IQ Test - Nature or Nurture - Essay Example

IQ Test: Nature or Nurture IQ tests are employed to ascertain human cognitive abilities. Apart from the question whether the IQ tests are really an indicator of cognitive intelligence, the question still raging is whether the IQ is acquired innately or developed during the life time of a person by environmental influence. An interesting living example of questionable IQ testing is Robert Sternberg. He was a professor at Yale University for twenty years and the president of American Psychiatry Association in 2003. Currently he is the Dean of School of Arts and Sciences at Tufts University since 2005. Yet he had failed in his childhood IQ tests and secured a mere C grade in introductory psychology. (Drucker 2006) It is with this back ground, this paper aptly titled ‘IQ Tests: Nature or Nurture, seeks to ascertain validity of the IQ tests and the ways in which they are acquired by humans by nature or by training. Besides, what factors influence IQ test scores, and whether they are biased? Merely because of Sternberg example, IQ tests can not be dismissed as of any use. In fact the IQ tests have survived in the last more than 100 years but with continuous refinements. At the time when Darwinism was rife in late 1800s through early 1900s, genetic influence on IQ was the norm. By 1960’s it came to be recognized as environmentally influenced in that people’s IQ potential could be enhanced under environmentally conducive conditions. Of late, it is the mixture of both i.e. nature and nurture. (Neill 2005) The phrase Nature-Nurture was first adopted in psychology by Sir Francis Galton (1822-1911) though earlier the words were used by English school master Richard Mulcaster (1530-1611). Greek Philosopher Socrates (469-399 BC) had also used the words Nature-Nurture. (Nature-nurture controversy) Galton in his book “Hereditary Genius: Its Laws and Consequences” attributed giftedness in intelligence to heritability in families and concluded that scientific talent, professional expertise were being handed down from generation to generation in families. Galton believed in eugenics by which superior human race with high IQ could be produced through marriages between intellectuals and able bodied individuals. He asserted that intelligence could only be naturally produced and not trained after birth. This kind of belief led to racism, forced birth control on lesser privileged and denial of basic human rights to minorities. (Neil 2005) However later in 1920s-1930s after the World War I, the above line of thinking took a back seat sequel to a mass testing in which blacks from Illinois scored more IQ than whites which demolished the belief that whites were superior race. This development led to the fresh thinking that environment played a vital role in shaping human intelligence. During 1940s-1990s, both the above extreme views were abandoned and the psychologists tended to think that it was neither nature nor nurture alone but a mixture of both was responsible for the development of human IQ. By 1960s, the psychologists dropped the idea of individuality and started thinking in terms of societal means to develop IQ on a community setting by starting schools for special teaching to enhance intelligence. Intelligence quotient (IQ) which is mental age/actual age can be improved in many ways. Studies conducted at National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) of USA and Norwegian University of Science and Technology during have confirmed that breast feeding of small new-borns for the first six months resulted in their higher IQ scoring by 11 points than the infants fed with formula milk.(Midwifery Today 2003) There are as many as eight types of intelligence which include verbal, spatial, and emotional. The brain which is the source of intelligence weighs 2.5% of human body weight and consumes 20% of energy when the body rests. MENSA IQ tests are taken annually by 10,000 people and only 2,500 pass to become MENSA members. MENSA tests are however not for normal IQ testing but are meant for highly intelligent wizards for setting up records. The Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scale was started by Alfred Binet in the early 20th Century to measure intelligence of children who suffered from learning disabilities. Score below their age was graded as “retarded” children. “The present day IQ tests when graphed show a bell shaped curve demonstrating that majority of the people has scored average 90-110 while limited number of people has scored lowest and highest extreme scores. (Science and Nature) See the figure below. Neisser (1997) says that IQ test scores increase by 3 points every decade as per studies conducted by Flynn. Flynn has demonstrated that increasing scores are the common features on every major test, age groups, and all industrialized countires.However the increase does not represent real enhancement but due to the test responders getting used to the test practices and getting motivated for better performance though there is another school of thought which says it can be real because of improvements in standard of living by enhanced health and nutrition. (Neisser1997) This poses a question whether intelligence is really increasing in spite of rise in test scores. Neisser(!997) says that intelligence scores are bound to increase over a period of time due to improved nutrition, better schooling, better child-rearing practices, and improved visual and technical environment. If we think for a moment how the human beings have evolved over a period of time through the stages Apes, stone age to space age, it will not be difficult to appreciate IQ or intelligence does increase through the process of evolution. The tendency of increasing test scores over time is called Flynn effect named after James R. Flynn, now an emeritus professor University of Otago in Dunedin, New Zealand who in the early parts of 1980s found same people scoring higher in older test versions than in newer versions. Though reasons for this have not been discovered so far, in some places the test scores have stopped to increase and in few more places have started to decline. Flynn himself is at a loss to understand the phenomenon though he hazards a guess that increase could be due to increased attention of the parents towards their children due to reduced family size and due to the fact the size cannot be any more reduced beyond the one child size. He thinks that middle class countries like Scandinavia must be reaching saturation levels. (Schneider 2006) As said earlier, Psychologists have not altogether dropped the idea of genetic influence on IQ. When identical twins are expected to score the same IQ because of their sharing the same genes, they may score differently only under extreme environmental conditions of extreme poverty and malnutrition. Hence genetics play more crucial role in shaping the IQ rather than environmental factors. ( HSU Steve 2006) It is well recognized that genetics are attributed to 40-to 80 % of IQ test