Origins of Intelligence: Infancy and Early Childhood

541 Pages·1983·11.07 MB·English

by  Michael Lewis (auth.)

SECOND EDITION
ORIGINS OF
INTELLIGENCE
Infancy and
Early Childhood
SECOND EDITION
ORIGINS OF
INTELLIGENCE
Infancy and
Early Childhood
EDITED BY
MICHAEL LEWIS
University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey
Rutgers Medical School
New Brunswick, New Jersey
SPRINGER SCIENCE+BUSINESS MEDIA, LLC
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Main entry under title:
Origins of intelligence.
lncludes bibliographical references and indexes.
1. Intellect-Social aspects. 2. Infant psychology. 1. Lewis, Michael, 1937 Jan. 10-
[DNLM: 1. lntelligence tests-In infancy and childhood. 2. Intelligence-In infancy and
childhood. BF 431 069]
BF431.067 1983 155.4'13 83-11013
ISBN 978-1-4899-0324-2 ISBN 978-1-4899-0322-8 (eBook)
DOI 10.1007/978-1-4899-0322-8
© 1983 Springer Science+Business Media New York
Originally published by Plenum Press, New York in 1983
Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1s t edition 1983
AII rights reserved
No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted
in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, microfilming,
recording, or otherwise, without written permission from the Publisher
Contributors
BEVERLY BIRNS, Social Science Interdisciplinary Program, State Univer
sity of New York at Stonybrook, Stonybrook, New York
JEANNE BROOKS-GUNN, Institute for the Study of Exceptional Children,
Educational Testing Service, Princeton, New Jersey
EARL C. BuTTERFIELD, Department of Education, University of Wash
ington, Seattle, Washington
RicHARD D. EwY, Department of Psychology, University of California,
Berkeley, California
MARK GoLDEN, Department of Psychiatry, Albert Einstein College of
Medicine, 1300 Morris Park Avenue, Bronx, New York
JEANNETTE HAVILAND, Department of Psychology, Rutgers-The State
University, New Brunswick, New Jersey
MARJORIE P. HoNZIK, Institute of Human Development, University of
California, Berkeley, California
JANE V. HuNT, Institute of Human Development, University of Califor
nia, Berkeley, California
SHARON LANDESMAN-DWYER, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral
Sciences, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington
JACQUELINE V. LERNER, College of Human Development, The Pennsyl
vania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania
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vi
CONTRIBUTORS
RicHARD M. LERNER, College of Human Development, The Pennsylva
nia State University, University Park, Pennsylvania
RoBERT A. LEVINE, Laboratory of Human Development, Harvard Grad
uate School of Education, Cambridge, Massachusetts
MICHAEL LEWIS, Department of Pediatrics, Rutgers Medical School
University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, New Bruns
wick, New Jersey
CATHERINE LuTz, Department of Anthropology, State University of New
York at Binghamton, Binghamton, New York
RoBERT B. McCALL, Communications and Public Service, The Boys
Town Center, Boys Town, Nebraska
DAviD J. MESSER, Psychology Division, The Hatfield Polytechnic, Hat
field, Herts , England
SANDRA SCARR, Department of Psychology, Yale University, New
Haven, Connecticut
INA C. U.ZGIRIS, Department of Psychology, Clark University, Worces
ter, Massachusetts
JoHN S. WATSON, Department of Psychology, University of California,
Berkeley, California
MARSHA WEINRAUB, Department of Psychology, Temple University,
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
LOUISE CHERRY WILKINSON, Department of Educational Psychology,
University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, Wisconsin
LEON J. YARROW, Late of the Child and Family Research Branch, Na
tional Institute of Child Health and Human Development, Be
thesda, Maryland
Preface to the Second Edition
Since the first edition of this volume was published in 1976, interest in
the problem of intelligence in general and infant intelligence in particu
lar has continued to grow. The response to the first edition was hearten
ing: many readers found it a source of information for the diverse areas
of study in infant intelligence. Because of the success of that volume, we
have decided to issue a second edition. This edition is in many ways
both similar to and different from the first. Its similarity lies in the fact
that many of the themes and many of the contributors remain the same.
Its difference can be found in the updating of old chapters and the
addition of several new ones.
Taken together, the chapters present a rounded picture of the cen
tral issues in infant intelligence. Because the aim was to present a picture
of the issues, no attempt, other than the selection of authors and
themes, can be made to integrate these chapters into a single coherent
whole. In large part, this reflects the diversity of study found in the area
of early intellectual behavior. Rather than having a comprehensive theo
ry of infant intelligence, the field abounds with a series of critical ques
tions. To unite these chapters into some coherence, it will be necessary
to articulate what these issues might be. Five major themes run through
out the field of infant intelligence and thus through this volume.
Theme one: The nature of intelligence. This theme addresses the ques
tions surrounding the definition of intelligence. How is intelligence to be
measured? Is it a general competence or a specific set of skills (Lewis,
McCall, Landesman-Dwyer and Butterfield)? What are the appropriate
instruments of measures? What tests should one look at? Is it more than
simple learning (Watson and Ewy)? Does one consider psychometric
tests (Brooks-Gunn and Weinraub, Honzik) or does one consider social
competence, affect, and motivation (Wilkinson, Haviland, Yarrow and
Messer)? Should one look to advances in cognitive development?
Theme two: Stability and change in intellectual ability. Are individuals
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PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION
consistent or variable, and is development a series of transformations or
the accumulation of more of the same abilities? The major issues under
this theme are addressed through discussions of the organization of
infant intelligence (Uzgiris), the notion of stages versus continuous de
velopment (McCall), and the consideration of individual differences and
predictability (Honzik, McCall, Lewis). Finally the role of infant intel
ligence tests in predicting subsequent abilities needs consideration
(Honzik, Hunt, McCall, Lewis).
Theme three: Factors affecting intellectual development. Risk factors, in
cluding teratogens as well as perinatal and prenatal factors, need to
