Environmental Effects on Cognitive Abilities

481 Pages·2001·32.55 MB·English

by  Robert J. Sternberg

Environmental Effects
On Cognitive Abilities
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Environmental Effects

On Cognitive Abilities
Edited by
ROBERT J. STERNBERG
Yale University
ELENA L. GRIGORENKO
Yale University and
Moscow State University
LAWRENCE ERLBAUM ASSOCIATES, PUBLISHERS
2001 Mahwah, New Jersey London
Copyright © 2001 by Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc.
All rights reserved. No part of the book may be reproduced in
any form, by photostat, microform, retrieval system, or any other
means, without the prior written permission of the publisher.
Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc., Publishers
10 Industrial Avenue
Mahwah, New Jersey 07430
Cover design by Kathryn Houghtaling Lacey
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Environmental effects on cognitive abilities / edited by Robert J. Sternberg, Elena L. Grigorenko.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and indexes.
ISBN 0-8058-3183-5 (cloth : alk. Paper)
1. Intellect. 2. Nature and nurture. 3. Environmental psychology. I. Sternberg, Robert J.
II. Grigorenko, Elena L.
BF431 .E65 2001
00-051394
Books published by Lawrence Erlbaum Associates are printed on acid-free paper,
and their bindings are chosen for strength and durability.
Printed in the United States of America
1 0 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Contents

Preface vii
PART I: GENERAL ISSUES
1. Caste Status and Intellectual Development 3
John U. Ogbu and Pamela Stern
2. Family Matters: A Systems View of Family Effects 39
on Children's Cognitive Health
Barbara H. Fiese
3. Socioeconomic Status, Multiple Risks, 59
and Development of Intelligence
Ronald Seifer
4. Intelligence and Experience 83
Craig T. Ramey, Sharon Landesman Ramey,
and Robin Gaines Lanzi
PART II: PUBLIC AND PERSONAL HEALTH ISSUES
5. The Role of Nutrition in Intellectual Development 119
Sally Grantham-McGregor, Cornelius Ani,
and Lia Fernald
6. Environmental Pollutant Exposures and Children's 157
Cognitive Abilities
David C. Bellinger and Heather Foley Adams
v
vi CONTENTS
7. Prenatal Drug Exposure and Cognitive Development 189

Linda C. Mayes and Thomas Fahy
8. The Impact of Infectious Disease on Cognitive 221

Development
Katherine J. Alcock and Donald A. P. Bundy
9. The Invisible Danger: The Impact of Ionizing Radiation 255

On Cognitive Development and Functioning
Elena L. Grigorenko
PART III: WORK ENVIRONMENTS
10. Schooling and Cognitive Development 287

Kate Christian, Heather J. Bachnan,
and Frederick J. Morrison
11. Family Environments and Adult Cognitive Functioning 337

K. Warner Schaie and Yan-Ling Zuo
12. The Intellectual Effects of the Demands of the Work 363

Environment
Carmi Schooler
PART IV: CONCLUSIONS
13. Sociohistorical Changes and Intelligence Gains 383

Rocio Fernandez-Ballesteros, Manuel Juan-Espinosa,
and Francisco-Jose Abad
14. Epilogue: Is There a Heredity-Environment Paradox? 425

