PSYCH 1100 Lecture Notes - Lecture 52: Heritability, Twin

• School: Ohio State University
• Department: Psychology
• Course: PSYCH 1100
• Professor: Brian Siefke

Document Summary

Heritability coefficient- estimates the percent of difference between intelligence scores of different people that is due to genes. Identical twins (who have 100% of genes in common) tend to have very similar intelligence. Fraternal twins (who have 50% of genes in common) have intelligence scores that are less strongly related. Shared and non-shared environments also play a role in intelligence. Shared environment- refers to those environmental factors that are experienced by all relevant members of a household. Non-shared environment- refers to those environmental factors that are not experienced by all relevant members of a household. Siblings who live in the same household may have very different friends and teachers and may contract different illnesses. Test scores, test situations, or both can be biased. Studies show that those who are most intelligent at age 11 are likely to be most intelligent at age 80. Studies show that intelligence tends to increase between adolescence and middle age and to decline thereafter.