Nature, nurture, and expertise
Robert Plomin et al.; 2013
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0160289613000810
Abstract
Rather than investigating the extent to which training can improve performance under experimental conditions (‘what could be’), we ask about the origins of expertise as it exists in the world (‘what is’). We used the twin method to investigate the genetic and environmental origins of exceptional performance in reading, a skill that is a major focus of educational training in the early school years. Selecting reading experts as the top 5% from a sample of 10,000 12-year-old twins assessed on a battery of reading tests, three findings stand out. First, we found that genetic factors account for more than half of the difference in performance between expert and normal readers. Second, our results suggest that reading expertise is the quantitative extreme of the same genetic and environmental factors that affect reading performance for normal readers. Third, growing up in the same family and attending the same schools account for less than a fifth of the difference between expert and normal readers. We discuss implications and interpretations (‘what is inherited is DNA sequence variation’; ‘the abnormal is normal’). Finally, although there is no necessary relationship between ‘what is’ and ‘what could be’, the most far-reaching issues about the acquisition of expertise lie at the interface between them (‘the nature of nurture: from a passive model of imposed environments to an active model of shaped experience’).
Donnerstag, 11. Juli 2013
Does Childhood Television Viewing Lead to Attention Problems in Adolescence?
Does Childhood Television Viewing Lead to Attention Problems in Adolescence? Results From a Prospective Longitudinal Study
Carl Eric Landhuis et al.; 2007
http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/120/3/532.long
Abstract
Carl Eric Landhuis et al.; 2007
http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/120/3/532.long
Abstract
CONTEXT. There is controversy over whether childhood television viewing causes attention problems. The findings from cross-sectional and longitudinal studies have been mixed. To our knowledge, no longitudinal studies have assessed the impact of children's television viewing on attention problems in adolescence. The objective of this study was to assess this association.
DESIGN, PARTICIPANTS, AND SETTING. Study members were a general population birth cohort of 1037 participants (502 female) born in Dunedin, New Zealand, between April 1972 and March 1973. Parental estimates of children's television-viewing time were obtained at ages 5, 7, 9, and 11 years. Self-, parent-, and teacher-reported attention problems in adolescence were obtained at ages 13 and 15 years.
RESULTS. The mean of hours of television viewing during childhood was associated with symptoms of attention problems in adolescence. These associations remained significant after controlling for gender, attention problems in early childhood, cognitive ability at 5 years of age, and childhood socioeconomic status. This association was also independent of adolescent television viewing.
CONCLUSIONS. Childhood television viewing was associated with attention problems in adolescence, independent of early attention problems and other confounders. These results support the hypothesis that childhood television viewing may contribute to the development of attention problems and suggest that the effects may be long-lasting.
Mittwoch, 10. Juli 2013
TV-Konsum der Österreicher/innen erreichte 2012 bisherigen Höchstwert
Mit einer durchschnittlichen TV-Nutzungszeit von 169 Minuten pro Tag verbrachten die Österreicher/innen (ab 12 Jahren) im vergangenen Jahr mehr Zeit vor den Fernsehgeräten als je zuvor. Die Verweildauer – die Nutzungszeit der an einem Tag jeweils fernsehenden Bevölkerung – betrug dabei 261 Minuten pro Tag – ebenfalls ein historischer Höchstwert. Zugenommen hat zum dritten Mal in Folge auch die TV-Reichweite: 2012 erreichte das Medium Fernsehen täglich 4,6 Mio. Österreicher/innen, das entspricht einer Tagesreichweite von 64 %.
http://mediaresearch.orf.at/index2.htm?fernsehen/fernsehen_nutzungsverhalten.htm
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Werte für Deutschland:
(Zum Vergrößern auf das Bild klicken.)
http://www.ard-zdf-onlinestudie.de/index.php?id=353
http://mediaresearch.orf.at/index2.htm?fernsehen/fernsehen_nutzungsverhalten.htm
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Werte für Deutschland:
(Zum Vergrößern auf das Bild klicken.)
http://www.ard-zdf-onlinestudie.de/index.php?id=353
[Was macht Herr Müller, wenn er zu viel Freizeit hat? Er sieht fern. 3 bzw. 4 Stunden tägliche Sehzeit (etwa ab dem 13. Lebensjahr) bedeuten schlicht, dass der Durchschnittsösterreicher bzw. der Durchschnittsdeutsche ungefähr einen Zeitraum von neun bzw. zwölf Jahren durchgehend vor dem Fernseher verbringt. Abzüglich der Schlafzeiten lässt sich dies etwa mit der Wachzeit von 13,5 bzw. 18 Lebensjahren gleichsetzen.]
Dienstag, 9. Juli 2013
Education and Verbal Ability over Time: Evidence from Three Multi-Time Sources
Education and Verbal Ability over Time: Evidence from Three Multi-Time Sources
N H Nie et al.; 2009
http://www.learningace.com/doc/1391311/129f7bd3448db86d19dba0cae2553072/education_and_verbal_ability
Abstract
During the 20th century there was an unprecedented expansion of the level in educational attainment in America. We use three separate measures to investigate whether there was a concurrent increase in verbal ability and skills. We look for changes in verbal ability in the general population as well as graduates of different levels of education. An additional investigation of the relationship between gender differences in educational attainment and gender differences in verbal ability follows. We find no evidence that the large increase in educational attainment resulted in an increase in any of the measures of verbal abilities and skills.
