is intelligence hereditary?

Question

both of my parents had very limited education, even up to today. They're old now, really old. They only do the things that they are capable of, and can understand. If they don't understand, they'll ask my siblings and me. So far, my mom side isn't very brilliant, except for my uncle on my maternal side, his kids are hard working and very smart (possibly inherited from their mom side (my aunt-in-law). My dad side, you can't really tell, because they're all still kids, like from 2-17, most of them are kids. But from what I've heard, they're not as brilliant as my mom side either. Except they're much more innocent :)...

I'm a very hard working person, I stress out on dumb and small things, sometimes I can be lenient about it, sometimes i can be a blunt, but still care deep inside. But I never can think as fast, or think critically well enough to win some points in a debate. I have a moderate amount of logic, but feeling uneasy. So am I dumb becuz of my mom and dad??

Answer 1

From http://www.humboldt.edu/~morgan/iq_s01.htm

"Given the research presently available, there seems to be ample evidence supporting the conclusion that genetic factors play, at least, a moderate role in determination of intelligence and cognitive ability. Bouchard and McGue (1981) conducted a review of family studies on IQ, and found that results obtained from many of the studies were consistent with the polygenetic theory of inheritance because the correlation between family member's scores on intelligence measures roughly corresponded to the proportion of genes shared between those family members."

So the answer in English is; Yes, genetics do play a factor, but of course there are exceptions to every rule....

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

Good question. I do think intelligence is hereditary, but there are different kinds of intelligences. Often people's intelligence is not tapped and developed by their education.
Some people learn better visually, some by seeing the written word, some by doing, others by being shown. We are all good at certain things and sometimes being academic is not one of them, but there are so many ways to be intelligent.
For me, I'm a teacher and see every day how kids can get something when presented one way and not another.
I learn by seeing and doing, reams of written stuff are an ordeal for me. I have found a place where my kind of intelligence works. It's a complicated subject with no simple. I hope this helps.

Answer 4

My personal opinion is that a person not born with any sort of mental defect has an equal chance of having a below average, average, or above average intelligence. I think it has less to do with biology, and more to do with how that person was raised. Were they read to, were they given help with their homework, was some portion of their free time dedicated to mentally stimulating activities. These sorts of questions all factor into how well a person can handle critical thinking later in life.

That being said, given your vocabulary and sentence structure, I wouldn't be too quick to call yourself dumb. Intelligence takes many forms, and not all of them are characterized by quick thinking and debate skills. There are celebrated writers out there that work on their manuscripts for years before they see the light of day. When a writer comes out with an amazing 250 page novel that took him five years to write and rewrite, no one calls the writer stupid for taking so long.

Answer 5

yes it's , there r genes for intelligence .
i think that this maybe inherited n that's cz of their genes but intelligence can b developped , try to developpe ur intelligence by gioing to some courses n these stuff .

and i knw it's from ur dad n mum cz when the intelligence of someone is limited his gene of inteligence will b recessif ( it wont show but u may carry it but it wont affect ur life ) while if someone is more intelligent his gene will b more dominant , when a recessif factor appear it means u r pure which meanbs ur mum n dad have the same genes so u carried from both the same thing not like if one of them was more intelligent n pure ( he dnt carry another gene of limited intelligence ) u will b intelligent although u carry the gene of the limited intelligent from the other parent .
but if ur inte;lligent parrent was hybride which means he's carrying a limited intelligence gene n a high intelligence one but what apppears is the high one , u will have more chances to have limited intelligence .



and what's showed is that both of ur parents has recessif genes n that they r pure cz what shows is a recessif gene (when a recesif appear it means u r pure ) so u r pure too n it inherited.


but as i told u go to courses n classes n u will see

good luck

Answer 6

There are different theories regarding intelligence and here is a short list...
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Thurstone has identified seven primary abilities of the human being:

1. Reasoning
2. Associative Memory
3. Computational Ability
4. Verbal Comprehension
5. Perceptual Speed
6. Word Fluency
7. Spatial Visualisation

Elsewhere Howard Gardner defined seven forms of human intelligence as:

1. Linguistic
2. Logical/mathematical
3. Musical
4. Spatial
5. Bodily/kinaesthetic
6. Interpersonal
7. Intrapersonal

====================
Does everybody agree on the above lists? No.
What is intelligence?
Piaget: says it is “adaptive thinking or action”
“Ability to think abstractly or to solve problems effectively
==========================
"A genius is someone who can solve his own problems"
==============
Louis Thurstone (1938)

7 Primary mental abilities:

1) Spatial ability
2) Perceptual speed- quick processing of visual info
3) Numerical reasoning
4) Verbal meaning – defining words
5) Word fluency- speed at recognizing words
6) Memory
7) Inductive reasoning (forming a rule that describes a set of observations).

More recent definitions may describe the parameters that you are
seeing in your relatives
Ray Cattell & John Horn (1963)-

Crystalized intelligence- ability to solve problems that depend on knowledge acquired from schooling and other life experiences (general information: what temp does water boil, word comprehension, and numerical abilities).

Have you heard the saying "book smart but life dumb"? That is because there are other types of intelligence that does not depend on schooling
=
Intelligence is often genetic, but not guarranteed to appear in offsprings of intelligent parents. Intelligence is learned, and also developed, usually by the person possessing it. The desire to learn is demonstrated early in the child, usually apparent in a few weeks after birth.

Robert Sternberg’s Triarchic Theory of Intelligence

Three aspects of intelligent behavior

1.Context

2.Experience

3.Information Processing Skills



1. Context

Success adaptation to environments or successful shaping of environments to suit them better.

“Street smarts”



2. Experiential

Experience with a task helps to determine whether one’s behavior qualifies as intelligent or not.

Two types of experiential intelligence

a. How does one respond to novel challenges?

b. How does one perform familiar tasks?

Automatization- increasing information processing with practice.



3. Information Processing Component

· An important aspect of intelligent behavior is how we size up the requirements of problems, formulate strategies to solve them, and then monitor our cognitive activities until we’ve accomplished our goals.

Answer 7

intelligence are hereditary. But Thomas Edison said "Genius is 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration'.
I think the most important thing to do is how to maximize your intelligence.
Aside from that believe in yourself that you are unique and you had unique attributes. Comparing ourselves to others will not help us. The most important thing is how we are going to improve ourselves and how we are going to help other people in our own little ways.
Start reading and learn new things

Answer 8

Yes i think its in your DNA along with heart disese, mental health,teeth and gums..........but you never know every so many generations they are throwbacks to long lost realative who was a freaking genius.........ive seen two dumb people have a smart kid before

Answer 9

I believe it could be...depending on bloodlines, but not necessarily a guaranteed passed down trait but a great one to be blessed with.

Answer 10

It seems pretty illogical for intelligence not to be hereditary. Where else could it come from?