Argument Over The Relationship Between Birth Order And Intelligence

Sir Francis Galton (1869, 1883) quantified traits that were assumed to be correlated, and developed the first comprehensive test of intelligence. By the end of the 19th century, the foundation was laid for modern day intelligence testing (Wicket, 1998). In 1905, the French psychologist Alfred Binet published the first modern intelligence test to identify students who needed special help in coping with the school curriculum (Neiser, et al. 1996). Shortly thereafter in 1908 and 1911, Alfred Binet and Theodore Simon published revisions of the Binet intelligence test (Wicket). The mental age concept was adopted to express the results in adequate units. The concept is based on an individual’s performance in comparison to the average performance of individuals in a specific chronological age group (Kaplin, & Saccuzzo).

Gladwell reveals that to excel in the world, one must be born with or introduced to the right tools. These tools may include being born into a high class home, when one is born, as well as being recognized early in school. When Lewis Terman, in 1921, conducted the Genetic Study of Genius observation, he only took into account the subjects I.Q. scores. It wasn’t until later, when he noticed the divergence of three different groups A, B, and C, did he realize that it wasn’t only about scores. The groups were separated by societal class, group A born from the high end of the scale while C was from the lower end. Group A, as well as most of B, did superb at the same time that group C fell out. Intelligence

The role of the environment was minimalized due to Burt’s (1909) theory, intelligence was viewed as a fixed inborn state that could neither be developed or changed (Parrington 1996). Burt’s (1909) influence came from his research through the years 1920 to 1970, when children were segregated by capability. This was noticeable during secondary education

One of the main purposes of the eugenics movement was to attempt to control the level of intelligence in the human race. This is not completely possible, however, as all genes are linked to other genes, and intelligence is affected by many more than just the one gene (Agar, 2006). In contrast to Galton’s theory, intelligence is not actually completely hereditary. Between 47 and 58% of intelligence lies in DNA, and the rest is based on environmental factors (Steen, 1996). Many types of intelligence tests have been created to measure the level of intelligence in humans. Defining intelligence in itself is a difficult task, as there are

Many scholars believe that "the new science of behavioral genetics has intellectual roots in the old ideas of Eugenics" (Steen 33). Eugenics disguised a political agenda as a scientific one in an attempt to endow discrimination with credibility. Supporters of genetic determinism theories do the same. Richard Herrnstein and Charles Murray defend the theory of genetic determinism in The Bell Curve: Intelligence and Class Structure in American Life, which was published ten years ago. Their book is one of the most widely referenced works regarding the theory that intelligence is inherited. The authors claim that the social order mirrors natural selection, wherein the genetically superior or more intelligent human rises to the top. Of course this means that the lower class, predominantly blacks, are represented as genetically inferior (xxi-xxiii). The authors claim that "ethnic differences in cognitive ability are neither surprising nor in doubt" (269) and attribute the inequality of life among Americans to inherent differences between races in intelligence (127). Their argument rests on the assertion that intelligence is both inheritable and immutable and is supported by intelligence test scores. The text is full of contradictions and a close analysis proves it to be lacking in evidence and smacking of social myth. Their theories are developed using speculation and are tainted by bias. There is no science involved.

The debate surrounding the heritability of intelligence is one that has been going on for centuries starting with Sir Francis Galton in 1869 and the publication of his book, Hereditary Genius. Galton was one of the first scientists to study individual differences in intelligence. In his book, he claimed that intelligence is inherited and that this is supported by the fact that eminence runs in families. He went further to say that selective breeding ought to be encouraged in order to improve society which sparked the on-going controversy surrounding

Steven Woods October 22, 2015 Annotated Bibliography 2 Sternberg, Robert J., and Elena L. Grigorenko. Introduction. Intelligence, Heredity, and Environment. Cambridge:

