James Flynn s Creation Of The Flynn Effect - 925 Words

Alfred Adams Ms. D Psychology 3/15/16 Chapter 10 Intelligence Essay Intelligence is defined as the ability to learn from experience, solve problems, and use knowledge to adapt to new situations. We can measure a person’s intelligence by assessing an individual’s mental aptitudes using numerical scores. Psychologists are currently still arguing whether intelligence is inherited or acquired. Nature is focuses more on genetics and hormones while. Nurture, on the other hand, focuses on external factors that have an influence on individuals. Regarding the intelligence debate in Psychology, the most important factor is nurture/environment. One piece of evidence that supports nurture in this debate is James Flynn’s creation of the Flynn†¦show more content†¦Hunt tested a tutored human enrichment program. This allowed caregivers to play language fostering games with the children. The results were successful showing infants being able to name over 50 objects and body parts. Hunt concluded that â€Å"environmental conditions can depress cognitive development.† This also occurs in many education systems around the world. Students are not cared for by under qualified teachers, destroying their chances of being more intelligent individuals. A third piece of evidence that supports nurture as being a more important factor of intelligence in this debate is racial groups differing in their average intelligence score. Around WWII more IQ tests were being given due to soldiers in the United States applying to serve their country. African Americans scored lower (typical Black scores below 85% of Whites) on the se tests containing vocabulary, reading, and mathematics. Test given to the soldiers around this time were extremely biased to Western-European culture. This shows that the black-white test gap is not related to nature entirely. When black and white children attend same schools the gap begins to shrink, proving that environment is a huge factor regarding intelligence. It shrinks when they have the same wealth and income. â€Å"When black or mixed-race children are raised in white rather than black homes, their preadolescent test scores rise dramatically.† (NewYorkTimes). There is too much evidence to prove the reasoning for