Where does intelligence come from, nature or nurture?

            There has long been a debate among scientist about what makes up a human being. Is it nature or nurture? Is it your genetic inheritance or is it stimulus from the surrounding environment? Although there is strong evidence on both sides, most scientist believe that we are a combination of both nature and nurture. Many of our abilities and things that we exhibit are a result of both nature and nurture. Examples of this are intelligence, athletic ability, personality, and  creativity.

            There is great debate on whether intelligence is inherited or created. I believe that it is a combination of both but that nurture weighs much more heavily on its creation. It is hard to believe that two idiots will inherit a high degree of intelligence to a child and that two geniuses will produce an idiot. But in genetics anything can happen. What I firmly believe is that the brain is a muscle and like all our muscles, if we exercise it and make it work, it grows. Therefore I believe that stimulating the brain regardless of inherited intelligence will bring about a higher level of intelligence.

            There is a lot of evidence that supports both sides of the debate when it comes to intelligence. On the nature side there have been many studies measuring IQ in twins and adoptees. These have shown that there is a strong hereditary factor in intelligence. Some studies that have used MRI’s and other tests have shown that  hereditability can account for up to 48% of variations in IQ. Parents and their biological children and also parents and their adoptive children have been tested for verbal ability and results have shown that there is a strong evidence that intelligence is inherited. However, these results can also be questioned. For example, did the mother of these twins smoke when she was pregnant? This would show that an external factor influenced the development of that same brain which is supposed to be inherited. So even in studies that show that a person’s intelligence is hereditary one can see that environmental factors also contributed.

            There is an entire separate set of scientists that believe that a person is born with a clean slate. They believe that the brain is a blank board and the environment writes on this board and creates the intelligence. Educational intervention, IQ studies and Nutritional studies have shown that in general IQ is increasing, they believe that this is the result of exposing the mind to more visual things than before, For example ads, poster, computers. Many environmental factors have been shown to affect intelligence, this shows that intelligence is largely defined by nurture rather than nature. Some of these factors are nutrition, number of siblings, number of years in school, social group one grows in, parent’s economic status, parent’s education and profession, parent’s rigidity, amount of reading, amount of TV watched, emotional adaptation, alcoholism, mental diseases. Identical twins that have been raised apart have shown completely different levels of IQ which leads us to believe that the environment and not genetics created their intelligence.

            In conclusion, it is difficult to determine where factors of our intelligence truly come from. Most tests can be interpreted in many ways. Tests themselves are a product of our environment and tend to indicate that our environment does weigh heavily on who we become. Most scientists agree that both hereditary and the environment affect intelligence, they both interact in different ways. A very rich or very poor environment interferes with the realization of someone’s intelligence regardless of what they inherited. It is almost impossible for scientist to say what exact gene causes intelligence and what factor in the environment causes it as well. It is difficult to actually measure intelligence as well; so most scientist agree that both genetics (nature) and the environment (nurture) contribute to a person’s intelligence.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/10/071016131452.htm
http://wilderdom.com/personality/L4-1IntelligenceNatureVsNurture.html
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