Although normal brain development can be retarded by sensory, social isolation, and deprivation, there is no sure environment that will transform a normal baby into a genius. Explain why heredity many contribute to individual differences in intelligence but not necessarily contributes to group differences. The amount of variation in a trait within a group that is attributed to genetic factors is called its heritability. For intelligence, this has been estimated at 50 percent. If we know a trait has perfect heritability, this knowledge does not enable us to rule out environmental factors in explaining differences between groups. Because of the impact of environmental factors such as education and nutrition on intelligence test performance, even if the heritability of intelligence is high within a particular group, differences in intelligence among groups may be environmentally caused. One group may, for example, thrive in an enriched environment while another of the same genetic predisposition may falter in an impoverished

Numerous factors are involved in one's growth; shockingly, even birth order affects development. In my family, I am the youngest of two children. My elder brother and I are only 16 months apart, so we argue more than siblings with a larger age gap would. Ordinarily, the first child is mature and adult-like while the younger child is free-spirited; the opposite is accurate for my family. Due to my interest in studies since childhood, my parents naturally encouraged me, whereas, Nikhil (my brother) was not as invested in academics and had additional free-time. The extra pressure has made me emotionally worried because I constantly stress to uphold those expectations. Cognitively, I analyze information like an adult My brother's nature has made

The poster being critiqued uses a ‘family tree’ theme to convey the theory of heritability of intelligence. The theme logically fits the theory and, to some extent, is memorable. However, there is arguably too much text for the poster to be understood in a few minutes. The poster also includes information about environmental factors that influence intelligence, potentially distracting the viewer from the main concept of heritability. A solution to these critiques is to focus solely on the theory of heritability, thus minimising text and preventing confusion.

The central question posed in the article that I read is, does birth order affect intelligence? According to the article, “Does Birth Order Affect Intelligence?” it sometimes seems to be the case. Correspondingly to birth order, the size of the family a child is born into may affect intelligence levels. Many hypotheses, tests, and research methods are available in order to attempt to explain why these general statements are made, but the data is, by and large, very conflicting.

While this assumption is accepted by a majority of geneticists and behavioral scientists, there is great disagreement on the degree of influence each contributes. Arguments for environmental influences are compelling; at the same time there is growing evidence that genetic influence on intelligence is significant and substantial (Eyesenck, 1998; Mackintosh, 1998; Plomin, 1994; Steen, 1996). The purpose of this paper is to explore the question: "How is intelligence influenced by heredity and environment?"

Investigation about the birth order effects first started in the late nineteenth century. Several researchers have claimed that the relation between birth order and intelligence

Most people believe that Intelligence Quotient (IQ) tests are a good way to measure intelligence. IQ tests are actually pretty bad at measuring intelligence (Rivas 1). Due to this, we wonder how intelligence can be measured and what affects it. How we understand things is a big part of humanity and many studies have been conducted to try to determine what affects intelligence. Researchers have come up with two words, nature and nurture, which are used to describe the factors that affect intelligence. Nature refers to the genetic sources that influence intelligence while nurture is the environmental sources that affect intelligence. Nature and nurture actually collaborate together to affect intelligence as a whole. How intelligence is influenced is a very important topic, because if we can pinpoint what causes one person to have more intelligence than another, we can develop programs and studies to allow the intelligence of the human race to prosper at a faster pace, making our society better as a whole. On the nature side of this argument, the authorI hasve discovered how gene sources influence our lives through relational processing and how children and their parents IQ scores correlate. On the nurture side of this argument, I have learned how prenatal and postnatal experiences have been found to affect intelligence and how an unstable environments can be detrimental to a

In 1874, Francis Galton, a British polymath who studied anthropology, geography, and statistics, started the study of birth order. Galton sampled English scientists, and he found that the vast majority that were English scientists were firstborns and only children. This information led Galton to believe that the reason firstborns were doing well intellectually was because of the attention they received from their parents. He presumed Primogeniture laws was another reason. Primogeniture laws are the “right of succession belonging to the firstborn child.” At this time, most of the countries in the world, including England, followed these laws. First borns would inherit their parents money and therefore have financial support to continue their