Genes, Brains, and Human Potential The Science and Ideology of Intelligence

304 PROMOTING POTENTIAL

between nonshared experiences and siblings’ diff erential outcomes con-
cluded that “mea sured non- shared environmental variables do not ac-
count for a substantial portion of the non- shared variability.”^24 Recent
refl ections have not changed those overall conclusions.
Th is evidence suggests prob lems in the going conception of family
environment. It suggests a “missing environment” prob lem as big as the
“missing heritability” prob lem mentioned earlier: one that might not be
amenable to simple correlational analy sis. Th e prob lem does, however,
reinforce Linda C. Mayes and Michael Lewis’s acknowledgement, in the
2012 Cambridge Handbook of Environment in Human Development, that
“indeed, the features of the environment and their vari ous outcomes are
poorly understood... it is surprising how little systematic work has gone
into their study.”^25
I will shortly suggest what this implies for conceptions of environment.
But let us fi rst have a quick look at how the simple associations identifi ed
so far have been adopted in intervention programs.

APPLICATION OF THESE MODELS

Th e way in which these factors are conceived is further indicated in
attempts to translate the fi ndings into intervention programs. As early as
the 1950s, for example, psychologist Alice Heim had reached the conclu-
sion, in Th e Appraisal of Intelligence, that “given better food and more
books at home, the poorer children would match, if not outstrip, their
more fortunate fellows on the tests.”^26
In the 1960s and 1970s, the model was seized on by state agencies when
funding intervention programs. Th rough it they could demonstrate, they
thought, renewed commitment to equality of opportunity—of closing
the attainment gaps between social classes and ethnic groups— and mak-
ing society seem more fair.
Th e correlational data suggested that the biggest prob lems arise in the
home. So what has been called a “war on parents” was initiated. Th e in-
terventions have included improving parental encouragement of student
eff ort, improving parent- school relationships, encouraging parental
involvement in homework, and improving interest in the school curricu-

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