenage center to see if any correlations can be found. Alders initial theories and personality traits will be used to produce correlation analysis among the students. A questionnaire was used to collect the data, which measured personality traits on a scale of one to five. An opportunity sample of sixty students was taken from the college. The results were analysed, with a positive result being a rating of four or above. These were then tallied and graphed to find correlations. The results showed that there were no significant correlations between birth order and personality.

Introduction

It could be argued that personality is one of those words that most people believe they can explain, but no one can fully define. It is rather like intelligence; we all think we can define it until we try to explain it to another person. The Penguin Dictionary of Psychology defines personality as a classic chapter heading word in psychology and considered resistant to definition (Reber, E 2009). However what follows are pages of perspectives from various noted psychologists. How individual personalities develop is also under constant debate and review. One of these theories is that birth order has a correlation with personality.

Birth order is defined as a person’s position in the sequence of birth, among his or her siblings. Some psychologists suggest that birth order can have a profound and lasting effect on psychological development. Alfred Adler, an Austrian psychiatrist and a contemporary of Sigmund Freud and the Vienna Psychoanalytic Society, was one of the early theorists to suggest that birth order influences personality. Adler suggested that birth order can leave an indelible impression on an individual’s personality, being quoted as saying:

‘First born are dethroned when a second child comes along, and this may have a lasting influence on them. Younger and only children may be pampered and spoiled, which can also affect their later personalities (Adler, A 1914)

Adler developed a series of personality traits (Alder, A 1914) which could be attributed to each child’s position within a family. These birth order characteristics (Appendix 1) suggested that an only child is likely to be pampered, as parents are more likely to take special care of their only child. This first child begins life with all the attention, however when the second child arrives the first child may battle for his or her lost position. The second child has the first child as a sort of “pace-setter,” and tends to become quite competitive, trying to surpass the older child. The youngest child is likely to be the most pampered in a family with more than one child. The youngest child may feel inferior, with everyone else older and better at everything. On the other hand, the youngest can also be motivated to be better than all of their siblings. Its these characteristics that this report with focus on, discussing whether similar correlations in personalities can be find in the North Hertfordshire students.

A supporter of Alder’s theories was Frank Sulloway (Sulloway, F 1998), Sulloway’s theories suggested that birth order has strong effects on early personality traits. He argued that firstborns are more conscientious, more socially dominant and less agreeable compared to later born. Sulloway did however disagree with Alder on the lasting effects of birth position on personality.

There have been strong criticisms to Alder’s and Sulloway’s theories, so much so that Sulloway claimed the content of one such research piece was defamatory.  Fred Townsend and Judith Rich Harris argued against Sulloway’s theories in a paper entitled, ‘An issue of Politics and the Life Sciences (Townsend, F. Harris, J 2006) dated September, 2000, however the paper was not published until 2004, due to legal threats from Sulloway. When published the paper concluded that a correlation between birth order and personality was unsubstantiated.

Ernst and Angst (Ernst, C. Angst, J 1983) examined research on birth order published between 1946 and 1980 and also conducted their own study on a representative sample of over six thousand young men from Switzerland. Ernst and Angst found no substantial effects of birth order and concluded that there was no correlation and that birth order research was a “waste of time.”

Jefferson, Herbst, and McCrae (Jefferson, T. Herbst, J. McCrae, R 1998) analyzed data from a national sample over nine thousand subjects on the personality traits of extraversion, neuroticism, agreeableness, conscientiousness, and openness to experience. Again the research suggested that Sulloway’s theories were unfounded as no significant correlation between birth order and personality traits could be found. The research did however argue that people have the tendency to perceive birth order effects when they were aware of the birth order of an individual.

Most of the claims about birth order have not been supported by scientific research; this project will research North Hertfordshire college students in the Stevenage center to see if any correlations can be found. Alders initial theories and personality traits will be used to produce a questionnaire and correlation analysis among the students

Aims

To explore birth order, questioning whether this can affect our personalities.  Researching North Hertfordshire college students in the Stevenage center to see if any correlations can be found between birth order and personality.

Hypothesis

There is a correlation between the respondents personality and their position among their family.

Methodology

Design

With reference to the data collection, a structured interview, observation or questionnaire were reviewed. Interviews can be open to bias and also the timescale and expense involved in producing an adequate interview were too great. An observation, be it covert or overt raised to many ethical issues and the dangers of the Hawthorne effect. Questionnaires however were a sufficient opinion, as the research needed sensitive information on personalities, a questionnaire could obtain such information but still maintain a level of confidentiality.