results. Environmental factors account for 20-60%. Environmental factors can be even attributed to events before birth such as mother’s consumption of alcohol during her pregnancy and exposure to lead in large quantities. The negative environmental factors also include the type of toys the kids played with, their early schooling and the other external factors they were exposed to including malnutrition. As said earlier, breast feeding has a positive effect on IQ scoring found to be higher by 10 points. IQ scores are also attributed to the food taken, mood and time of the day of testing. (IQ Test Results) Online tests for IQ though very popular, lack in accuracy. Most of the results show the score above 110. The websites conducting the tests do not give results immediately They run on profit motives and the results are likely to be doctored. The SAT and GRE tests however have correlation with high IQ. Genuine results on IQ can be obtained by taking GRE online tests by using a conversion formula. The IQ tests are so designed to avoid discrimination amongst sexes. They treat males and females as equal. While men score higher in the parts of spatial and quantitative abilities, females score higher in verbal abilities. Research indicates men will have more variations than women both in high and low scores of IQs. There is no negative correlation between IQ and religious backgrounds of the test takers. (Life Watch) Editorial that appeared in New Scientist of March 2002 states that increase or decrease in IQ test scores need not cause alarm. The increasing trend was identified by the above mentioned political scientist James Flynn already in 1980s itself. The increased test score of a kid today is equal to that of genius in yester years. Hence standards evolve to a higher plane as a matter of evolution which is a mystery according to the editorial. (New Scientist 2002) Robert Sternberg, the noted psychologist says that intelligence tests predict only 10 % variation in real life success. According to him, intelligence is our own creation. He admits to having scored very low when he was a kid because he was test anxious. In order to please his teachers who had low expectations of him, he scored low. But when he got over the anxiety, he did extremely well on the tests. Teachers then started having very high expectations of him all of a sudden. So it is the adaptive skills that have to do with the intelligence. (increasing intelligence.com) Niolon (2005) says IQ tests are not themselves biased but they are user biased. To discard IQ tests altogether is like discarding cars due to accidents caused by careless drivers. However Satter argues that IQ tests are culturally biased since the tests show differences between minority groups. He also says national norms are not reasonable because Caucasian Kids are compared to African Americans and Hispanic kids are compared to Caucasian kids. Minorities are also not well prepared to take the tests. Another noteworthy point is that white people testing African Americans tend to give low scores though this is refuted by Satter by comparison of data in 25 of 29 published reports.(Niolon 2005) In sum, IQ tests under ideal conditions such as absence of cultural bias, absence of mood-time-diet dependency and distractions are bound to show results depending upon the genetic intelligence only. Genetic intelligence is like core material of different qualities which when refined by favorable or reduced by adverse environmental conditions will turnout to be end products of different grades. For example mother’s breast milk has proved to be a source of intelligence booster and alcohol intake by mother during pregnancy can affect the intelligence. There are also instances of intelligence enhancement by training the growing baby in the womb by playing appropriate music, moral stories etc. Hence it can be safely said that intelligence depends on the conditions under which human beings are born and capable of further enhancement by further nurturing. The end score for each person will however depend upon the core material quality. Within this context, it can also be said that IQ tests are bound to be biased if level playing field can not be in-built in them. However taking a holistic view of the IQ tests and the surrounding circumstances under which they are taken, IQ tests are a necessary evil for the present days. It has been proved reasonably well that IQ does indicate one’s cognitive abilities. Whether IQ is naturally obtained or nurtured are beside the point. This paper is more concerned with the validity of IQ tests and whether they are biased. And whether any deserving individual is likely to be affected by such IQ tests. The present day trend shows increasing reliance placed on the IQ tests by the employers mainly to facilitate elimination. That is, to facilitate elimination of competitors due to limited number of vacancies. The mere IQ score on the higher side is however not a guarantee for the good performance of the individual concerned. At least it will show that individual is favorably disposed towards amenability for training to meet the employers’ requirements in the long run. It is felt IQ tests should alone not be the criteria to measure one’s cognitive abilities because they are not taken under ideal conditions. References Drucker, Romy. "Toward a New Measure of Intelligence; Robert Sternberg has spent his career finding other ways to gauge how smart people are. At Tufts, he's putting research into practice. ”Business Week Online.  (August 3, 2006) Increasing Intelligence.com”factors influencing IQ Test Scores” http://www.increasingintelligence.com/7/7.html 16 October 2007. IQ Test Results “What factors can influence them” 16 October 2007 http://www.2h.com/iq-tests.html Life Watch “Employee Assistance Program” Assessment < http://lifewatch.centersite.org/poc/view> accessed 15 October 2007 Midwifery Today Spring 2003 NIH News Release, March 20, 2002 at www.nihlibrary.nih.gov accessed 16 October 2007 www.midwiferytoday.com Nasser, Ulric. "Rising scores on intelligence tests.” American Scientist.  85. n5 (Sept-Oct 1997): 440(8).  "Nature–nurture controversy n."   A Dictionary of Psychology. Andrew M. Colman. Oxford University Press, 2006. Oxford Reference Online. Oxford University Press.  British Council Delhi.  16 October 2007  Neill James 10 April 2005 “Nature vs Nurture in Intelligence” http://wilderdom.com/personality/L4-1IntelligenceNatureVsNurture.html accessed 15 October 2007 New Scientist March 2, 2002 “ Dumb and dumber: does it really matter if IQ scores go up or down?. Niolon Richard, Ph.D Aug 2005 “Are IQ Tests Biased”accessed 16 October 2007< http://www.psychpage.com/learning/library/intell/biased.html> Schneider, David. "Smart as we can get? Gains on certain tests of intelligence are ending in some places. " American Scientist.  94.4 (July-August 2006): 311(2).  Science and Nature “Intelligence” accessed 16 Oct 2007 HSU Steve 2006 “Intelligence, nature and nurture” July 22, 2006 Information Processing accessed 16 Oct 2007 Read More