Role of Heredity and Environment — Mastery

Q1. All qualities a child has inherited from the parents are 'potentially present' in the fertilized ovum. The word 'potentially' is used here mainly to signal that

• A. every inherited trait is already fully developed at fertilization
• B. the term has no special meaning and is used loosely
• C. only some traits are inherited; others appear after age six
• D. inherited traits exist as possibilities at fertilization and need environmental opportunity and time to express themselves

Q2. Heredity and environment are classified under which two broad categories of factors that cause individual differences?

• A. Internal (biological) factor and external (surrounding) factor
• B. Cognitive factor and affective factor
• C. Genetic factor and prenatal factor
• D. Permanent factor and temporary factor

Q3. Pratiksha, a Class 2 teacher, reads that environment is 'the totality of stimuli that impinge on the organism from conception to death'. Which classroom interpretation is most faithful to this definition?

• A. Environment begins only when the child enters school at age 6
• B. Environment ends at adolescence and stops affecting the learner
• C. Environment is only the geographical climate around the child
• D. Environment is the bundle of all stimuli — physical, social, cultural, emotional — that act on a child from the moment of conception, including the prenatal womb

Q4. A Class 3 teacher in Lucknow lists the following as factors that have shaped her student Aarav: (i) the riverside village where he plays, (ii) the festivals and songs his family celebrates, (iii) the way neighbours and peers speak to him, (iv) the height and skin colour he was born with. Which of these belong to environment?

• A. (i), (ii) and (iii) — physical, cultural and social aspects of environment
• B. Only (i)
• C. (i) and (iv) only
• D. All four (i), (ii), (iii) and (iv)

Q5. Which set of researchers is cited together for the twin and family studies used as arguments in favour of heredity?

• A. Piaget, Vygotsky, Bruner
• B. Skinner, Watson, Pavlov
• C. Erikson, Kohlberg, Bandura
• D. Thorndike, Newman, Freeman and Winfield

Q6. In the twin-study correlation table, the parent-and-own-child IQ correlation is 0.31 — strikingly close to the unrelated-children figure of 0.30. Which inference is most consistent?

• A. Parents and their own children share no genetic material at all
• B. The 0.31 figure shows heredity dominating; environment plays no role
• C. Even where genes are shared, the parent-child measurement also reflects environmental influences in the home, which can hold the figure close to the unrelated-pair figure
• D. The table is wrong because parents always pass on full intelligence to their children

Q7. Which of the following statements about identical twins is supported?

• A. Identical twins develop from one ovum, resemble each other and are always of the same sex
• B. Identical twins can be of different sexes and look quite different
• C. Identical twins develop from two separate ova fertilized at different times
• D. Identical twins always have lower IQ correlation than fraternal twins

Q8. Meena, a Class 5 teacher in Dehradun, has two students from twin families — one twin raised in a remote hill hamlet, the other in a nearby town. The hill-raised twin scores noticeably lower on the same intelligence task. Which study most directly maps to this contrast, and what does it imply?

• A. Freeman's 71-children study; implies heredity is the main driver
• B. Anastasi's mental-environment idea; implies the school cannot affect intelligence
• C. Winfield's twin table; implies that genetic identity wipes out all environmental effects
• D. James-Reace twin study (hill vs village); implies environment can produce a measurable gap (about 19 points) even between twins

Q9. A trainee teacher writes in her assignment: 'The Freeman, James-Reace and similar studies prove that intelligence is entirely environmental and heredity has no role.' What is the most accurate evaluation of this statement?

• A. Partly correct — the studies show that environment can influence measured intelligence, but the unit also gives twin-correlation evidence for heredity and treats both as essential
• B. Correct, because intelligence is only shaped by surroundings after birth
• C. Correct, because heredity stops affecting intelligence after Freeman's intervention
• D. Wrong, because the unit treats environment as having no influence on intelligence

Q10. In Ross's formula H X E X T = DL, what does the 'T' on the left-hand side stand for, and why is it included as a separate factor?

• A. Teacher; because only the teacher's effort produces development
• B. Test; because development is whatever a test measures
• C. Training; because development happens only through formal training
• D. Time; because heredity and environment need time to interact and produce a given level of development

Q11. Murphy's phrase 'liberation of potentialities', is meant to convey that the work of environment in a child's development is to

• A. release into actual expression the potentialities that heredity has already placed in the child
• B. create new genes that the child did not inherit
• C. replace the role of heredity once schooling starts
• D. stop heredity from acting after the age of six

Q12. Consider this everyday illustration: 'Heredity is like the capital with which you start a business; environment is the way you invest it; the revenue is the development level'. The point of the analogy is best stated as

• A. capital alone, without any investment, automatically produces revenue
• B. the analogy proves heredity is more important than environment
• C. investment alone, without any capital, can produce full revenue
• D. even rich capital (heredity) needs careful investment (environment) to produce revenue (development); poor investment wastes good capital

Q13. The school is a place 'for the personality development of the child, not merely for academic learning'. Which classroom practice in a Class 4 setting is most consistent with this view?

• A. Building in opportunities for art, sport, group projects, library reading and discussion alongside academic work
• B. Spending the entire day on textbook drill, with no time for art, sport or group work
• C. Removing all co-curricular periods to maximise marks in school tests
• D. Sending children outside the classroom for physical work, but cancelling academic teaching

Q14. A Class 3 teacher in Rampur, Priya, has a small school grant. The most likely advice would be to spend it on

• A. stricter detention rooms for slow learners
• B. buying identical uniforms to make all children look the same
• C. extra coaching for only the brightest five children
• D. a small library corner and basic computer/learning-lab materials to enrich the children's mental environment

Q15. A staff meeting debates two proposals for a primary school: Proposal X — drop the project method and communicative teaching; switch entirely to textbook-based recitation, since 'individual differences are mostly hereditary and cannot be changed'. Proposal Y — keep textbook teaching, but add the project method, communicative teaching, library work and guidance, because 'heredity sets possibilities and environment liberates them'. Which proposal is sounder, and why?

• A. Proposal Y, because the unit treats individual differences as arising from both heredity and environment and explicitly recommends project method, communicative teaching, library and guidance as ways environment can liberate inherited potential
• B. Proposal X, because the unit treats heredity as the only real cause of school performance
• C. Both proposals are equally consistent with the unit
• D. Neither proposal can be evaluated from the unit

Q16. Heredity is the 'sum total of qualities a child inherits from his/her parents' present in the fertilized ovum. Which of the following is most consistent with this wording?

• A. Heredity is only the visible physical traits like height and skin colour
• B. Heredity is whatever a child picks up from parents through imitation after birth
• C. Heredity is the complete set of biologically transmitted qualities — physical, mental and reflex-level — already laid down in the zygote at fertilization
• D. Heredity covers only intelligence and not physical features

Q17. Heredity is treated as one of two factors that cause individual differences in a classroom. Which synthesis of this view is most accurate?

• A. Heredity alone produces individual differences; environment only delays them
• B. Heredity is identical for all children, so differences must be wholly environmental
• C. Individual differences appear only after the age of six, when schooling begins
• D. Heredity supplies the inner biological starting point for each child; combined with environment over time, it produces the differences a teacher sees in the same class

Q18. A trainee teacher in Rampur is preparing a five-line note on 'how heredity reaches the child'. Which sequence is correct?

• A. Fertilization of ovum → 46 chromosomes (23 from each parent) → 40-100 genes on each chromosome → all inherited qualities present in the zygote
• B. Birth → school → heredity carriers form → genes transfer
• C. Birth → environment supplies chromosomes → genes form gradually → heredity completes by age six
• D. School entry → mental potential develops → chromosomes activate → heredity begins

Q19. Environment is placed under which broad category of factor that causes individual differences?

• A. Internal biological factor, like heredity
• B. Prenatal factor only, ending at birth
• C. External (surrounding) factor — distinct from the internal biological factor of heredity
• D. A factor identical with heredity, with no separate identity

Q20. Riya, a Class 4 teacher in Patna, plans her weekly timetable using the idea of 'mental environment' (library, laboratory, museum visit, debate). Which combination of weekly activities best applies this idea?

• A. Six full periods of mechanical copying from the blackboard each day
• B. A mix that includes a library period, a simple science lab/experiment period, a class debate or symposium, and a museum or field visit during the term
• C. Only homework, with no in-school activity beyond textbook reading
• D. Replacing all academic periods with games

Q21. Two definitions of environment are quoted side by side. Anastasi writes that environment is 'everything that affects the individual except genes'. Gilbert writes that environment includes 'anything immediately surrounding an object and exerting a direct influence on it'. Which best captures how these two definitions sit together?