Robert J. Sternberg
Author Index 433

Subject Index 465
Preface

It sometimes seems difficult to pick up a current newspaper or a magazine without
reading about some behavioral characteristic for which it has been found that a
gene is responsible. Even aspects of behavior that one would feel certain are
environmentally controlled—such as divorce—are now being attributed in part
to the effects of genes. But genes never act alone: Their effects are always filtered
through the environment.
For example, it is ridiculous to view divorce as caused by a gene in itself.
Indeed, some societies have no divorces whatsoever, for legal or other reasons,
and no one would argue that their members lack some gene for divorce that is
found in societies that do have divorce. Rather, what is most likely happening is
that genetic predispositions, in interaction with the environment, can propel some
people to be more likely to divorce than others, given that the environment (society)
permits divorce. Thus, even in an age of interest in biology, the effects of the
environment, however they may be partitioned, will always be with us.
The goal of this volume is to discuss how the environment influences the
development and the maintenance of cognitive abilities. The volume is a successor,
in many respects to the Sternberg-Grigorenko (1997) volume, Intelligence,
Heredity, and Environment. The chapters in this volume supplement the chapters
in that book with respect to the specific nature and range of environmental effects.
This volume provides much greater detail. This book also serves as a companion
volume to a book Grigorenko and Sternberg have edited, Family Environment
and Intellectual Functioning: A Life-Span Perspective, on the effects of family
environment, in particular, on cognitive abilities. Family effects are so broad-
ranging and pervasive that they were believed to require a separate volume of
their own. Taken together, the two-volume set comprises the most comprehensive
existing work on the relation between the environment and cognitive abilities.
Why did we see a need for a book on environmental effects on cognitive
abilities? There are several reasons.
1. Genes always have their effect either in correlation with or in interaction
with the environment. As noted earlier, genes always filter their effects through
the environment. So even those readers with a primarily biological orientation
need to know how environment filters genetic effects.
2. We can control environment, at least to some extent. Whereas we can do
relatively little about genes, we can do a great deal about the environment. Thus,
to the extent that we wish to maximize the cognitive development both of children
and adults, we need to understand environmental effects on cognitive abilities
so as to have a basis for constructing optimal environments.
vii
PREFACE viii
3. Even if attributes are heritable, they can be modifiable. Many people confuse
heritability with modifiability. They believe that if something is heritable, it
cannot be modifiable. This belief is false. Height is highly heritable, it has been
highly modifiable. No matter what the heritability of a set of traits, these traits
can develop very differently in different environments.
4. Too much of what is written about the environment is vague. Much of what
people write about the environment is stated vaguely and without scientific
support. "Environment" or "context" is said to matter, without further
specification of just what the effects are or how they are manifested. This book
concentrates on specifying these effects in detail, and on showing how they
operate.
5. The pendulum has swung too far in the direction of biology. We believe
that biological effects on cognitive development are important. But just as the
1970s placed too much emphasis on the environment, we believe that the 1990s
placed too much emphasis on biology. Biological and environmental effects
always work together. This book can help restore a more appropriate balance.
6. The debate needs to go beyond specifying "environment" and "context"
as important to specifying just what the environmental and contextual factors
are. The traditional debate is over what percentage of the variation in various
cognitive abilities is inherited and what percentage of the variation is acquired
through environment. The debate has begun to move beyond such relatively
sterile characterizations to specification of what the genetic or environmental
factors are that constitute each of these two large components. This book is the
only one that systematically reviews such a broad range of environmental factors.
Why cover such a broad range of factors in one book? The reason is that, in
the past, environmental approaches have been piecemeal, with articles and books
tending to concentrate on one or two factors (e.g., parenting, birth order, schooling)
without putting together all of the factors that contribute to environmental effects.
A book is needed that serves as a handbook for those interested in the entire range
of environmental effects. Thus, our goal is to integrate what formerly have been
very diverse literatures that are seriously in need of integration and accessibility
through a single volume.
No one author could possibly be an expert in all of the diverse environmental
effects that contribute to individual differences in cognitive abilities. It is for this
reason that an edited book is useful, with leading authorities commenting on effects
in their own areas of expertise.
Chapter authors have been asked to make their chapters accessible to college-
educated lay readers as well as professionals. As a result, this book has a wide-
ranging potential audience:
ix PREFACE
1. Psychologists in a variety of specializations, including (a) developmental,
(b) cognitive, (c) differential, (d) health, (e) clinical, (f) counseling, (g)
environmental, (h) behavior-genetic, (I) educational, and (j) school psychology
are all likely to find this book of interest.
2. Educators who teach, do research, or do administration will all be concerned
with what they can do to establish the optimal possible environments for
educating children.
3. Parents will be interested in knowing what they can do to optimize children's
environments.
4. Social workers will also be interested in how environments can be arranged
in order to facilitate the cognitive development of the people with whose best
interests they are charged, for example, children placed in foster homes.
5. Employers who want to create an environment at work that optimizes the
cognitive work of their employees will find the book useful in suggesting what
they can do to create an environment that stimulates high-level thinking.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
We are grateful to Judi Amsel for contracting the book, to Sai Durvasula for help
with manuscript preparation, and to Grant R206R950001 from the U.S. Office of
Education Research and Improvement, U.S. Department of Education, which has
funded Sternberg's work on intelligence. The findings and opinions expressed in
this book do not reflect the positions or policies of that agency.
Robert J. Sternberg
Elena L. Grigorenko