Interviews+on+intelligence

=Podcasts and 'Pysch episodes'=

=Added scripts= Model script - this is one Ms Leong worked on specifically so that you could see that at least one study for each side must be looked at in detail.


 * Kevin/Nate/Jenna's**

Characters - Dion: G DOC (Genetics) Felisa: DR. E (Environmental) Max: HOST Max: “WELCOME, LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, TO OMFRH, OR “//OUCH MY FACE REALLY HURTS”//, THE SHOW WHERE PSYCHOLOGISTS BATTLE IT OUT AND NO ONE REALLY WINS!” “IN THE GENETICS CORNER, WEIGHING AT FOURHUNDREDEIGHTYTWO POUNDS, G DOC!” “IN THE ENVIRONMENTAL CORNER, WEIGHING… LESS THAN THAT, DR. E." NOW, THE RULES ARE SIMPLE. I WILL PRESENT ONE PROMPT FOR THE NIGHT, AND BOTH OF YOU WILL HAVE THE OPPORTUNITY TO ANSWER AND BATTLE IT OUT. IF YOUR OPPPONENT HAS NOTHING TO SAY, YOU GET TO **PUNCH THEM IN THE FACE**. LET’S GET RIGHT INTO IT. OUR PROMPT IS: IN RELATION TO INTELLIGENCE, TO WHAT EXTENT IS BEHAVIOUR INNATE? Dion: "Genetics influence behavior to the extent of the predisposed factors that are passed down from parents to their offspring towards a certain behavior" Felisa: "That's true, but we also cant ignore environmental and physiological factors! There is NO single cause and effect relationship between genes and behavior. Behaviors will stimulate itself depending on the environemnt, like the family and the educational environment. Like say if the person is home schooled, or go to a private or public school" Dion: "...." Felisa: *punches Dion in the FACE* :) Max: "Wow! The first punch of the night! Dion, we're going to give you a chance to redeem yourself and support your claim by citing relevant studies!" Dion: "Well, Max, and DR. E, Fellow professionals in my field, Drs. Buochard and McGue, conducted a study in 1981. Together, they reviewed 111 studies of IQ correlations between siblings. These studies include research studies on intelligence from all over the world. This is what we would call a meta-analysis, the statistical synthesis of the data from a set of comparable studies that results in a quantitative summary. They found that the closer the kinship, the higher the correlation for IQ. Max: "That's quite impressive" Dion: "That's not all! Bouchard and his collegues published another study in 1990 famously known as the Minnesota Twin study. It was a result of a longitudinal study begun in 1979. The intelligence of MZAs (identical twins raised apart) were compared to MZTs (identical twins raised together). This resulted in a list of concordance rates which indicate how similar they are. Biological sibling reared together had a rate of 47%; fraternal twins reared together had a rate of 55%;; and listen to this, identical twins reared together had a rate of 86%. 1% lower than the same person tested twice. "This gives strong evidence for behaviour being innate. Felisa: "**Objection**! You have to consider the the role of the environment! You also didn't mention the rate of identical twins reared apart, which I believe was a rate of 76%, which is 10% lower than identical twins raised together! This supports that idea that the environment **does** affects intelligence concordance. Dion: "Well, **We cannot assume the twins who are raised together experience the same environment. Also, there was no adequate control to establish the frequency of contact between the twins prior to the study."