On supporting science journalism
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If the nearly 180,000 parenting guides being offered on Amazon are any indication, people are eager to raise good kids. But more important, we want our children to be smart. After all, studies have shown that the more intelligent you are, the more money you’ll make, the further you’ll go in your career, and the better “luck” you’ll have in life. So it’s no wonder that we’re all eager to improve our child’s brainpower (and ours as well). Many research dollars and hours have been spent on how to trigger a cognitive boost and on how to measure it. Yet, as Scott Barry Kaufman asks in these pages, what if we’re looking at this the wrong way? Rather than obsessing over something as fluid and mercurial as raw intelligence, perhaps we should be nurturing overall well-being, combined with a sense of purpose and meaning, in ourselves and in our children. Studies have shown that such factors are linked to longevity, reduced occurrence of heart trouble and stroke, and many other factors (see “When Does Intelligence Peak?”).
Elsewhere in this issue, Catherine L. Caldwell-Harris describes the new data that show that, contrary to older hypotheses, our language can actually influence our visual perception (see “Our Language Affects What We See”). And Corinna Hartmann digs into the evidence for so-called only-child syndrome—are they really more self-focused and spoiled (see “Is Only-Child Syndrome Real?”)? As the eldest child in my own family, I will refrain from commenting on this further, as I have biased opinions. But I hope you enjoy the read!
