The Mental Development of Children of the Same IQ in Differing Institutional Environments

The concept of intelligence as fixed and unmodifiable, or only modifiable within very narrow limits, is yielding to a viewpoint which conceives of intelligence in more functional terms. No longer can it be said that an early intelligence test rigidly classifies a child for life in terms of mental potentialities. Rather, changes in functional mental performance are seen to be related to environmental differences. Recent studies, especially of children at the younger ages, have shown that these changes may be large in extent and appear to follow certain trends in relation to general environmental influences