After basic age and gender information, the questionnaire was based on Alders personality traits. For each birth position, only child, 1^st child, 2^nd child, middle of three and youngest, were four personality traits. These traits were listed and jumbled up, for the respondents to rate on the questionnaire. If the respondent rated a particular trait as a four or five on the questionnaires scale, then it was considered a positive result. With this information gathered, it could be compared to the respondents birth position to see if a correlation exists.

Participants

Data needs to be as representative of the student population of North Hertfordshire College as possible, so a conscious choice was made to divide the questionnaire equally between males and females. The sample base of thirty males and thirty females was taken from the student population at the Stevenage center of North Hertfordshire College.

Materials

A set of standardized instructions were drafted up to unsure proper conduct during the research and a proposal form was completed, which outlined the intentions for the research, which was discussed with a tutor before embarking on the fieldwork. A pilot questionnaire was produced before embarking on a full version. It is essential that the components of the questionnaire were tested on a small-scale sample to insure the questions were clear to all the respondents. The questionnaire also needed to be unambiguous, with no leading or loaded questions. The pilot, on 5 fellow Access students, highlighted a need to clarify the final question, as it could be interpreted in more than one way. A re-drafted questionnaire was then printed off sixty times.

Procedure

Using the standardized instructions (Appendix 3) the questionnaire and pen were handed out to students from the Stevenage center of North Hertfordshire College, with respondents only being approached in the Antrim of the college. When first approached each respondent was given the name of the researcher and the course they are currently studying. A short explanation of the study is given and then the respondents would be asked to complete the questionnaire, ensuring to double check that they would like to participant. After issuing the questionnaire, pen and help-lines for any issues raised (Appendix 6), the researcher would instruct the respondent to place their completed questionnaire in the Psychology box at the college’s main reception.

Ethical Issues

While doing psychological research there are many ethical considerations to take into account. As the questionnaire is dealing with sensitive information, confidentiality was high priority and the respondents had to feel secure that the information they gave remained secure. To keep the privacy of respondents they were not asked their name and all respondents were asked to place their completed questionnaires in a box placed at the main reception to increase anonymity.

Protecting the respondents from physical or psychological harm is essential. As the questionnaire may cause mild stress or raise issues with them, each respondent was given information on local and national help-lines.

Respondents needed to be given informed consent, making them aware of the nature and purpose of the report and how the information they give will be used.  A paragraph explaining the study was placed at the top of each questionnaire.

By reporting the findings accurately and truthfully the researcher could, to the best of their ability safeguard the interests of those involved, maintaining their confidentiality further by destroying the raw data upon completion.

Results

Once the primary raw data was collected it then needed to be tallied accurately, to best reflect the views of the respondents.

The hypotheses, there is a correlation between the participants personalities and their birth order within their family was not proven by this research project. Only 5% of the students asked matched all four personality traits for their particular position within the family, against 36% who had no matches.

Question One

53% of the female students asked were 16-24 years of age. 28% were 25-33, 11% were 34-42 and the final 8% were from students ages 43 and over. For the male students 70% were 16-24, 13% were 25-33, 10% were 34-42 and 7% were 43+.

Question Two

A control of the research was to have 50% female students and 50% male students, this was achieved.

Question Three

For the female students 10% were an only child, 43% 1^st child, 30% 2^nd child, 7% middle of three and 10% were the youngest in the family. The male students produced similar results.

Question Four

This was a detailed question which requested the respondent to rate different personality traits in relation to their childhood experiences. The results will be discussed below, however from the information gathered you could suggest that a negative result was ascertained with regard to Alders theories. Only 6.6% of the females asked matched all four personality traits suggested for their birth order, against a total of 43.4% with no matches. The male respondents also produced a negative result with 3.4% of the respondents matching all four personality traits, against 30% with no matches.

It could also be suggested from this research that there is no correlation to be found in the overall personality of a particular birth order. The graph below shows the seven participants that were an only child. The correlation graph below clearly shows that each only child rates themselves very differently from the next, with the other birth orders following the same trend.

Discussion

This research project wanted to explore if a correlation could be found between birth order and personality. The questionnaire first asked some general questions to establish a sample group. Question three related to which order the respondent was born in relation to their siblings; this information could then be used in comparison with the information gained in question four.

The fourth question on each questionnaire was compared to Alders original list of personality traits. If the respondent rated a particular trait as a four or five on the questionnaire scale then it was considered a positive result. Only 3.4% of the females asked correctly matched themselves with the personality traits for their birth position, with the males having a mere 6.6%. This is compared to 30% of the female respondents matching none of the personality traits given by Alder for their particular birth position, with the males having 43.4% with no matches. These results would suggest that there is no correlation between a person’s birth position and personality traits.

