Environmental Factors that Affect Intellectual Levels

Environmental Factors that Affect Intellectual Levels
Diet and socioeconomic status are some of the external factors that are thought to affect intellectual levels. These two factors have been subjected to numerous studies, with a general conclusion that sufficient nutrition is good for the development of a child’s intellectual level, and that a child brought up in well to do family would be more intelligent than a peer brought up in a poor family. How socioeconomic statuses act as a catalyst in defining an intellectual level is still subject to more research, but the role of a balanced diet in the development of the brain, which has perhaps been documented by neuropsychologists. The twin experiment was an observation environmental factors influence intellectual levels in individuals who are genetically close. Obviously, one who grows up in a high a family with a high socioeconomic status is bound to access nutritionally richer food compared to the other in a family with a low socioeconomic status. This paper describes how these two factors play their roles in defining the intellectual levels of individuals.

Environmental Factors that Affect Intellectual Levels
Socio-economic status is thought to affect intellectual levels. The research has continually confirmed that infants from high socioeconomic status shall develop higher intellectual levels when compared to their counterparts from low statuses. Oakley (2004) refers to the research that had concentrated on the differences in languages between the two socioeconomic groups.

The research revealed that while children from low socioeconomic families lack abstract concepts, which affect their ability to process information; their peers from high socioeconomic families had an elaborate language code (Noble, Houston & Sowell, 2012). Ultimately, socioeconomic status influences the cognitive development and verbal intelligence of children (Oakley, 2004). Hence, socioeconomic status is a viable environmental factor that affects intellectual levels.
Oakley (2004) suggests that diet could affect intellectual levels. The Flynn effect has a unique application to effects of diets on intellectual levels. A research result from twenty industrialized nations revealed that a large IQ increase over periods and the increase was partly the result of an increase in better nutrition for children (Oakley, 2004). Research revealed that severe malnutrition in children, either before they are born, or at their critical development stage can restrict their neurological development and impact their long-term cognitive development and intelligence (Oakley, 2004). Abstract reasoning, attention, memory, and in general academic achievement are likely to be affected by a lack of adequate nutrition (Jensen, 2005). While there is a general belief that children may occasionally recover from short periods of poor nutrition, the adverse impacts of long-term deficiencies may be more lasting. There are research studies that have investigated the effects of providing appropriate food supplements and vitamins to children who might have failed to obtain sufficient nourishment (Oakley, 2004). The interventions normally improve the development of motor skills in children, and at times even their cognitive development.
References
Jensen, E. (2005). Teaching with the brain in mind. ASCD.
Oakley, L. (2004). Cognitive development. Routledge.
Noble, K. G., Houston, S. M., Kan, E., & Sowell, E. R. (2012). Neural correlates of socioeconomic status in the developing human brain. Developmental science, 15(4), 516-527.