CHILDHOOD DEVELOPMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY

ASSIGNMENT 2

NAME AND SURNAME: XOLISWA MAYEZA

STUDENT NUMBER: 49833162
ASSIGNMENT UNIQUE NUMBER: 624783

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1. Introduction

Many researchers have investigated about intelligence. While intelligence is the most talked
about subject in psychology, there is no standard definition of what exactly constitutes
intelligence. Some researcher have suggested that intelligence is a single ability to learn while
other theorist believe that intelligence is made of various aptitudes, skills and talents.

In this assignment I will be critically discussing the influence of genetic influences (heredity).
Heritability estimates measure the extent to which differences in complex personalities in a
specific population are due to genetic factors. The heritability estimates are acquired from
kinship studies, which compare different characteristics of family members. I will also
discuss the impact of home environment on individual and group differences in the
intelligence. The home environment can refer to different home circumstances in terms of
type of home, school or community experiences and the impact it has on individual. The
discussion will also be on how do individuals of the same genes perform (example twins,
non-twin siblings), and how do individual of different genes perform examples of different
genes are unrelated siblings or adopted children.

2. Body

There is no exact definition of intelligence as it is defined differently by different researchers

and theorists. There are different definitions, on which mental tests are based, namely
psychometric approach to cognitive development which is based on the wide variety of
intelligence tests available for assessing children’s mental abilities. The first successful test
was developed by Binet in 1905 and it provided a single holistic view of intelligence.

Researchers used factors analysis to determine whether intelligence is a single trait or a

collection of abilities. Theorists propose a hierarchical model of mental abilities. Cattell’s
identification of crystallized and fluid intelligence has influenced attempts to reduce cultural
bias in intelligence testing. Carroll’s three-stratum theory of intelligence is the most
comprehensive factor-analytic classification of mental abilities.

There are recent advances of defining intelligence namely; componential analyses of

children’s test scores have showed relationships between aspects of information processing,
speed, working memory capacity, and flexible attention, memory, and reasoning strategies
and intelligence test performance.

When looking at the genetic influence, two correlations show that heredity is without
question slightly responsible for individual differences in mental test performance. Heredity
refers to individuals who are related by blood. Heritability estimates are used to measure the
extent to which individual differences in traits in a specific population are due to genetic
factors. Based on the worldwide summary of IQ correlations between twins and other
relatives, it was discovered that the greater the genetic similarities between family members,
the more similar their IQ score. From this research it was discovered that the correlation of
identical twins reared apart is much high than for fraternal twins reared together. Identical
twins refer to twins that share the same genes whereas fraternal twins share some of the
genes. It was further discovered that age-related changes in these twin relationships provide
additional support for the impact of heredity. Based on this research, correlations of identical

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twins increase modestly into adulthood whereas the correlation of fraternal twins drops
drastically from adolescence stage.
As the fraternal twins grow and experience more influences outside their families, each
fraternal twin follows a path of development or finds a calling that fits his or her uniqueness.
Although kinship research shows the importance of heredity, it is also revealed that the
environment also plays an important role in the IQ of individuals. Correlations for twin, non-
twin siblings, and parents-child staying together are more than those staying apart. And
parents and adopted children, as well as unrelated siblings living together show a low positive
correlation, which shows the importance of environment.

In adoption studies, researchers gather two types of information which are; correlation of the
IQs of adopted children with those of their biological and adoptive parents, for insight into
genetic and environmental influences and secondly they look at the changes in the absolute
value of IQ as a result of growing up in an advantaged adoptive family, for evidence on the
power of the environment. The findings constantly reveal that when young children are
adopted into caring and stimulating homes, their IQs rise substantially compared with the IQs
of non-adopted who remain in economically deprived families. This proves that the more
children are raised in suitable homes where their needs are met; it increases their IQs
regardless of being blood related.

The Texas Adoption project and other similar investigations confirm that both heredity and
environment play a role in IQ. It is stated that children adopted in the early years attain IQs
that, on average, match the scores of their biological children and the scores of non-adopted
peers in their schools and communities. Even though it is stated that adopted children raised
under stimulating homes acquire high scores of IQs compared to non-adopted children raised
under economically deprived families, it is also stated that adoption studies constantly reveal
a stronger correlation between the IQ score of biological relatives than between those of
adoptive relatives which clearly shows the impact of genetic contribution.

4. Conclusion

When concluding, it is without a doubt that heredity plays an important role in the IQ
performance of individuals. It is clear that the more people share the same genes the higher is
their performance in IQ. For example: the correlation of identical twins are high than those of
fraternal twins. Genetic factors also play an important role in the personality of individuals.
Although heredity plays an important role in the IQ of individuals, it is also without
reasonable doubt that the home environment also plays a significant role in the IQ
performance of individuals. The findings constantly reveal that when young children are
adopted into caring and stimulating homes, their IQs rise substantially compared with the IQs
of non-adopted who remain in economically deprived families. Meaning the environment
plays an important role in the personality and intelligence of individuals.

Adoption studies indicate that advantaged background conditions can substantially raise IQ.
But stronger correlations of IQs of adopted children with biological relatives than with
relatives provide evidence for genetic contribution.

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5. Reference

Berk, L.E (2013). Child Development (9th edition). Boston: Allyn and Bacon.

6. DECLARATION

I Xoliswa Mayeza

Student number: 49833162

Module code: PYC 4805

I hereby declare the following:

I understand UNISA’S policy on plagiarism. This assignment is my original work

produced by myself. I have duly acknowledged all the other people’s work (both
electronic and print) through the proper reference techniques as stipulated in this
module.

I have not copied work of others and handed it as my own. I have also not made my
work available to any fellow students to submit as their own.

Signature: X. Mayeza

Date: 09/06/2020