4 Chapter 1 Intelligence Reading Selection 4 INTELLIGENCE What Is Intelligence? 1 7_J ow can you tell if a person is intelligent? You may think: “an Howe person does well in school.” Or “an intelligent Person reads a lot.” It is not easy to define intelligence. Even Psychologists do not agree on its definition. One definition is: intelligence is the ability to learn and adapt to the environment. 2 Psychologists who study intelligence fall into two groups. The first group believes there is one general intelligence. The other group believes there are many kinds of intelligence. They believe People can be intelligent in different ways. The different ways cannot always be me: by intelligence tests. For example, some people can play musical instruments or sing very well. They Albert Einstein Yoyo MaReading Assignment 1 Intelligence 5 Heredity and Environment ) 3 Heredity and environment both influence intelligence. Effects of Heredity 4 Children share physical traits! like hair color and eye color with their parents. Through their genes, parents pass some traits to their children. This is called heredity. Most psychologists believe intelligence is inherited (passed from parents to children). The way genes affect intelligence is complex. For example, there is no single gene for height. Similarly, there is no single gene for intelligence. Many genes affect intelligence. 5 Researchers try to understand how heredity and environment influence intelligence. One way to do this is using twin and adoption studies. Studying twins helps researchers understand how genes influence intelligence. Identical twins inherit the e same genes from their parents. Fraternal twins are like brothers and sisters. They share half of the same genes. Effects of Environment 6 The effects of environment on intelligence are divided into two categories: 1, Shared Environment. Your shared environment influences? you and your brothers and sisters. You all came from the same family, so you share the same environment. In your family, the economic status if you are rich or poor—is the same for each child. Also, the level of your parents’ education is the same. 2. Non-shared Environment. Some things about your environment are unique. They are not shared with your brothers and sisters. For example, how much attention you received from your parents can be different from your brothers and sisters. Your friends, your experiences, activities, and education are also different. These are examples of non-shared environment, 1. trait (trat) n. Characteristic; feature. 2. ineflurence (in‘flo0-ans) tr, v. Has an effect on,6 Chapter 1 Inteligence 7 ‘Twin Studies There are two kinds of twin: 1. Identical Twins. These twins develop from a single egg. They are both the same sex. They have exactly the same genes. 2, Fraternal Twins. These are as different as any brothers or sisters. They develop from different eggs. They can be the same sex, or they can be of opposite sexes. Researchers’ interested in intelligence study twins. Identical twins who are adopted! at birth by different people have similar intelligence. Fraternal twins who are raised together do not always have similar intelligence. This shows that intelligence is influenced more by genes than shared environment. From these studies, researchers conclude that genes are important to intelligence. However, shared environment does not appear to be important at all. Source: Adapted from Introduction to Psychology, (2001). Elgin, IL: McDougal Littell, pp. 158-159. ressearchrer (ri-stirch’ar) 1. Person who conducts scholarly or scientific investigations or inquiries. asdoptred (2-dopt’-ed) adj. Taken into one’s family through legal means and raised as one’s own child.