Environmental Effects on Cognitive Abilities

This volume discusses how the environment influences the development and the maintenance of cognitive abilities. This discussion is important because: genes always have their effect either in correlation with or in interaction with the environment; we can control environment, at least to some extent; even if attributes are heritable, they can be modified; too much of what is written about "the environment" is vague; the pendulum has swung too far in the direction of biology; and the debate needs to go beyond specifying "environment" and "context" as important to specifying just what the environmental and contextual factors are. In the past, environmental approaches have been piecemeal, with articles and books tending to concentrate on one or two factors without putting it all together. Thus, the editors' goal is to integrate what formerly have been very diverse literatures into a single volume. It offers both a response to those who focus primarily on genes as determiners of developmental outcomes and an elaboration of just what it is about "contexts" that makes for their effects on these outcomes. The individual chapters are accessible to lay readers as well as professionals, making the book appropriate for a wide-ranging audience including psychologists, parents, social workers, employers and educators.

Table of Contents:

Contents: Preface. Part I: General Issues.J. Ogbu, P. Stern, Caste Status and Intellectual Development. B.H. Fiese, Family Matters: A Systems View of Family Effects on Children's Cognitive Health. R. Seifer, Socioeconomic Status, Multiple Risks, and Development of Intelligence. C.T. Ramey, S.L. Ramey, R.G. Lanzi, Intelligence and Experience. Part II: Public and Personal Health Issues.S. Grantham-McGregor, C. Ani, L. Fernald, The Role of Nutrition in Intellectual Development. D.C. Bellinger, H.F. Adams, Environmental Pollutant Exposures and Children's Cognitive Abilities. L.C. Mayes, T. Fahy, Prenatal Drug Exposure and Cognitive Development. K.J. Alcock, D.A.P. Bundy, The Impact of Infectious Disease on Cognitive Development. E.L. Grigorenko, The Invisible Danger: The Impact of Ionizing Radiation on Cognitive Development and Functioning. Part III: Work Environments.K. Christian, H.J. Bachman, F.J. Morrison, Schooling and Cognitive Development. K.W. Schaie, Y-L. Zuo, Family Environments and Adult Cognitive Functioning. C. Schooler, The Intellectual Effects of the Demands of the Work Environment. Part IV: Conclusions.R. Fernández-Ballesteros, M. Juan-Espinosa, F-J. Abad, Sociohistorical Changes and Intelligence Gains. R.J. Sternberg, Epilogue: Is There a Heredity-Environment Paradox?

"This edited volume does, in fact, take psychologists a step forward in understanding non-genetic influences when five of its 14 chapters review evidence on various biological insults that depress cognitive development in childhood: malnutrition, environmental pollutants, prenatal exposure to drugs and alcohol, infectious diseases, and radiation."
—Contemporary Psychology