In comparing Alders theories to the results of the questionnaire it could be argued that no correlations were apparent. Even when breaking down the results and looking at one of Alders suggestions more closely, it could still be suggested that a negative result was produced. For example, Alder suggested that a second child would see the first child as a pace-setter, unhappy with their position within the family. From the results however, thirteen of the eighteen second children were happy with their position.

However this research did highlight that only respondents from the age range 16-24 matched all four personality traits for their given birth order. It could be suggested that this does support Sulloway’s suggestion that birth order does not have a lasting effect on personality. It could be argued that if the respondents asked were under the age of 16 there may have been a correlation with Alders theories.

In evaluating these results, it could be suggested that a questionnaire raises the reliability of the research, as it can be replicated easily. The data obtained may not be rich in qualitative data but the quantitative data obtained with the use of fixed choice questions meant that the data could be obtained quickly and quantified easily to find correlations. Adding a rating question to the questionnaire revealed a deeper understanding of the respondent’s attitudes towards their upbringing. You could however argue that a questionnaire can be limiting, due to the fixed choice questions. More open-ended questions would have produced a more personal image of the respondent’s attitude toward their place within their family, but would have been open to interpretation and much more difficult to quantify. The validity of the data may have also have been undermined by deliberate lying or the respondent not fully understanding the question asked.

To establish basic information about the respondents, simple questions like age were asked. 58.4% of the students asked were 16-24 which left the other ages slightly unrepresented, especially from the male perspective. The sample also needed to be more representative of the student body on the whole. To be truly representative, the sample would have had the exact same proportions of the student population, which would have included the other centres within North Hertfordshire College. The background research also failed in this respect, researching how the students are represented over the colleges was essential before trying to administer a full survey on students. In a larger scale version, it would be important to use a cross-sectional sample, taking a ‘snapshot’ view of the population. If the sample had been more representative of the student population, statistical patterns could have been revealed, which could have been used to develop new theories or test Alders thoroughly.

A questionnaire has less personal involvement than an interview but the respondents were being asked some personal information. Their interpretation of the researcher may have distorted their answers. As a mature student, the researcher was asked many times, in particular by the younger respondents if they were in fact a student or a member of staff. If their confidence in the study was lacking in any way this may have affected the way they answered the sensitive questions. As the researcher was in the same area the entire time most of the respondents were completing their questionnaires, they chose to hand them back instead of using the box provided at the main reception, this again may have deterred some students from being completely truthful.

In relation to Alders theories, personalities traits are a varying concept, so the fact these theories were developed in 1914 could have some bearing on their relevance now.

This report has attempted to investigate the correlation between birth order and personality traits among North Hertfordshire College Students. As this research was on such a small scale it would be senseless to make generalizations which suggests that further investigation and elaboration is needed, however in practice birth order research is an up-hill challenge. It could be argued that personality and birth order have too many variables to make a definitive link between the two, these include a number of social and demographic variables like larger families are generally lower in socio-economic status than small families. Other variables could include parenting style, gender, the spacing in years between siblings, the total number of children and the changing circumstances of the parents over time. Further research should be driven towards how these unique personalities develop and avoid comparisons with siblings.

To what extent is intelligence a reflection of our parents intellectual abilities? Discussion with reference to both sides of the of the nature/nurture

Do I share the same intellectual abilities as my parents? It’s interesting to think about? I go to each of my parents in different situations, they both have individual strengths and we have shared talents and interests but is that due to genetics or the environment I was brought up in.

The major contributor to the nature argument was Francis Galton in his 1869 book, Hereditary Genius: Its Laws and Consequences (Galton, 2006). Galton suggested that gifted individuals tended to come from families which had other gifted individuals. He went on to analyze biographical dictionaries and became convinced that talent was genetic. Galton was convinced that it was

“Quite practicable to produce a high gifted race of men by judicious marriages during several consecutive generations…intelligence must be bred, not trained” (Galton, 2006).

This theory became known as eugenics. Galton wanted to speed up the process of natural selection, stating that:

“What Nature does blindly, slowly, and ruthlessly, man may do providently, quickly, and kindly”.

Such arguments have had massive social consequences and have been used to support apartheid policies and sterilization programs.

In the 1920’s heyday of eugenic IQ testing there was no evidence for how inheritable IQ is; today that is no longer the case. The inherit-ability of IQ is now a hypothesis that has been tested on twins and adopters often showing a substantial amount of inherit-ability. Experiments though-out America in 1979 showed a 76% correlation when testing identical twins that had been reared apart (Ridley, 1999).

