ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the sources of possible influence on individual differences in intelligence and development: genes and heredity, family and social origins, and culture. The chapter answers two questions: what is the genetic basis of the various mental processes, and how universal is the four-fold architecture and the sequence of developmental cycles? We review recent research showing that specific genes are systematically related to specific aspects of the organization and functioning of the brain; in turn, these aspects of the brain systematically related to cognitive achievements and individual differences in intelligence and intellectual development. However, only a small amount of variance in g is accounted for by genes, leaving much more to be known about the genes-mind relation. We also summarize research showing that the four-fold architecture and the four developmental cycles are universal across cultures, although there may be differences in the relations between processes and rate of development, depending on specific influences on particular functions. For instance, learning the Chinese logographic system of reading and writing causes a specific advantage in spatial reasoning and other related processes, such as spatial working memory. The chapter’s conclusion? One genome, one intelligence; one humanity, one mind; many cultures, many mentalities.
