Describe how the developmental themes from the text (active-passive; continuity-discontinuity; holistic; and nature-nurture) are especially relevant to the issues of intelligence and creativity

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

Developmental psychologists are interested in how the active child influences her own intelligence, the effects of nature and nurture on intelligence, the qualitative and quantitative changes in intelligence across development, and how intelligence relates holistically to the rest of development.

Turning first to the active child effects, in this chapter, we saw that the child's phenotype drives his or her activities later in childhood and adolescence, and that his or her experiences impact the intellectual achievements he or she attains. We also saw that the activities a child explores impact the creative achievements he or she attains. Remember that active child effects are not necessarily conscious choices but also reflect how the child influences his or her development in any way. Consider, then, the results of the compensatory education opportunities we discussed. In a way, those opportunities change the child and result in attitudes and behaviors that change the child's learning outcomes and educational aspirations. This too can be considered an active child effect.

Perhaps the most prominent theme in intelligence is the interaction of nature and nurture in influencing the child's intelligence and cognitive achievements. In this chapter, we reviewed clear evidence that genetics and nature effects clearly influence the child's IQ and intelligence. We also reviewed clear evidence that the child's environment has a large impact on later intellectual achievements. Some evidence for nature concerned the genetic effects on IQ scores and the relationships between a child's intelligence and that of his or her biological relatives. The evidence for the influence of the environment concerned the character of the home environment early in life, as well as social and cultural effects on IQ. Clearly, this is one area of development in which both nature and nurture are strong forces directing intellectual attainments.

In contrast, there was little mention of qualitative and quantitative changes in intelligence in this chapter. We did review evidence suggesting that IQ scores change (a great deal for an individual child) across development. But whether those changes are qualitative or quantitative is not an issue to which developmental psychologists have given much attention.

Finally, we saw much evidence of the holistic nature of intelligence in child development. We saw that the child's level of intelligence influences his or her academic future, as well as his or her leadership skills, popularity, emotional development, and general life satisfaction. Clearly, intelligence has a holistic influence on child development and, as such, it should be considered when one attempts to understand the nature of child development as a whole.