Do Genetics Play a Role in IQ?
Intelligence quotient IQ is the measure of intelligence. The study of intelligence is sometimes a tough one as a person may score zero in mathematics and still be a very intelligent artist who just lacks an aptitude to maths. Intelligence quotient testing usually involves a test on the ability to solve problems, understand complex ideas, abstract thinking, plan, reason, etc.
Source
Also, a lot of factors play a major role in intelligence, some of which include environment, education, nutrition, etc. Though the current study of genetics as a factor in intelligence has a 50% effect for the gene as an influence in genetics.
Though in some study of intelligence, the genetic factor may have about 50% influence on the outcome of the result. Though scientifically speaking, the result is still inconclusive as the
genetic factors have not been traced to any gnome in the gene that affects the IQ of individuals.
Since intelligence is said to be strongly influenced by environment. Here parenting is said to have a major influence on IQ. Some proponent that a particular parent's IQ plays a major role.
Is there a correlation between the IQ of offsprings dependent on who their parents are? Is little John very good in mathematics because both parents are professors of mathematics with three advanced degrees under their belt?
Since intelligence is said to be strongly influenced by environment. Here parenting is said to have a major influence on IQ. Some proponent that a particular parent's IQ plays a major
Intelligence from a mother?
Since women have two X chromosomes, they are more likely to pass intelligence to their children.
Some group of scientists says your clever gene is on the X chromosome which would be invalid when it comes from the father.
This is due to a particular set of the gene called conditional gene. A gene which is said to work if it comes from a particular parent. So the intelligence gene is said to work only if it comes from the mother.
Source
Some researchers in Glasgow interviewed 12,686 young people, age range from 14 and 22 annually from 1994. Factors such as race, education, socio-economic standing were taken into consideration but the mothers become the determining factor of IQ after the research.
As I mentioned early, genetics plays about 50% role in IQ determination, the environment, and other factors have a role too to play.
Beyond the genetics, mother-child bond plays a major role that ultimately determines a child’s intelligence.
Researchers at the University of Washington found a 10 percent larger hippocampus (area of the brain associated with learning) than average during a seven-year period of children with mothers who emotionally support them compared to the ones with mothers who cared less.
How about the fathers?
Fathers do have a large role to play as IQ still has half of its traits from the non-genetic point of determination. The mothers may have a larger responsibility to a child's IQ by virtue of genetics as research had found out.
It is possible a larger number of genes are involved making no particular gene the main determinant of IQ. But some are of the opinion that this may, in fact, may not be true.
One author who felt strongly on some the research wrote a book about it. He is Harvard paleontologist Stephen Jay Gould. The book is titled The Mismeasure of Man.
The book is a critique of the biological determinism in research which is
co-opted in the service of racism, misogyny, homophobia and economic repression. Intelligence research, not surprisingly, has always been one of the worst offenders.
Conclusion
Mothers are the more of primary people that raise a child at the stage of his major brain developmental stage. So it stands to reason that smart mothers should raise smart kids. So mothers with higher IQ stands more chance of raising a higher IQ child/children than if the reverse is the case.
Moral of the story? Always date/marry a smart woman <3
authored by: @greenrun
Things are not that simple. If two parents have for example a daughter (with the female genotype XX), the girl has always exactly one X chromosome from the mother and one from the father. Of course it is possible that the X chromosome stemming from the mother is more active (caused by genomic imprinting) but then that has nothing to do with the higher number of X chromosomes of the mother.
Apart from that 'intelligence' is, like every complex trait, polygenic which means many genes (respectively their various alleles) are responsible for its manifestation, and it is estimated that 'only' about 16 % of genes affecting 'intelligence' are located on the X chromosome.
Great comment on top of that it gets more complicated when methylation comes into play with epigenetics!
Actually I mentioned it -> genomic imprinting ... :)
Yup, Very Well said, Thnx for useful Info!!
me follow and yoiu
I have a hard time accepting that there are smart genes that some people are born with that gives them an advantage over other people. If there is a genetic component then it is a genetic susceptibility. It still requires a environmental exposure to activate and express that gene. So ultimately it is the environment that is the main determinant not the genetics. Which is the case for the vast majority of chronic disease.
