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EXPANDING MINDS Are we getting smarter? April 20, 1998 |
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This forum's introduction
Questions answered in this forum:
Why do we still look at IQ scores? Is technology the cause of rising IQ scores? Has environmental or health factors increased IQ scores? Do current IQ tests reflect the idea of multiple intelligences? How does a person's race or socioeconomic background affect his or her IQ score? Should student testing be changed to reflect the times? Viewer Comments
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Jeff Ashford of Washington, D.C., asks:
There are many different forms of intelligence, as many as two hundred in some estimations. Many of these are non-verbal in nature. My personal observation is that improvements in communication, computing power and access to information (e.g. the Internet) has made for improvements in the ability of some fortunate individuals to absorb and synthesize information -- that is, those exposed to or trained to use the new technologies. Even if other intellectual abilities are being "degraded" or de-emphasized, there is probably a net improvement in various forms of intelligence. TV may detract from intellectual development, for example, but e-mail and Web communications may be stimulating more creative and thoughtful forms of interaction.
- Is there any evidence to support this observation?
- Are we losing other intellectual skills -- for example, emphasizing the applied disciplines vs. more theoretical ones?
- Is society evolving a new form of caste system between the "haves" and "have-nots" when it comes to the types of technology and skills needed to succeed, and are our IQ tests simply validating these disparities rather than measuring some more innate abilities?
Prof. Ulric Neisser of Cornell University responds:
There are indeed many forms of intelligence, some that can be measured by standardized tests and others that cannot. I entirely agree with your observation that experience with computers and the Internet can develop certain abilities that might otherwise be little used. Dr. Patricia Greenfield of UCLA reviews the relevant evidence in a chapter that she has contributed to my forthcoming book "The Rising Curve" (which will be published by the American Psychological Association in May). For example, she cites a study in which six hours of playing TETRIS produced a significant improvement in the participants' scores on a test of spatial relations. As for losses: there is some evidence that vocabulary scores have declined in recent years, as one might expect since TV has sharply reduced the amount of reading people do.
Your last question seems to confuse two issues: (a) whether a sort of caste system is developing, and (b) "whether IQ tests are simply validating these disparities rather than measuring some more innate abilities?" In "The Bell Curve," Herrnstein and Murray clearly answered "Yes" to the first question; indeed, that was the main thrust of the book. But they may not be right: Jim Flynn has shown that the IQ gap between the children of the well-to-do and of the poor did not change appreciably from the thirties to the eighties. The notion of "innate abilities" is a bit confused, since all abilities develop through an interaction of genes and environment. Maybe you are asking whether individual differences in IQ scores are partly due to differences in genetic endowment; if so, the answer is "Yes," though they are also influenced by (presently unknown) environmental factors.
Prof. Alice Honig of Syracuse University responds:
We do not have research findings yet on the balance sheet of gains and losses as we develop more creative skills with e-mail and the Web yet perhaps have scarcer intellectual resources in debating sociopolitical problems in face to face interactions as children spend more and more hours in front of the TV. We do know that TV violence watching is associated with more child violence and the greatest amount of such watching is done by children with poorer intellectual attainments in school.
But we also know that access to information and encouragement to use resources to find out more about a topic (such as the Web or library resources or e-mail or asking a knowledgeable teaching adult) will help some children forge ahead in the world there computing power and informational know- how become ever more important. Are we developing a "caste system" between haves and have nots? Indeed, we seem to be developing children who belong to one world more than another, but the caste system may depend far more on how brain connections are being utilized or lost during the first years of life and not whether a school or home owns a late model computer.
That is, the new brain research shows that by 24 months, toddlers have twice as many neurological synaptic connections as adults. By 10 years, the unused interconnections are rapidly pruned away. Thus the law of intellectual and emotional well being is: use it or lose it! So indeed, we seems to have castes developing. There are children who receive rich turn-taking-talk experiences with beloved and loving caregivers/parents who care for the babies. They are cooed to, read to and snuggled daily. Their special care giving adults are responsive to cues, such as a baby's pointing finger and excited jabber. These babies will have powerful early receptive language skills. They will know many more words and be interested in so much of the outside world, rather than be on the alert only for interpersonal interactions, such as the mood of a parent who has not time, energy, pleasure, or skills for reading,communicating, loving a little one. Those toddlers whose brain synapses have received lots of positive emotional nourishment and interactive, language- rich nourishment will be in a better position to succeed in school. If we wait until children enter elementary schools or even Head Start programs at 4 years, we will have lost our best chances to help create a more egalitarian society from the point of view of equalizing the learning opportunities and the opportunities for developing a passion and zest for learning about the wide world.. Unless we teach parenting skills seriously in our junior and senior high schools, with practice, with good models, with specific technical skills such as how to engage a toddler in absorbed rapturous attention with book reading, I am afraid we surely will end up with a caste system.. They that have experienced these enriched early years will be given a boost in intellectual commitment and dedication to deathless quests for knowing more and learning more. May we find ways in this world to give those opportunities to all babies via teaching their families..and long before they have babies too!
Next: Could environmental and health factors lead to a raise in intelligence?
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