** Felisa: "There are more limitations! **Bouchard relied on media coverage to recruit participants -** this affects the sample. "I have evidence that the **environment** plays a great role in affecting intelligence. For example, a study conducted by Wahlstein (1997) Claims that transferring an infant from a family with a low socio-economic status to a family with a high socio-economic status improved childhood IQ scores by 12-16 points or about one standard deviation. This suggests that an enriched environment may raise children’s IQ. Other environmental factors that could influence intelligence are nutrition, schooling, different child-rearing practices, the use of technology in life, and how visual one's environment is. Also, according to Alfred Bandura's Social Learning Theory, and his 1961 bobo doll study, behaviour is passed down from parent to child by observation and reproduction! According to his theory, behaviour is learned via the **environment**." Dion: "That might be true, but don't forget that the bobo doll study focused on learning **agression**. The study's results cannot necessarily be generalized to other behaviours such as intelligence. Also, there were major ethical issues about the way he conducted his experiment. " Felisa: "..." Dion: *Punches Felisa in the FACE* :-P <span style="color: #134f5c; font-family: 'Cambria','serif'; font-size: 11pt;">Felisa: Haven’t your mom ever taught you not to hit girls! <span style="color: #990000; font-family: 'Cambria','serif'; font-size: 11pt;">Max: "Ouch! That looked like it hurt! Now, settle down, you two. Let's now go to **the CONFOUNDING ISSUES round**! In this round, I will present both of you with studies and other factors that could complicate matters. If either of you can make a valid claim that swings this issue towards your side, you get to punch the other in the face! 1. Our first issue is that of the definition of Intelligence Is it based only on knowledge or also on problem solving abilities? Hainer et al. (1988) carried out a study in which PET scans showed that when solving a reasoning problem, participants with higher IQs had a lower metabolic rate and those with lower IQs had a lower metabolic rate. This suggests that Intelligence is linked to problem solving ability, and is known as the 'less effort hypothesis' <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Cambria','serif'; font-size: 11pt;">Dion & Felisa: "..." <span style="color: #990000; font-family: 'Cambria','serif'; font-size: 11pt;">2. Moving on to issue two... What about intelligence that changes over time? Plomin and Petrill (1997) found that IQ correlations between parents and children increased as the children grew older. They suggested that our genes encourage us to seek out enviroments that highlight our genetic characteristics. This study gives evidence for the complexity of the relationship between genetics and the environment. <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Cambria','serif'; font-size: 11pt;">Dion & Felisa: "..." <span style="color: #990000; font-family: 'Cambria','serif'; font-size: 11pt;">3. And lastly, do Intelligence tests really measure Intelligence? Flynn found that mean scores on IQ tests have been increasing by about 3 points every ten years. Are we really getting smarter, or just better at taking 'intelligence' tests? If we really are getting smarter, then what is the cause? It is not likely that we are evolving at such a rapid rate, and the environments of people around the world are so varied! How can there be such a clear trend? <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Cambria','serif'; font-size: 11pt;">Dion & Felisa: "..." <span style="color: #990000; font-family: 'Cambria','serif'; font-size: 11pt;">Max: *PUNCHES THEM BOTH IN THE FACE!* So, folks, it seems that we haven't decided one way or the other whether intelligence is purely genetic or a result of environmental factors. This is probably because it is a combination of both! Bouchard et al. determined a heritability estimate of 70%, meaning 70% of intelligence can be attributed to genetic inheritance, and 30% may to attributed to other factors. Whether or not these numbers are accurate is not as important as the fact that our competitors tonight have given us strong cases for both! We'll see you next time, on OMFRH <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Cambria','serif'; font-size: 11pt;">Dion & Felisa: "Ouch, our faces really hurt..."
 * Dion, Felisa, Max**
 * There are ethical concerns about the way he reunited the twins.**