I disagree. I am of the opinion that genetical predisposition defines an individual frame with an upper and lower limit. Then environmental factors (parents, teachers, training, motivation, health, ...) decide which level within this frame will be reached.
Let me give you a simplified example.
The 'genetical frame' of person A reaches from IQ 90 to IQ 110.
The 'genetical frame' of person B reaches from IQ 100 to IQ 120.
In case Person A reaches his upper limit he can be more intelligent than person B (who stays for example at his lower limit because of a negative environmental impact).
I see no difference between 'intelligence' and any other skill. If I practice I will improve in boxing ... but even if I practice my whole life I would never beat Mike Tyson because of his superior predisposition ("boxing ability frame"). :)
By the way do you presuppose that a higher IQ must be an advantage from an evolutionary point of view? Do intelligent people for example in average have more descendants than less intelligent people ...?
I agree that intelligence is a skill. If you don't practice critical thinking it will not come as easily when trying to solve a problem.
I think that people all have the same potential for intelligence at conception but their environments start limiting them even before birth. However people born with genetic abnormalities such as Down's Syndrome I would agree don't have the same intelligence frame as the average person. If there is a genetic component it will manifest right away.
It is well know that early exposure to lead lowers a child's intelligence. What is not as well known is that a baby will get a portion of it's mothers heavy metal load. So if a mother has a higher burden of mercury and lead their child will be less likely to have a higher IQ. Flouride, Aluminum, vaccine injury all can lower your intelligence. Also how you treat your brain during puberty while it is rewiring is a big factor in intelligence. I am scared for all the kid on medication like Ritalin while undergoing puberty. Think about all the people who "fried their brain" from drug use. Their decreased IQ is a result of environmental exposure.
There are also multiple forms of intelligence IQ only captures a couple of them.
The emotional environment is a huge factor for cognitive development.
I would say that higher IQ is a negative factor from a evolutionary point of view since higher IQ individuals tend to delay having kids when in college and will tend to make sure to use birth control and not have accidental pregnancies. Not a lot of intelligence required to have sex.
Clearly, both "nature" and "nurture" are involved in developing intelligence (of which IQ is only one measure).
My parents were post-war immigrants who had only basic educations. Therefore, our home was not exactly a hotbed of intellectual stimulation.
But they must have had some decent genes and plenty of common sense, because my siblings and I did quite well in school, learned to function in society quite well, and continued to educate ourselves well after we graduated.
The way I see it, nurture seems to have a greater effect than nature. (Although I will readily admit that that is not always the case.)
Sure, our genes and our DNA are the blocks from which we are built, but our true essence is in the heart of the structure built by those blocks. In our hearts and in our minds. Which can grow and develop only if properly nurtured.
You made an outstanding point to the subject of article. I have no choice but to agree with you.
Thanks!
me good vd bro
Great point there, my dear. My mother could study only up to high school but she was very up to date because of her reading habit. Stay blessed
Absolutely agree to your reply!
Thank to your parents if you're smart: Up to 40% of a child's intelligence is inherited, researchers claim.
I think children get everything from their parents.
Interesting post. Thanks.
first of all, entent to measure intelligence is a very unacceptable approach because it is very diversified and genetics must have little influence because the acquisition is the major factor in the physiological development of brain Skills, through interactions with everything that surrounds us.
Nurture is only half the story. You can have the greatest upbringing in the world and still be dumb. You can't discount genetics because the acquisition of knowledge is the major factor. It's a fallacy because it is a MAJOR factor, not the ONLY factor.
I believe deeply and fundamentally in the possibility. to acquire by all human beings a strong brain potential by their own effort and by their interference with knowledge and science and with the experiences of others, regardless of the genetic pool
And I hate giving too much emportabce to genes to the point of classifying humans into categories.
The intelligence of the human being can not be measured by the degree of knowledge he has in a particular area, but in the set of experiences and expertise he has in general of all areas of knowledge.
So true.
This is quite expository! Good to know more about the Intelligent Quotient. @adsactly you concluded by saying that if one wants to marry or date a woman, the woman should possess up to <3 IQ.
So what is or how is IQ measured?
What is your definition of intelligence ?Are you sure than IQ test is a good estimate for intelligence ?