OCR A-Level Psychology H567
Research Methods and Techniques
Planning and Conducting Research
Data Recording, Analysis and Presentation
Report Writing and Scientific Communication
Practical Activities and the Nature of Science
Mathematical Requirements for Research Methods
Studying and Evaluating the Core Studies: The Common Framework
Core Studies: Social Area
Core Studies: Cognitive Area
Core Studies: Developmental Area
Core Studies: Biological Area
Core Studies: Individual Differences Area
Areas and Perspectives in Psychology
Debates in Psychology
Practical Applications of Psychology
Issues in Mental Health
Child PsychologyApplied option
Criminal PsychologyApplied option
Environmental PsychologyApplied option
Sport and Exercise PsychologyApplied option
Methodological Issues and Debates Running Through Applied Psychology
Child Psychology
Van Leeuwen et al. (2008) twin-family study of IQ: results, conclusions and evaluation
- 2 things to know
- Component 03
Overview
Recall questions on Van Leeuwen et al.'s findings on genetic influence, cultural transmission and assortative mating, their conclusion, and the evaluation of method, sample, the nature-nurture debate and determinism.
What you need to know
Answer each one before you reveal it.
What proportion of the variation in general intelligence did the best-fitting model attribute to genes?
Questions from this subtopic
Each one with the model answer underneath.
- 1
What proportion of the variation in general intelligence did the best-fitting model attribute to genes?
Model answer
The model attributed about 67% of the variation in general intelligence to additive genetic factors.
- 2
What did the model conclude about cultural transmission from parents to children?
Model answer
There was no significant cultural transmission, meaning that children resembled their parents in intelligence because of the genes they shared rather than because of the intellectual environment the parents created.
- 3
What is assortative mating, and what did the study find about it?
Model answer
Assortative mating is the tendency to choose a partner who resembles you on a trait; the spouses' intelligence scores were positively correlated, and the pattern was best explained by partners choosing each other on intelligence itself rather than on social background.
- 4
Why does assortative mating matter when interpreting family resemblance in IQ?
Model answer
Because parents who are alike genetically pass on more similar genes, which increases the resemblance between relatives and would inflate estimates of family influence if it were not modelled.
- 5
State the main conclusion of Van Leeuwen et al. (2008).
Model answer
Individual differences in general intelligence in childhood are largely genetic in origin, with about two thirds of the variation explained by additive genetic effects and no detectable effect of the home intellectual environment.
- 6
Give one methodological strength of this study.
Model answer
Using an extended family rather than twins alone allowed genetic and environmental transmission to be separated statistically, and the standardised matrices test gave an objective, reliable measure for every family member.
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