N H Nie et al.; 2009
http://www.learningace.com/doc/1391311/129f7bd3448db86d19dba0cae2553072/education_and_verbal_ability
Abstract
During the 20th century there was an unprecedented expansion of the level in educational attainment in America. We use three separate measures to investigate whether there was a concurrent increase in verbal ability and skills. We look for changes in verbal ability in the general population as well as graduates of different levels of education. An additional investigation of the relationship between gender differences in educational attainment and gender differences in verbal ability follows. We find no evidence that the large increase in educational attainment resulted in an increase in any of the measures of verbal abilities and skills.
Montag, 8. Juli 2013
Creatures of the night: Chronotypes and the Dark Triad traits
Creatures of the night: Chronotypes and the Dark Triad traits
Peter K Jonason at al.; September 2013
Personality and Individual Differences
Abstract
In this study (N = 263) we provide a basic test of a niche-specialization hypothesis of the Dark Triad (i.e., narcissism, psychopathy, and Machiavellianism). We propose that in order to best enact a “cheater strategy” those high on the Dark Triad traits should have optimal cognitive performance and, thus, have a night-time chronotype. Such a disposition will take advantage of the low light, the limited monitoring, and the lessened cognitive processing of morning-type people. The Dark Triad composite was correlated with an eveningness disposition. This link worked through links with the “darker” aspects of the Dark Triad (i.e., Machiavellianism, secondary psychopathy, and exploitive narcissism); correlations that were invariant across the sexes. While we replicated sex differences in the Dark Triad, we failed to replicate sex differences in chronotype, suggesting eveningness may not be a sexually selected trait as some have argued but is a trait under natural selective pressures to enable effective exploitations of conspecifics by both sexes.
Peter K Jonason at al.; September 2013
Personality and Individual Differences
Abstract
In this study (N = 263) we provide a basic test of a niche-specialization hypothesis of the Dark Triad (i.e., narcissism, psychopathy, and Machiavellianism). We propose that in order to best enact a “cheater strategy” those high on the Dark Triad traits should have optimal cognitive performance and, thus, have a night-time chronotype. Such a disposition will take advantage of the low light, the limited monitoring, and the lessened cognitive processing of morning-type people. The Dark Triad composite was correlated with an eveningness disposition. This link worked through links with the “darker” aspects of the Dark Triad (i.e., Machiavellianism, secondary psychopathy, and exploitive narcissism); correlations that were invariant across the sexes. While we replicated sex differences in the Dark Triad, we failed to replicate sex differences in chronotype, suggesting eveningness may not be a sexually selected trait as some have argued but is a trait under natural selective pressures to enable effective exploitations of conspecifics by both sexes.
Montag, 1. Juli 2013
A negative Flynn effect in Finland, 1997–2009
A negative Flynn effect in Finland, 1997–2009
E Dutton & R Lynn
Intelligence, Article in Press,
Available Online 30 June 2013
Abstract
The average IQs of approximately 25,000 18–20 year old male military conscripts in Finland per year are reported for the years 1988 to 2009. The results showed increases in the scores on tests of Shapes, Number and Words over the years 1988 to 1997 averaging 4.0 IQ points a decade. From 1997 to 2009 there were declines in all three tests averaging 2.0 IQ points a decade.
"[There] were few non-European immigrants in Finland during the years 1997–2009. In 2012, 4.8% of the Finnish population were immigrants or had at least one immigrant parent (Statistics Finland, 2012) and the great majority of these were Russians and Estonians, whose average IQ is the approximately same as that of the Finns at around 100 (Lynn & Vanhanen, 2012). Those of non-European, including American, origin made up just 1.8% of the Finnish population in 2012 (Statistics Finland, 2012). Thus, the decline of IQs in Finland cannot be attributed to the arrival of significant numbers of immigrants who may have had lower average IQs than the indigenous population. The most probable reason for the declines in IQs that have now been recorded in a number of countries is the presence of dysgenic fertility..."
[In comparison to other European countries only few non-Europeans immigrated into Finland in the last decades. Therefore the negative changes of the Finnish national IQ-level seem to be mainly caused by dysgenic / IQ lowering fertility patterns of the Finnish population.]
E Dutton & R Lynn
Intelligence, Article in Press,
Available Online 30 June 2013
Abstract
The average IQs of approximately 25,000 18–20 year old male military conscripts in Finland per year are reported for the years 1988 to 2009. The results showed increases in the scores on tests of Shapes, Number and Words over the years 1988 to 1997 averaging 4.0 IQ points a decade. From 1997 to 2009 there were declines in all three tests averaging 2.0 IQ points a decade.
"[There] were few non-European immigrants in Finland during the years 1997–2009. In 2012, 4.8% of the Finnish population were immigrants or had at least one immigrant parent (Statistics Finland, 2012) and the great majority of these were Russians and Estonians, whose average IQ is the approximately same as that of the Finns at around 100 (Lynn & Vanhanen, 2012). Those of non-European, including American, origin made up just 1.8% of the Finnish population in 2012 (Statistics Finland, 2012). Thus, the decline of IQs in Finland cannot be attributed to the arrival of significant numbers of immigrants who may have had lower average IQs than the indigenous population. The most probable reason for the declines in IQs that have now been recorded in a number of countries is the presence of dysgenic fertility..."
[In comparison to other European countries only few non-Europeans immigrated into Finland in the last decades. Therefore the negative changes of the Finnish national IQ-level seem to be mainly caused by dysgenic / IQ lowering fertility patterns of the Finnish population.]
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