Form of the relationship between creativity, IQ, and academic achievement.

Cicirelli, Victor G.
Journal of Educational Psychology, Vol 56(6), Dec 1965, 303-308
Representing an investigation of hypotheses concerning: (1) interaction between
creativity and IQ as they affect achievement, and (2) IQ thresholds where creativity
begins to affect achievement and where IQ itself has no further effect, the study
involved 609 6th-grade pupils (IQ range 70-162), using a factorial design with 8
levels of IQ (CTMM) and 3 levels of creativity (Minnesota Tests of Creative Thinking).
Measures of achievement were the Gates Basic Reading Tests and the California
Tests of Arithmetic and Language. 12 combinations of creativity and achievement
measures were used for separate analyses of variance. At the .05 level, results
generally implied additivity and linearity instead of interaction and thresholds. The
relationship between creativity and achievement was weaker than some previous
studies suggested and varied with the measures used. (PsycINFO Database Record
(c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)

What Factors Determine Intelligence?

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Question: What Factors Determine Intelligence?
Answer:
In addition to disagreements about the basic nature of intelligence, psychologists have spent a
great amount of time and energy debating the various influences on individual intelligence. The
debate focuses on one of the major questions in psychology: Which is more important - nature or
nurture?
Today, nearly all psychologists recognize that both genetics and the environment play a role in
determining intelligence. It now becomes matter of determining exactly how much of an
influence each factor has. First, it is important to note that genetics and environment interact to
determine exactly how inherited genes are expressed. For example, if a person has tall parents, it
is likely that the individual will also grow to be tall. However, the exact height the person
reaches can be influenced by environmental factors such as nutrition and disease.
Evidence of genetic influences:
 • Twin studies suggest that identical twins IQ's are more similar than those of fraternal
twins (Promin & Spinath, 2004).

• Siblings reared together in the same home have IQ's that are more similar than those of
adopted children raised together in the same environment (McGue & others, 1993).
Evidence of environmental influences:
• Identical twins reared apart have IQ's that are less similar than identical twins reared in
the same environment (McGue & others, 1993).

• School attendance has an impact on IQ scores (Ceci, 2001).

• Children who are breastfed during the first three to five months of life score higher on IQ
tests at age 6 than same-age children who were not breastfed (Reinberg, 2008).
The effects of genetic and environmental
factors on IQ
By Alexander Roulinski
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For the last 140 years, scholars have been preoccupied with identifying the exact factors that
influence one’s IQ. The numerous studies on the subject have led most scientists nowadays to the
belief that one’s IQ is determined by a variety of both genetic and environmental factors,
although there is contention about the exact weight of each.
The majority of studies on intelligence have shown that environmental factors account for about
25% of the differences in people’s IQ scores. The factors that have been of greatest interest to
scholars include prenatal development, nutrition, birth order, home and family environment, and
the effects of schooling.
Prenatal development
Scientists have discovered many factors during a woman’s pregnancy that could affect a child’s
cognitive development. Among them are:
… the mother’s health, including her nutrition and smoking and drinking habits during
pregnancy, her age and the number of previous pregnancies, the interval since her last
pregnancy, blood type and Rh incompatibility of mother and fetus, her history of X-ray
exposure, and her red blood cell count, to list a few (Jensen; 169).
Nutrition
Despite researchers’ initial belief that nutrition played a significant role in a child’s cognitive
development, so far, there has been no substantial evidence that differences in nutritional habits
have a noticeable effect on IQ, unless a child has suffered severe and prolonged malnutrition in
early childhood.
Birth order
Surprisingly, statistical data shows that birth order can somewhat affect IQ:
Each successive child born into a family has, on average, a slightly lower IQ, by about .7 IQ
point, than the previous born child… A parallel effect is found on scholastic achievement as well
(Jensen; 171).
Home and family environment
One of the factors that many people attribute an important role to in mental development and
differences in IQ is home and family environment. The latter encompasses variables such as:
… neighborhood, the number of rooms in the home ... the number of magazines and books, the
parents' educational and occupational level, family income, whether private music lessons and
dance lessons are given to child, membership in established organizations, and travel experiences
(Jensen; 173).
Schooling
In addition, scholars have also examined the effects of schooling on a child’s IQ. They have
discovered that differences in school quality have no detectable influence on a child's
intelligence test scores. What proves to be of greater significance is regular school attendance,
especially in elementary school.
Genetic factors
Besides environmental influences, most scientists today believe that genes also play a part in
determining one’s IQ. However, there is currently an intense debate whether genetic or
environmental factors are the deciding influence.
To sum up, science has come a long way in understanding the different factors that shape one's
intelligence. However, there are still contentious issues that need to be clarified.
References:
Jensen, Arthur R. Straight Talk About Mental Tests. New York: The Free Press, 1981. 168-190.
What Factors Can Influence Them?

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Background
Most researchers agree that genetic factors account for about 40-80% of the variation in IQ test
results. If this is true, then environmental or other factors must account for 20-60% - which is a
large range.

Factors Influencing IQ
Some environmental factors that have a large effect upon later IQ test results include prenatal
ones, such as:
• Whether or not, prior to the birth, mother drank large amounts of alcohol
during her pregnancy (fetal alcohol syndrome).
• The mother was exposed to large amounts of lead.

Factors that have an effect during the early years

Other factors that have their influence on IQ at a young age are:
• Schooling.
• The quality of toys used.
• The amount of external stimulus the child was subjected to.
• Prolonged malnutrition also has a marked negative effect on IQ test.
• In contrast, babies who were breastfed have IQs up to 10 points on average
higher than those who weren