Preschoolers who seek stimulation — who physically explore their environment and engage in verbal and nonverbal stimulation with other children and adults — end up more intelligent:
The prediction that high stimulation seeking 3-year-olds would have higher IQs by 11 years old was tested in 1,795 children on whom behavioral measures of stimulation seeking were taken at 3 years, together with cognitive ability at 11 years. High 3-year-old stimulation seekers scored 12 points higher on total IQ at age 11 compared with low stimulation seekers and also had superior scholastic and reading ability. Results replicated across independent samples and were found for all gender and ethnic groups. Effect sizes for the relationship between age 3 stimulation seeking and age 11 IQ ranged from 0.52 to 0.87. Findings appear to be the first to show a prospective link between stimulation seeking and intelligence. It is hypothesized that young stimulation seekers create for themselves an enriched environment that stimulates cognitive development.
This salient bit went unmentioned in the abstract:
The larger population from which the participants were drawn consisted
of 1,795 children from the island of Mauritius (a country lying in the Indian
Ocean between Africa and India).
(Hat tip to Richard Harper.)
I hypothesize that those with a genetic predisposition to develop higher intelligence are also going to be those who seek stimulation. This would be mind-numbingly obvious if it didn’t eventually result in crimethink.
What Carl said. It’s rather obvious, isn’t it? But they will keep clutching at straws for potential interventions to raise IQs. Good luck with that.