Inherit-ability however is not a pure measure of genetic inheritance as environmental factors including the pre and post natal environments would need to be included.

Inherit-ability estimates based on comparing mono-zygotic (identical) twins reared together is likely to overestimate the genetic component because mono-zygotic twins share similar environments, both in the womb and out (Shallow, 2009).

Twin studies cannot be generalized to the population as a whole. Twins are more susceptible to prenatal trauma leading to retardation. The inclusion of retarded cases could increase the correlation in intelligence test scores.

The other side of the agreement is nurture and the experiences our environment brings.

“Give me a dozen healthy infants & my own specific world to bring them up in, & I’ll guarantee to take any one at random & train him to become any type of specialist I might select – doctor, lawyer, artist, merchant, chef & yes, even beggar & thief, regardless of his talents, penchants, tendencies, abilities, vocations, and race of his ancestors.”  (Gross, 2002).

This is a quote from behaviourist John Watson during 1924 when a new born child was considered to be a ‘tabula rasa’ or blank slate onto which anything could be sculpted.

In the 1980s, a New Zealand scientist, James Flynn, noticed that IQ was increasing at an average rate of about 3 IQ points per decade. There have been many theories for the Flynn effect, Ulric Neisser theorized that the Flynn effect was due to the way we are saturated with visual images such as ads, posters, video games and TV graphics. Neisser suggested that children experience a much richer visual environment than in the past and that this assists them in IQ tests.

Bouchard & Segal also supported the environmental view with their studies in 1985. Their results suggested that different circumstances have been found to vary IQ. Circumstances like the number of years spent in school, your father’s profession and ambition, average TV viewing and book-reading and the degree of personal self- confidence and authority in the parental home.

“No single environmental factor seems to have a large influence on IQ…most of the factors studied influence IQ in a direction.” (Bouchard & Segal, 1985).

Psychologist Wahlsten was praised for the high levels of control in his adoption studies in France. Wahlsten hypothesized that in order to raise IQ you would need to transfer a child born in a low socioeconomic home to a home of a higher socioeconomic group. The results proved his hypothesis showing a raise of 12 to 16 points (Wahlsten, 1997).

Several studies have demonstrated improvements in IQ by improving the lives of those disadvantaged (Gross, 2002). These studies selected families with low parental IQ and education with minimal financial resources. The families received educational day care outside the home every weekday from 3 months old till school age. Even though the children returned to their home environment every day there were sufficient differences in IQ between these experimental groups and the control families.

A criticism of educational enrichment studies is what are they actually testing? Is it an increased IQ or simply the ability to performance on a test? Children on these types of programs often received extensive practice in test-taking.

This would account for the fade-out effect, whereby the IQ is initially high but will return to the level of the control group a few years after the experiment. The Head Start program within the US aimed to enhance the schooling of disadvantaged children. On the whole, the results were mixed but in the end programs like this were criticized for not living up to expectations, in terms of changing IQ. The main defense for Head start was that its primary aim was not to improve IQ, but to accelerate academic development; IQ change was just a bonus.

Currently the psychological world is somewhere in between, both nature and nurture are seen as playing important roles.  The view is more of an interactionist and best expressed by Ridley (Ridley, 1999).

“Mother Nature has plainly not entrusted the determination of our intellectual capacities to the blind fate of a gene or genes; she gave us parents, learning, language, culture and education to program ourselves with.”

It would appear that there are many psychological and biological factors each contributing a small fraction to the variance of intelligence. Our environment is partly a consequence of our genes but we create our own private environment, a bookworm will always seek out a book. I see it as genes create an appetite rather than an aptitude. Gene expression is environment dependent; one simply could not exist without the other.

A future area to research would be to blend the theories of both. Feldman suggested examining which environmental components allow people to realize their genetic potentials for a variety of areas of cognitive performance (Feldman, 1985).

Reference

Bouchard, T. J., & Segal, N. L. (1985) Environment and IQ – Intelligence: Theories, Measurements, and Applications, John Wiley, New York.

Ceci, S. J. (2001) Intelligence: The surprising truth, Psychology Today, July-August, 46-53.

Feldman, D. H. (1985) Nature’s Gambit: Child Prodigies and the Development of Human Potential, Basic Books, New York.

Galton, F. (2006) Hereditary Genius: Its Laws and Consequences, Prometheus Books, 3^rd edition.

Gross, R. (2002) Psychology: The Science of Mind and Behaviour, Hodder and Stoughton Education, London.

Ridley, M. (1999) Genome: The autobiography of a species, London.

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