Scenario II For Centuries, People Have Made the Observation That Intelligence Seems

Multiple Choice

Scenario II
For centuries, people have made the observation that intelligence seems to run in families. In modern times, psychologists have confirmed that, indeed, there is a strong genetic component to intelligence. The degree of the association between genes and intelligence can be quantified using the heritability coefficient (h²) . In a population of diverse individuals differing in age, gender, race, and socioeconomic factors, the heritability of intelligence is approximately .5. This means that about 50 percent of the variability in intelligence scores is associated with genetic factors. Interestingly, the heritability coefficient changes depending on the group under investigation. For example, among wealthy children the heritability coefficient exceeds .7, because the environments of these children are highly homogeneous. Among poor children, it drops to about .1. The heritability coefficient also tends to increase with the age of the population under investigation. For example, the heritability coefficient is approximately .3 in three-year-olds and approximately .9 in 65-year-olds.
-(Scenario II) The heritability coefficient of intelligence among poor children is approximately .10. In light of this fact, efforts to enrich home and school environments for this vulnerable population, such as free-lunch and universal pre-school programs, would:

A) reduce the role that the environment plays in the heritability of intelligence.
B) only negligibly increase intelligence levels.
C) increase intelligence levels by up to 40 percent.
D) not affect the relative influence of genetic factors in the heritability of intelligence.