If your children are intelligent or artistic (the same as you) do you think its inherited or environmental?

Question

Or if they advance in any other way (the same as you do)

I think the capacity for learning is inherited but I think largely its environmental. Children tend to follow your examples & preferences.
So, a bit of both really but mostly environmental

Answer 1

Original talent is inherited, but developing that talent is environmental.

Answer 2

Both my husband and I could read decently at three, and both our kids are fiendishly quick little monsters. We all come into the 'gifted' category. He came from a 'good' environment, and I'm from a 'bad' one. My IQ is a couple of points higher, so bang goes environment as a major factor.

I've been doing a lot of reading into IQ over the past couple of years, as I'm heading for a psychology degree. The current assesment is that 70% of intelligence level is inherited, only 30% is from environment. The most important environmental factors are, in descending order...

Uterine environment. Twins IQ is 5 points lower than average, and pregnancy problems can cause brain damage.

Nutrition. Breast feeding can help some children, but overall it's a decent amount of calories and nutrients that count. Iodine deficiency causes idiocy.

Disease. Too varied to go into, but mostly applicable to developing nations.

Home environment. Serious domestic violence can have a negative affect, although no-ones quite sure if it's permanent, as the studies were done on children. It may have slowed them up.

Education. It has some effect, but not as much as you'd think in the long term.

As for artistic, we all are, in different ways. He's more literary, I'm more visual, I'm a fair amateur artist when the kids aren't about. The girl writes and draws, and the school is using some of her creative writing to show what good teachers they are. It's too young to say about the boy. He can use the computer on his own though, at two.

Some of the IQ research I've read links artistic ability to your general intelligence level. Music in particular. I used to play the guitar in my youth and have near perfect pitch, and I was the soloist for the school choir, but the girl has inherited her fathers singing voice, poor thing.

Answer 3

The argument that the genetic traits of the parent will influence the mental growth of the child is an old one. there are some psychology text books that tell you that the mental development of the child is based purely on the moral compass that the child is raised on (Nurture), compared to the traits that the child learns from the parent or parents (Nature). Bare in mind though, that the two arguments are inter change able. If you think that your child is gifted and would benefit from the academic side of life then have them tested. if they are ether gifted mentally or artistically, then encourage it. give your child mental challenges. a good one to test their logic is this:

Place a cold drink on the kitchen bench and let it sit there until condensation forms and ask them where the condensation is coming from. if they answer with something like "the water is coming thought the glass" then they have not yet developed either the logical processes or they have not yet learnt to differentiate volumes.

this does not mean that the child is unintelligent by any means, they just need to be encouraged in the right way.

hope that helps

Answer 4

well, its definatley genetic to some extent, its proven. The brain in creative and artistic people is different to that of another. They use a different part and see things in a different light. This is inherrited. However, environment plays a hugerole in the development of thier skills. If a person is exposed to the relam of creativity at a young age, their development is much stronger. I am a primary school teacher, and according to much research in this type of child psychology i found that children who are exposed to classical music as babies and infants, develop certain creatve skills and tend to "think outside the square". This is because music stimualates certain parts of the brain for this thinking. In whole id say its a bit of both.

Answer 5

My son is a maths genius, literally his test scores show he has the potential to be in the top 5% of the country. None of us are idiots but no one else in our family has his talent for maths!

As far as we can tell he hasn't inherited it, but I really don't think it is environmental either. So it must just be his innate talent!

Answer 6

I think it is a combination of nature and nurture.

The brightest or most artistic child will not flourish in an environment that does not encourage their natural aptitudes, but then again I do believe that some children are never going to be academically brilliant however hard they are pushed or encouraged.

Answer 7

I was adopted and never knew my birth family until I was in my 50's. When I met my birth sisters, they said, "Oh my gosh, you're just like Mom!" She was deceased by the time I met them. But they say the traits/talents we have in common are: Work crossword puzzles in ink, a love of any kind of word games and jigsaw puzzles, very crafty and creative (she made them all teddy bears out of an old fur coat she got from a lady whose house she cleaned), designing and doing needlework, clean house ... but UPO's (unidentified piled objects) everywhere, love all kinds of music - especially classical.

These may have been things I was born with, but they were definitely encouraged and nurtured by my adoptive parents (except for the UPO part!).

Answer 8

A bit of both - there are a lot of factors that go into each that stem from nature and nurture.

Some people may not be really intelligent, but have the opportunities (money, good schools, tutors, etc...) where as someone may be highly intelligent but can't grow because they don't have money or a good public school.....

Answer 9

I hope she inherits my hair and at least SOME of my hair color. I also hope she inherits my high metabolism, my body type, and my sense of humor. I don't hope she inherits my skin (which sucks) and my eyesight (which sucks even more) and my eye color. One more thing I hope she inherits my fast-typing abilities, too, because I think they're probably the best thing about me. That's really sad : (

Answer 10

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