Genetic and environmental contributions to population group differences on the Raven's Progressive Matrices estimated from twins reared together and apart.

ABSTRACT: We carried out two studies to test the hypothesis that genetic and environmental influences explain population group differences in general mental ability just as they do individual differences within a group. We estimated the heritability and environmentality of scores on the diagrammatic puzzles of the Raven's Coloured and/or Standard Progressive Matrices (CPM/SPM) from two independent twin samples and correlated these estimates with group differences on the same items. In Study 1, 199 pairs of 5- to 7-year-old monozygotic (MZ) and dizygotic (DZ) twins reared together provided estimates of heritability and environmentality for 36 puzzles from the CPM. These estimates correlated with the differences between the twins and 94 Serbian Roma (both rs=0.32; Ns=36; ps<0.05). In Study 2, 152 pair

SUBMITTER: Rushton JP 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC1914335 | biostudies-literature | 2007 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature