The author reviews cross-sectional and longitudinal studies on the status of intelligence in the aging, and finds conflicting conclusions: (1) intelligence does decline as persons grow older; (2) only some aspects decline while others improve; and (3) intelligence does not decline. Certain factors are adduced to suggest that such…

Individual differences in general intelligence and in 8 different special aptitudes or skills were hypothesized to be independent of family size and birth order indices. Evidence to the contrary, in the form of linear correlations, was predicted to be due to the confounding influence of socio-economic factors. Among the more familiar demographic…

The controversy over the causes of intelligence--genetic or environmental--is reviewed. More specifically, the subject of the consistently lower intelligence scores for blacks is analyzed. Much attention is devoted to Jensen and his monograph published in the "Harvard Educational Review," entitled "How much can we boost IQ and scholastic…

The relationship of test wiseness to I.Q. and the usability of I.Q. scores are discussed. Test wiseness involves the examinee's ability to obtain a high score on a standardized achievement test as a result of utilizing test-taking experience. Usability of I.Q. scores refers to the value of I.Q. scores to educators in making educational decisions.…

A study was conducted to investigate the predictive validity of parents' ability to attend to their children (ATA) on intelligence and to determine to what extent ATA and social class variables, in combination, can account for the discrepancy in the IQ scores of children of different races. Ss were 700 Head Start children. The criterion variables…

Heritability is defined as the proportion of a manifested trait's varience that is due to genetic variation. Sixty-five pairs of twins were employed to investigate the heritability of: (1) short term memory (Jensen's Level 1), operationalized using of modified "digit span" test; (2) the general intellective factor (Jensen's Level II),…

Two experiments examined whether correlations between IQ and probed serial running memory depend on IQ-related individual differences in the retention of order information in short-term memory. Children's IQ correlated with memory, regardless of whether instructions emphasized serial or free recall; and with recent item but not recent order…

Research on sibling influence on intellectual ability has shown that academic ability and achievement decrease as family size increases and as spacing between siblings decreases. Research also suggests a relationship between sex of subject and of sibling, and age differences in the effects of birth order and sibling sex. (JAC)

Trotman (EJ 168 902) indicated that Black and White families of similar socioeconomic status differ widely in intellectual home environment, and suggested the nonutility of socioeconomic status as a control in racial comparisons of IQ. The validity of Trotman's conclusions is questioned, both for methodology and results. (Author/BH)

Scarr and Weinberg's results (Intelligence, 1977) are compared to those of similar adoption studies and found to be quite similar, despite the transracial adoption patterns in Scarr and Weinberg's sample. The author also suggests that the major contribution of behavioral genetics to psychology may be our increased understanding of the environment.…

Children read sets of words under three conditions: with no pictures, with related pictures, and with unrelated pictures. Results indicated that words were read more slowly whenever pictures were present; that unrelated pictures produced more interference than related pictures; and that both effects were inversely related to reading ability.…

A directed forgetting task was used in an investigation of the conditions under which normal and educable mentally retarded junior high school students would disregard irrelevant information. Results showed that irrelevant information in memory interfered with the performance of only the retarded group, when given a minimal explanation of the…

Seeing intelligence as neither strongly hereditary nor necessarily stable over time, and accepting the notion that it is a significant determinant of future occupational status, liberal psychologists and educators rely on the intervention of social institutions, primarily the school. The liberal view toward testing and intelligence is discussed.…

Thorndike's Stanford-Binet data suggest that from 1932 to 1971-72 preschool children enjoyed greater IQ gains than older children, possibly due to the rise of television. Additional analysis indicated that gains were either due to sampling error or totally antedated 1947. Gains of 12 IQ points were found for Americans. (Author/EGS)

The relationship between psychometric intelligence and rapid acoustic information processing was explored in two experiments using college students. Group differences occurred in threshold interstimulus intervals required for recognition and in speed. Results were interpreted as indicating better information processing efficiency (higher…