receive increased attention (Hunt), as do temperament differences
(Lerner and Lerner). From a more environmental view, factors such as
social class and cultural differences should affect performance as well as
define the levels and the type of performance observed (Lutz and
LeVine, Golden and Birns, Landesman-Dwyer and Butterfield).
Theme four: The nature-nurture controversy. In the study of intel
ligence, this theme crops up over and over. Throughout this volume,
the theme is addressed, in particular by Scarr, Lutz and LeVine, McCall,
and Lewis.
Theme five: The sociopolitical nature of intelligence tests. This theme
addresses the broad issues surrounding the role of the concept and
measurement of intelligence within and across cultures. In th2 present
volume, Lutz and LeVine, Lewis, and Wilkinson address this theme.
The volume consists of 15 chapters, each of which addresses some
particular aspect of the topic of infant intelligence. Lewis, in the intro
ductory chapter, On the Nature of Intelligence: Science or Bias? discusses
the political and social issues that are pertinent when one talks about the
nature of infant intelligence. Specifically, the relationship between so
ciopolitical views and the nature of intelligence is considered, taking
into account some of the more recent information available in this area.
Chapter 2, by Brooks-Gunn and Weinraub, reviews the Origins of Infant
Intelligence Testing and presents an up-to-date account of some of the
more recent tests used to assess infant intelligence. Measuring Mental
Abilities in Infancy: The Value and Limitations are reviewed by Honzik in
Chapter 3. She considers the relationship of early infant intelligence
scores to later behavior. Honzik reviews and challenges the notion of
whether test scores accurately describe the growth of mental abilities.
McCall, in A Conceptual Approach to Early Mental Development (Chapter 4),
attempts to review studies of infant intelligence and offers a road map to
PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION ix
the study of some of the central issues in intellectual development by
considering the topics of continuity, consistency, and change as well as
the issues of individual differences and nature-nurture. In Chapter 5,
the Organization of Sensorimotor Intelligence is discussed by Uzgiris, who
presents a review of the organization of intelligence from a Piagetian
perspective. Research with both normal and handicapped children as
well as with diverse cultures is considered. Sandra Scarr, in Chapter 6,
considers An Evolutionary Perspective on Infant Intelligence: Species Patterns
and Individual Variations and presents a view of canalization as a way of
looking at the development of intelligence as well as a way of looking at
individual differences. Watson and Ewy discuss the topic of Early Learn
ing and Intelligence in Chapter 7. Here they consider the relationship
between early learning and intelligence, asking whether intelligence de
termines learning, learning determines intelligence, or learning ex
presses intelligence. In Chapter 8, Hunt considers Environmental Risks in
Fetal and Neonatal Life as Biological Determinants of Infant Intelligence. The
effects of drugs, malnutrition, and prematurity are described as they
affect infant intellectual development. Wilkinson, in Social Intelligence
and the Development of Communicative Competence (Chapter 9), challenges
the notion of what is commonly considered intellectual behavior. She
suggests that intelligence has to be considered from a "competence"
point of view, in particular, from that aspect of competence called social
intelligence. One specific form of social intelligence that she considers is
communicative competence. Lutz and LeVine, in Culture and Intelligence
in Infancy (Chapter 10), review the issue of intelligence from a cultural
perspective. Cultural beliefs and theories about the nature of the devel
oping child and of mental and social abilities vary among cultures. In a
sense, by observing intelligence as it relates to culture, they provide
additional support for the possibility that intelligence is a cultural con
struct rather than an attribute of a person. Golden and Birns's Social
Class and Infant Intelligence (Chapter 11), reviews the effects and influ
ences of social class on intelligence. They document the view that class
effects appear to make the most noticeable effect around the first to
second year of life.
Factors affecting intellectual performance become relevant for un
derstanding individual differences; temperament differences have been
identified as such factors. In Chapter 12, Temperament-Intelligence Re
ciprocities in Early Childhood: A Contextual Model, Lerner and Lerner ex
plore the relationship between individual differences in temperament
X PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION
and intelligence and offer a model linking these domains. Chapter 13,
Looking Smart: The Relationship between Affect and Intelligence in Infancy, by
Haviland, attempts to demonstrate that the distinction drawn between
intellectual and affective abilities is without justification. In Chapter 14,
Yarrow and Messer explore the relationship between Motivation and Cog
nition in Infancy, pointing out that the connection between competence
in general and intellectual behavior in particular cannot be considered as
only intellectual action but must include the constructs of motivation
and social competence. The authors, by exploring the concepts of moti
vation, efficacy, and cognition, go a long way toward defining the
important connection among these aspects of infant behavior.
In the last chapter, Mental Retardation: Developmental Issues in Cogni
tive and Social Adaptation, Landesman-Dwyer and Butterfield explore a
variety of issues related to mental retardation. First, they consider some
general issues, for example, the causes for and the number of mentally
retarded children; second, the authors describe the cognitive as well as
social behavior of retarded infants; in the final section, they consider the
reasons for studying mental retardation.
The volume consists of a broad sweep of the major issues in infant
intelligence. The collection represents an important set of papers, each
addressing some critical issue in the field. To conclude, I repeat what I
said in the first edition: "As the contents of this volume make clear, the
perspective is broad, the views personal and educated." It is for the
reader to integrate these perspectives. Our hope is that this collection
will continue to stimulate theory and research on the topic of infant
intelligence.
New Brunswick, New Jersey
MICHAEL LEWIS