Nature Vs Nurture In Child Development

In child development there is much debate about if a child's intelligence level is inherited from their parents or as a result of their environment, leading psychologists back to the nature vs nurture debate.
Some psychologist's believe that intelligence level are genetically determined and inherited from their parents supporting the nature argument in the debate. There has been many studies conducted to support this over the last generation. One of the most noted studies was a twin study conducted by Cyril Burt. This study proved intelligence was inherited and that by the age of eleven a child's intelligence level was fixed, meaning that there is little or no need for education past the age of eleven. This study had an effect on the education …show more content…
To this theory psychologist's who support the nurture debate have conducted studies to see how much a child's intelligence level improves when removed from a deprived environment to an enriching one and the effect early experiences and learning opportunities have on later development. One psychologist called Skeels conducted a study on orphans who had a low intelligence quotient score and because of this were thought to be un- adoptable. He split the orphans into two groups, one group that would stay in the current orphanage and one group that would be moved to a specialist institute where they would have stimulating materials, attention and time given to them from substitute mothers. The orphans intelligence was tested again two years later using the intelligence quotient test with the results showing that the children placed into the specialist institutions score had improved significantly in comparison to the children who remained in the orphanage. This supports the theory that an enriching environment will help improve a child's overall intelligence levels. A psychologist who has conducted studies on early childhood experiences and learning opportunities and the effect these have on later development was a psychologist called Williams. He studied a range of children across five nursery environments to assess whether programmes of perception training and language would reduce failure in primary schools. A sample of the children would receive specialist lessons on a daily basis across one to six terms. William's tested the children's intelligence when they were ready to leave for primary school and found that the children who received the specialist lessons intelligence levels had significantly gained in comparison to the children who did not have the opportunities. However