//( Tim and Connie had to go save the world and plant 'SOME' (1948 trees!) over the weekend and could not make the video. But here is the script :D )// So which exactly plays a more dominant role? Stay tuned as we provide the questions you want on the nature vs. nurture debate.
 * Isabelle, Tim, and Connie's script !**
 * Interviewer**: Using the context of intelligence as a basis, researchers and psychologists are able to further understand the extent of genetic and environmental influence on human behaviors.

//Transition…. transition…transition… individuals come out… clap… clap…clap// Basically, I decided to use identical twins in this study as they have a 100% genetic relationship. I hypothesized that no matter the environment which one twin is placed, any correlation in intelligence is perhaps attributed to genetic factors.
 * More of the interviewer:** Here we have today are two notable individuals in the field of psychology that provide us with a comprehensive view on nature and nurture…. please welcome Thomas Bouchard and Sandra Scarr!
 * Even more of the interviewer:** We are so pleased to have you here, please take a seat and enlighten us!
 * Bouchard:** glad to be here
 * Scarr:** the pleasure is mine
 * Interviewer:** Lets start with you, Mr.Bouchard, what are your reasons for indicating that genetics does influence behavior?
 * Bouchard:** Well, I have always believed that the role genetics plays in an individual’s intelligence, therefore I have conducted a study that I feel wholly confirms my beliefs.
 * Interviewer:** and what study would this be?
 * Bouchard:** The Minnesota Twin Study that I conducted in 1979, and published in 1990 with a few of my colleagues is in fact still on going.
 * Interviewer:** Hmm.. please do continue.
 * Bouchard:** I compared monozygotic twins raised apart with monozygotic twins raised separately. Then, I measured their intelligence through 50 hours of testing and interviews. The results demonstrated the concordance rates of identical twins reared together were 86% while identical twins reared apart was 76%. The closeness of the concordance rates demonstrates how even in different environments, MZAs had close intelligence scores. To provide further insight, I also found that the concordance rate of the same person tested twice was 87%, fraternal twins reared together is 55% and biological siblings reared together was 47%. I can wholeheartedly conclude that genetics plays a vital role in influencing intelligence.
 * Interviewer:** Amazing! Definitely very interesting, Ms. Scarr what would you like to say?
 * Scarr:** I must say it is impressive, and although you present a relevant point Mr. Bouchard, the limitations of your study are not negligible. I feel as though there were some ethical considerations about how you reunited the twins, and furthermore, there was no initial clear control that established the frequency of contact between the twins.
 * Bouchard:** I appreciate your criticism, but what I would like to know is why you believe that environmental factors influence behavior rather than genetics
 * Interviewer:** Oh look at this, two interviewees take center stage as the debate ranges on
 * Scarr:** The adoption study that I conducted suggests that the intelligence of the adopted child correlates with the intelligence of the adoptive parent. Considering there are no biological links between foster child and foster parent, it should demonstrate that environmental influences should be evident.
 * Interviewer:** interesting… go ahead, please tell us more about it
 * Scarr:** I apologize for my partner Richard Weignberg’s absence today, but back on point, we conducted this study in 1977 to explore the environmental influences on intelligence. At first, we assumed that the significant differences between parent-child IQ of adopted and natural children should be attributable to genes. We focused on parents who had specifically raised both adopted and biological children. All children had the same upbringing in the same environment with the same parents. However, we found no significant differences in IQ correlations. Therefore, leading us to the conclusion that children reared in the same environment influenced IQ scores.
 * Interviewer:** Then how did you determine that for sure?
 * Scarr:** Well what was interesting is that in most of the families in the study, adoptive parents were wealthy, white middle class with high IQs, whilst the adopted children were from poor, lower class backgrounds with lower IQ parents. This indicates that a change in environment can improve a child’s intelligence, and even though adoptive children have no biological link to their adoptive parents, their similar IQ to the adoptive parent’s biological children illustrate that environmental factors is key in influencing intelligence, and not genes.
 * Bouchard:** That is indeed quite the study you have there, however adoption studies have met wide criticism. I feel as though your study is not ecologically valid, as foster children are not representative of the general population. Furthermore, adoption agencies use selective placement to indicate homes for children, ultimately placing them with families who share similarities to the natural parents. This blurs the line between genetic factors and environmental factors, don’t you think?
 * Interviewer:** You both make outstanding and brought very relevant points to the table, Mr. Bouchard, some concluding thoughts?
 * Bouchard:** Well, to substantiate my point further, I would like to briefly discuss another study done by Plomin et al in 1997.
 * Interviewer:** Certainly, go ahead
 * Bouchard:** Plomin et al measured intelligence of children through verbal ability, this was a longitudinal study. They measured IQ correlations of child and birth parents, adoptive children and adoptive parents, and adoptive children and biological parents. They found that in 3 years, child and birth parents had a .16 correlation, adoptive children and adoptive parents had a .9, and adoptive children and birth parents had a .11 correlation. 16 years later, children and birth parents had a .34 correlation, adoptive children and birth parents had a .33 correlation, and adoptive children and adoptive parents had a .07 correlation.
 * Interviewer:** well that was a long list of statistics
 * Bouchard:** Well my point is, that intelligence is mostly related to genetic factors as Plomin’s study shows that adoptive children’s IQ scores are more highly correlated with their biological parent’s IQs as they grow older, especially during late adolescence where the correlation between adoptive parents and children become weaker.
 * Interviewer:** Ms. Scarr, would you like to include more to your argument?
 * Scarr:** Of course, like Mr. Bouchard I would also like to present another study.
 * Interviewer:** Go ahead
 * Scarr:** Whalstein 1997 discovered that the social standing of adoptive parents with high IQs and adopted children from poor backgrounds with lower IQs illustrated a significant improvement on child intelligence. This is another adoption study. Whalstein found that transferring an infant from a family with low socioeconomic status improved child’s IQ scores by 12-16 points. They suggest that poverty as an environmental factor has a significant influence on the development of a child’s intelligence.
 * Interviewer:** Wow, here you have it ladies and gentlemen, the two sides of the nature vs. nurture debate through the context of intelligence. It seems to me that both Mr. Bouchard and Ms. Scarr’s evidences were both very relevant. It is highly improbable that a single gene is responsible for complex behaviors such as intelligence. Genes can only be considered to be one of the building blocks of a complex behavior. Furthermore, the equal environment assumption asserts that twins who are raised together don’t necessarily experience the same environment, so how can environment be the only determining factor of intelligence? It is very difficult to isolate both factors environmental and genetics in the case of intelligence. However, it is highly probable that BOTH the interaction between genes and environment produces an individual’s intelligence levels. What do you think?

-end- Sources: [|**http://www.education.com/reference/article/effects-heredity-environment-intelligence/**]
 * AP Psychology Book, international edition**
 * IB Psychology course companion- Crane and Hannibal**