Is intelligence genetically determined?

[aswokei]

Damn it, man. That question has been answered in almost every post in this thread.

 

Why can't a genius like you figure that out? oh yeah...

 

The question as been answered in every post in this thread? Are you sure we're talking about the same question?

[GutZ]

Whoa dude, I don't remember asking for you to cop a 'tude. Take a valium or something.

 

Are you just waiting for someone to say you're right? That you are a genius, that genetic influences means nothing...

 

If that's the case then you are right, you are a genius!

 

The answers to your questions are scattered in your thread, hense the position of Ecoli, there is not much more to say, I am sure he generally wants to help, but your repeated questioning is leaving everyone at an impasse.

[aswokei]

 

The answers to your questions are scattered in your thread, hense the position of Ecoli, there is not much more to say, I am sure he generally wants to help, but your repeated questioning is leaving everyone at an impasse.

 

The answers are scattered through this thread? Not really. Just a bunch of different and vague uninformed opinions. A lot of "the potential for intelligence is inherited, but mostly it's how you are brought up." The question I was asking that I want answered is how to interpret what it means that identical twins score the same on IQ tests. If you pay close attention, you'll see I'm not asking the same questions over and over again. And the questions that I repeating I am only doing so because they have either a. not been answered, or b. not answered to my satisfaction.

 

All I'm asking for is a little guidance. How can it be interpreted (what can be inferred) from the fact that MZ twins have the same IQs?

[GutZ]

Summary of your posts

 

 

Q:Is intelligence genetically determined?

 

1)I would like to have a discussion about whether or not intelligence is significantly influenced by genes.

 

2)Some people have told me that intelligence is in the genes. However, I think it's quite a silly notion.

 

3)It says that the scores of people who take IQ tests twice tend to correlate by about .87, on average, whereas the scores of identical twins tend to correlate by .86. Since identical twins have the same genes (they are nature's clones) couldn't that be understood as genes determining about 86% of the IQ?

 

 

4)But if scientists and researchers are right that identical twins score more or less the same on IQ tests, what does that mean?

 

5)What does it mean? If what they are saying is true, does that mean IQ is almost completely determined by genes?

 

*I am a genius* X 10

 

Replies

 

First of all, intelligence is probably (but not definitely) determined by both genes and environment. Your upbringing has quite a bit to do with how intelligent you end up, but so do your genes (it's arguable how much).

 

One in particular that I remember reading about found that intelligence in children and young adults was about 50/50 genetics and environment, but in adults it shifted more and more to genetics. Identical twins usually exhibit fairly similar intelligence as children in different environments, and that intelligence grows even closer as they age.

 

that doesn't deny an environmental component, only that there must be some sort of genetic component.

 

Then finally it's been stated numberous times that IQ is not a perfect test for intellegence, yet you won't grasp that concept. You really have to connect the dots yourself.

 

If intelligence is basically from genetics and enviroment and you accept that an IQ test is a good measure of intelligence then twins that score the same could either be because thier genetic contribution played a large role, or that the enviroment was the same, or whatever the outcome maybe.

 

I really don't know what more you want...

[Cap'n Refsmmat]

Let's be nice.

[Sisyphus]

I think I understand why aswokei can't understand anything that's being said (assuming he's not just trolling). He's got two axioms which, for some reason, he absolutely needs to believe. First, he's very smart. Second, his parents are very dumb. Obviously, then, anything said that would force a contradiction between those axioms, e.g., that intelligence is mostly genetically determined, he will find a way not to understand, through sheer force of will. Kind of Orwellian, really.

[ecoli]

The answers are scattered through this thread? Not really. Just a bunch of different and vague uninformed opinions.

These opinions are formed around scientific evidence in the literature. IF you don't like what the scientists are doing, then by all means, come up with your own scientific investigation, write up your findings and submit them to a peer-reviewed journal.

If you can prove that intellegence is not genetically determined, the more power to you.

[mr d]

Hello

Back for now till dragged away by work.

 

Anyway about genetics and intelligence, as somewhat stated earlier part is potential, part is physical.

Physical is simply physical characteristics of your brain, how large, how are the folds shaped; what sizes are different portions of your brains as needed for processing such items as sound or vision. How stong are your synapse connections, how well do the chemicals used for electrical transmission and storage of information work.

 

Add on to this how well does external stimulation reach your brain, such as your hearing, optic nerves, spinal column, and nerve receptors in your sky amoungst many others.

 

Then there's the second part the external stimulus portion, your brain has to recieve the stimlus needed to fully develope your brain's potential.

Example: a blind person has the same basic physical brain structures as a sighted person, but since the visual portion of their brain does not get stimulate as would a sighted person it does not develope in quite the same way. And infact portions may instead develope to aid in sound prosessing instead.

 

So you may be born with better sound processing abilities, but your never exposed to different types of music. While a person who has less processing ability did enjoy a wide musical experience fully used what they had. They would develope their area more and hence understand music better than you. Even though you had more potential for music.

 

As to identical twins, since brain structure is the same, if both recieve the same amount of stimulus there brain will develope along simular lines.

 

Mr D

[1veedo]

The question as been answered in every post in this thread? Are you sure we're talking about the same question?

I not only answered your question but provided you with a reference that should be helpful for your assignment!

 

"Do people who share the same genes also share comparable mental abilities" As you can see from figure 11.9, which summarizes many studies, the answer is clearly yes."

 

evidence

 

"With age, mental similarities between adopted children and their adoptive families disappear as parental influences wanes; by adulthood, the correlation is roughly zero (McGue et al, 1993). As we accumulate life experiences, genetic influences -- not environmental ones -- become more apparent(Bouchard, 1995, 1996a). Adopted children's intelligence scores become more like those of theri biological parents, and identical twins' similarities continue or increase into their eighties (McClearn et all, 1997; Plomin et al, 1997)."

 

Environmental Influences: The environment, for the most part, can only have a negative impact on someone's intelligence. Positive environmental influences do very little to boost intelligence.

 

 

There are upwards of three things you're missing from your conclusion about your parents being dump / you being smart.

 

1) You do not have the exact same genes as your parents -- they've been mixed around pretty randomly. Maybe some of your relatives are smart.

 

2) It's possible that your parents are smarter then you think but they're just getting old or maybe havn't exercised their brains much in the past years.

 

3) What are you, an idiot? These kinds of things are never 100% always true. It's true for the overwhelming majority of people but maybe you're an exception.

 

For someone as smart as you claim to be, you should have been able to figure that out. Did you drop out of high school or something? Maybe if you finished high school you'd grow some balls and mature past the mental age of a 12 year old.

[Senseless]

 

1) You do not have the same genes as your parents -- they've been mixed around pretty randomly. Maybe some of your relatives are smart.

 

2) It's possible that your parents are smarter then you think but they're just getting old or maybe havn't exercised their brains much in the past years.

 

For someone as smart as you claim to be, you should have been able to figure that out. Did you drop out of high school or something? Maybe if you finished high school you'd grow some balls and mature past the mental age of a 12 year old.

 

Arh... the best response ever. The answers were all over this thread, but i guess you were too lazy to read through all the responses given.