Intelligence survey

[KatieHonebon]

Hi, I’m Katie and I’m a 16 year old student. I am writing an EPQ on intelligence and the education system and I’d really appreciate if you could fill out this quick survey to help me out! Thanks

www.surveymonkey.com/r/BL66WDY

Feel free to ask questions or give your opinion on the matter :)

I think intelligence is mainly genetic (as in you are born with it) and define it as something like 'innate thinking ability' or similar.

But the nurturing of that intelligence comes from environment and hard work. 'Bright but lazy' will not do so well in life as 'average but diligent'.

If you tested for intelligence at birth you would be mainly doing it presumably to 'stop wasting education on the thick' ? But that would preclude the hardworking from having opportunities.

(ps Why did you use gender not sex in your survey?)

TeenTimesTwo said it perfectly, I agree.

I suppose it depends on what you define intelligence as. I believe that there are many types and I don't agree that IQ necessarily = intelligence.

That being said, I do think there is an innate ability that is then influenced by emvironmental factors.

Good luck with your project :-)

Your survey doesn't allow people to say if they think intelligence is a combination of hereditary and environmental factors.

I think one of the difficulties is that the answer/s could be swayed by the measurement process.

Some measures of intelligence are skewed towards particular social and cultural groups.

Good luck with your study.

I originally had an option to pick both genetic and environmental but everyone was picking it and that doesn’t help with my project so I was hoping people would pick what they thought it mostly was

Thanks everyone for your input :)

Ah, so you want to know which people think has more influence.

No option for those without children?

My DC are adopted. I don't think my adopting them has made them more intelligent.
But I am certain they are achieving better academically than they would have had they stayed with birth family (even without the big issues that led to their adoption).
So I am helping them make the best of what they have iyswim?

That’s a really interesting point, thank you TeenTimesTwo! I am planning on mentioning ideas about adoption in my project

Your questionnaire doesn't distinguish between genes and educational outcomes.

It is possible to believe that intelligence is genetic, while also believing that educational outcomes are heavily influenced by opportunity and the emotional and socioeconomic environment that surround a person.

There are also options other than genes and environment. Epigenetic and SEN might impact on both intelligence and educational outcome.

sorry - that first sentence should say intelligence and educational outcomes.

I believe you will find that most research on this subject concludes something like, on average, about 65% of “intelligence” is hereditary and about 35% is acquired through nurture.

I prefer to think of “intelligence” in absolute numbers however, rather than in percentages. IE if the average baby start school with 65 points and with average nurture acquires a further 35 points then they will be Joe Average with 100 points.

In another scenario this baby starts with 65 points and has a fantastic nurturing environment and acquires a further 65 points. Here they do not become Joe Average, but become a 97th percentiler.

NB: in the second scenario the person’s intelligence is split 50/50 between nature and nurture, not the 65/35 that research concludes.

It seems a really big topic for an EPQ. Have you been given guidance on what scope is interesting enough but also achievable in the expected timeframe (and wordcount)?

eg if you were looking at parental views you could ask us what we think adds value to academic achievement over and above what a shool provides (or all round brain development instead of academic depending on your focus), e.g.

• having a hobby and committing to it
• helping directly with academic work
• learning an instrument
• cultural experiences
• reading
• having friends
• independent play and exploration

Good luck.

I think you should be asking what 'sex' people are not gender. There's a world of difference.

The question (currently, it could alter slightly) is along the lines of ‘intelligence - nature or nurture’ but I will be focusing on the extent to which education can impact a child’s general cognitive abilities as a result of this research :)

I have changed it to ‘sex’, thanks for letting me know

(I may make another survey in the future once I have developed my topic so I will put it on this topic if I do)

I always thought it was more of a mix of nature and nurture until I met my DH. He was adopted by a couple who are seriously not bright, to put it politely. They never read to him or encouraged academically at all. He is far from dim so it must have come from somewhere.

So a kind of 'does education make you brighter?' question?
Good luck, hope it works out well.

I've done your survey, it was refreshingly quick to do :) Good luck!

I have done the survey, but I do not think it matters what people on discussion forums think. People often believe what they want to believe and tend to seek out evidence which supports their view and ignore evidence which goes against it. In the past, 99% of people believing the world was flat did not straighten out even one of its contours.

There is so much research which has been carried out on this topic over the years that I suspect it is easy to point to research which has proved either case, (for either nature or nurture), very strongly.
I do not think the picture is simple, with combinations of genes, epigenetics, nutrition and many other factors possibly influencing intelligence.

All I would suggest is that, as you carry out your research and look into past research, try and keep an open mind. Be aware of prejudices you may have about the conclusion and try to make your research as disinterested as you can.

Good luck with your EPQ.