• A. They contradict each other; the unit asks the reader to pick one
• B. They are complementary — Anastasi gives the maximum reach (everything except genes), Gilbert gives the immediate-and-direct emphasis; together they bound the unit's working definition of environment
• C. Anastasi's definition is rejected; only Gilbert's is used
• D. Gilbert's definition is rejected; only Anastasi's is used

Q22. Fraternal twins

• A. develop from one ovum and are always of the same sex
• B. develop from two separate ova and can be of the same or different sexes — that is, they may be brothers, sisters, or brother and sister
• C. always have higher IQ correlation than identical twins
• D. share the same chromosomes exactly

Q23. Read the twin-and-family IQ correlations: identical twins 0.90, fraternal twins 0.70, siblings 0.50, parent-child 0.31, unrelated children 0.30. What is the strongest single inference from this trend?

• A. Correlations are random and tell us nothing about heredity
• B. As genetic closeness decreases, IQ correlation systematically falls — strong evidence that heredity contributes to measured intelligence
• C. Environment alone explains the entire correlation pattern
• D. All children, related or not, have the same correlation of 0.50

Q24. Anita, a Class 5 teacher in Varanasi, is preparing a parent-meeting note arguing that 'environment shapes the child'. Which three aspects of environment should she list as having clear influence on a child's development?

• A. Genes, chromosomes and reflexes
• B. Physical, cultural and social aspects of environment
• C. Only the child's school timetable
• D. Only the parents' biological traits

Q25. Two key studies are used on the environment side. Which row most accurately distinguishes Freeman's study from James-Reace's twin study?

• A. Freeman = study of identical twins reared together; James-Reace = study of poor environment
• B. Freeman = 71 children moved from poor to good environment, ~10-point rise in mental rating; James-Reace = identical twins reared apart in hill village vs town, ~19-point IQ difference
• C. Freeman = twin correlation table; James-Reace = parent-child correlation 0.31
• D. Both studies are about heredity, not environment

Q26. It is reported that the child of illiterate parents brought up in an English household acquired several languages by age 10, and that twins reared apart take on qualities of foster parents. A primary teacher who internalises these findings would most likely

• A. Refuse to expose first-generation learners to standard language input, on the ground that 'home language must not be disturbed'
• B. Build a language-rich classroom — print on walls, story-reading, peer talk, vocabulary games — because environmental exposure can substantially shape what a child can do with language
• C. Wait for the child to reach age 12 before introducing any new vocabulary
• D. Conclude that since environment is so powerful, classroom teaching cannot change anything

Q27. Woodworth and Landis are placed side by side. Woodworth holds that heredity and environment are 'both equally essential' for development. Landis writes that 'capacities are given by heredity, but opportunities for their expression come from environment'. How do these two statements fit together?

• A. They contradict each other; the unit asks the reader to choose
• B. They state the same core position from two angles — both heredity and environment are essential, with heredity supplying capacity and environment supplying opportunity
• C. Woodworth replaces Landis in the unit
• D. Both statements deny the role of environment

Q28. A staff-room conversation: Teacher P argues, 'Two students in my Class 4 with the same IQ scored very differently in the annual exam — so heredity is meaningless.' Teacher Q argues, 'They had the same IQ, but they had been in this school for different lengths of time and one came from a much weaker home environment — Ross's H X E X T = DL explains the gap fully.' Whose argument is sounder, and why?

• A. Teacher P, because the unit holds that heredity is meaningless when scores differ
• B. Teacher Q, because the unit's H X E X T = DL formula treats development as the joint product of heredity, environment and time; same heredity can still produce different development levels when environment or time differs
• C. Both teachers are equally right
• D. Neither argument can be evaluated using the unit

Q29. 'Individual guidance' is recommended for students who deviate noticeably from the class average. Suresh, a Class 4 teacher in Aligarh, sees Aman (well below class average in reading) and Diya (well above class average in maths). What course of action best fits this recommendation?

• A. Treat both children exactly like the rest of the class; uniformity is fairness
• B. Provide individual guidance to both — extra reading support and one-to-one help for Aman, and enrichment/challenge activities for Diya — within the same classroom
• C. Send both children out of the regular class permanently
• D. Ignore both and focus only on the middle group

Q30. A closing implication asks the teacher to 'treat all students equally' and to create a 'congenial atmosphere'. Two teachers interpret this differently. Teacher A says, 'Treating equally means giving every child the same task, same time, same questions — no special help for anyone.' Teacher B says, 'Treating equally means giving every child fair respect and a warm classroom, while still offering individual guidance, differentiated tasks and a mental-environment-rich setting so each child's inherited potential can be liberated.' Which interpretation is more faithful, and why?

• A. Teacher A — demands strict uniformity for all children
• B. Teacher B — combines 'equal respect / congenial atmosphere' with 'individual guidance, project method, library, computer lab' precisely so that environment can liberate inherited potential
• C. Both interpretations are equally consistent with the unit
• D. Neither interpretation can be drawn from the unit