is intelligence hereditary and if so from which parent?

Answer 1

Intelligence is a group of innate abilities that you are born with. There are various kinds of intelligence. Book smarts is a commonly recognized one. That is the ability to consume information and regurgitate it in the desired pattern to gain good grades. Rarely are people of renown for intelligence book smart.

Pattern recognition and especially abstract though abilities are the basis for most intelligence tests. If you want to join MENSA then you must have good abstract thinking abilities. Which tend to correlate to ability in science.

Another form of intelligence is the ability to be absorbed by a discipline. That is a person tunes completely too a pre-occupation. Becomes it so much that they are able to truly impact that area of endeavor. While these people may not have great book smarts or may not test well on standard intelligence tests. While they likely are not wise or street smart either. They are very intelligent about a given subject or subjects. This is the expert form of intelligence.

Wisdom is a form of intelligence. Wise people are not necessarily intelligent on other scales but they are misers with information. They make experience go a long long way. Are able to interpet, judge and assimilate the world around them and thus learn complex patterns and behaviors allowing them to know what is going to happen in the future with a great degree of certainty that is is born of proof not conciet. Street smart people are often either wise or manipulators. There is a big difference between them. Manipulators are wise in human reaction/emotion but fail miserably at putting patterns together. As such manipulaters repeat mistakes time and time again. This precludes wisdom which is application of knowledge in such a way to minimize mistakes.

Then there is the quasi intelligence. You see this most frequently in the academic world. Where the trappings of intelligence are studied and worn to an almost obsessive degree. These people dress like those they percieve as intelligent. They talk like them. They join groups of people who are "intelligent". They often work very hard at gaining titles and other declarations of their intelligence. Yet there is no application. There is no true understanding. The quest for appearing intelligent drives out the ability to actually be so. The rigid way they view the world inhibits free thoughts which are a key part of any deffinition of intelligence in any of it's many forms.

So "intelligent" is having one or more of these abilities in a demonstratable form. It might be the ability to solve complex equations which most people cannot wrap their minds around much less solve. It might be the ability to retain more knowledge than others. It might mean being able to step outside known thought, pluck a gem and bring it back to the rest of the world to see. It is often found in combination to a lessor or greater extent.

These abilities come from both sides of your gene pool and not just your parents. Two intelligent parents are likely to have a child as smart or smarter than they are. Just like with height, an intelligent parent with a considerably less partner will often produce a child who is somewhere inbetween. That is just the most commons sequence. Einstein was not from a family of Einsteins. His children did not revolutionize a field of endevour. Just as two tall/short parents can have a child who is either a giant or a dwarf, anybody can concieve an intelligent child if the genes are there to inherit.

So you start with a given baseline of ability. Then you have to actually exercise those abilities. A born mathmatician who never does math will not be any better at math than the average Joe. All forms of intelligence require frequent exercise to develop and maintain. Just as there is a limit to how strong a person can be from birth, there is a limit to how far one can maximize their abilities. Still that range is quite large just as body builders demonstrate just how far a human can push boundries on the limits of how strong a person can be. Many of the strongest men in the world are so only because of their desire to be strong. There are probably at least thousands of other men born with strength limits far more advanced than these men but who lack the motivation or interest to develop their inborn traits to such a degree. The same is true with intelligence. Many people are born intelligent. Only a small percentage exercise their mind enough to gain a glimpse of what they are capable of. As such, a person who wishes to be "intelligent" and who has at least a decent baseline to start with can be very intelligent if they work at it. Which kind of intelligent depends on interests and the mental exercises they peform. On what type of intelligence this person values most.

Answer 2

The scientifically accurate "2+2=4" answer is that yes, there's usually a substantial hereditary component to intelligence. The politically correct "2+2=5 because Big Brother forced me to say so" answer is "no, of course not". But there are different aspects to intelligence, so even if you may not be that great with some aspects, you may well be very good at others. For example, it takes wisdom, forward thinking and a good understanding of reality to realise that working hard will get you far in life.

Answer 3

It is hereditary to a degree, and can come from either parent. But it consists of many different capabilities (which is why constructing a good IQ test is difficult), and these may be inherited separately. Environment is probably a factor in development of IQ.

Answer 4

IQ is hereditary. It can come from either parent, both, or neither. If both parents have a high IQ then there is a good chance that their child will also. But there are always exceptions.

Answer 5

Yes,it actually is.There are intelligence genes and u get them from both parents.If,for instance,u have a parent who is intelligent,u may be just like him and get his intelligence genes.However,it isn't necessary that u end up so intelligent just like he is.However,if u do,u r sibling doesn't necessarily turn up as intelligent as u r.So,yes .Intelligence is hereditary and there are intelligence genes.

Answer 6

Intelligence isn't really a hereditary trait. And your question doesn't make sense, because you're saying "which parent", which implies that you think it is a sex-linked trait.

Answer 7

nature vs. nurture ... hard to tell where all the smarts come from.

I'll tell you this. My Dad's parents are not bright and did not encourage my dad to educate himself. They were furious when he left the farm to go to college .... And my Dad is a genious (I'm not just saying that)

Answer 8

To a certain extent, & from either or both.

Answer 9

I think I was switched at birth...... .