PS102 Lecture Notes - Lecture 7: Shannon Baker, Flynn Effect, Heredity
Document Summary
Intelligence tests sit at the seat of many political debates: high ses do better on iq tests, why, some argue heredity and others environment. Behavioral genetics: a field of research that investigates the relative effects of heredity (nature) and environment (nurture) on behavior and ability. Twin studies: identical one egg, fraternal two eggs. Correlation between identical iqs are about . 86 for fraternal about . 60. Even when identical are reared apart, the correlation is about . 75. Suggest that genetics does play some role in iq. Heritability ratio: an index of the degree to which a trait is due to heredity/genetics. Range for iq is about . 4 to . 7. Environment also plays a role in iq. Evidence: impoverished environments: the longer a child is in impoverished environment, the lower the iq. Eg illinois, rural, isolated community, once became mainstream. Adoption studies gains if children adopted early.
