Intelligence hereditary?

[reailtyre]

Long time user but name changed as I discuss possibly outing information.

Not a TAAT but inspired by something I've seen this morning in 'Gifted and Talented' where a mnetter was asking about her DD's mathematical ability and mentioned that as she had a very high IQ, she'd expect her daughter to also be intelligent.

Is that true? I'm a teacher and have two degrees so I guess I'm relatively intelligent, although by no means a genius and my qualifications are in an arts subject not a scientific or mathematical one.

My husband is a Police Officer and although he's got common sense, he is most definitely not 'textbook clever' and left school with no qualifications.

Does this automatically mean that our children cannot be highly intelligent because we're not?

AIBU to believe that a child can be intelligent even if their parent isn't and similarly, just because someone is intelligent, doesn't mean they'll pass that on to their offspring?

The mothers educational level doesn’t work in my scenario. Both DH and I are academically intelligent, my DF is too (DH doesn’t know about his DF), but our DMs definitely weren’t. A different kind of intelligence and common sense yes, but academic, no. All DDs are high achieving academically, though we have always given a lot of parental input so difficult to determine nurture or nature. Artistic and musical ability though, yes in our personal experience I think they are hereditary. Two of four DDs very artistic, one running her own art studio and ma course. All four exceptional musicians although only two interested in taking it further. Literally able to pick up an instrument and start playing by ear, they just have it in them. They have definitely inherited this from DH I am certain. Although there is a studio here full of instruments they have never had formal training (conscious decision because I was put off at an early age by interminable piano lessons!). Exposure to all kinds of music and seeing DH play all their life helps but doesn’t explain the natural ability.

I think the are studies to show that children it's the mothers educational level that affects children's ability.
I think though that is more to do with the fact the mother is more likely to be at home with the children and do "academic" things at home.
I know when we were talking to someone about child sponsorship they said that people often assumed you were better to sponsor a boy as they would be the wage earner for a family later.
However what they'd found was that actually if you sponsored the girls, then when they became mothers they would put more into making sure the whole family (not just the boys) were educated and be able to teach the children themselves if necessary.
A bit like the "give a man a fish" argument.

www.google.co.uk/amp/www.independent.co.uk/news/science/children-intelligence-iq-mother-inherit-inheritance-genetics-genes-a7345596.html%3famp

This is interesting

The things that hold people back are usually more environmental than genetic.

Being kind & responsible is a lot more important than being clever. And it gets you further in life, I'll wager.

My understanding is it is hereditary but not son to father as such. It's a much wider pool of mixture of genes form grandparents that combine.

I think curiosity can make someone much more interesting than how text book bright they are - curiosity throughout life is an intelligence I admire.

Intelligence is one thing that is highly heritable, almost as much as height. However it is measured, those results are robust and repeated over and over.

Research on large twin samples show higher correlations of IQ between identical, rather than non-identical twins, even amongst identical twins reared in different families.

Of course, environment plays some role (deprivation has an important effect, ‘enriched’ environment has little), but genes explain more of the differences in IQ across a population.

3 kids. All bright eldest scholarship winner 2nd just got into stream. (youngest too young but I suspect brightest of lot). Both husband and I got degrees but my educational achievements were low. Husband brighter than me, my mum reads Beowolf in original Anglo Saxon (FFS) husband mum is seriously dim, can be painful to talk to (sorry but true). So no idea what that proves but I had heard it was linked to maternal.line

It's nature and nurture, but success is a combination of intelligence and work ethic - Ie. your child can reach the stars without being that intelligence if they have and understand how they work / learn best.

I think it's a mixture of nature and nurture. I was 'the thick one' growing up but now my brother and I both have decent qualifications at degree level and my children are both intelligent; one more so than the other I think but I've never said that to them.

One of them works extremely hard and gets good grades, the other is just as intelligent but thinks that they are less intelligent than the other for some reason despite both having had the same support and encouragement. I have never compared them but the youngest does. Whatever their intelligence, hard work always comes beyond natural ability in my opinion.

I thought intelligence was inherited.
There's a lot to be said though for the chances that the smarter someone is, the better choices they make through life, and when they come to have a family they'll be in a more favourable position than someone that made less-good choices, and thus be able to give their children far more opportunities in life.
Some of those things that others put down to "good fortune" or "nature" are down to decisions made earlier in their lives.

I think it's a mix of influences. I was heartened to see that it's influenced by maternal educational level (I have a PhD ) but that doesn't hold up for my own mother, who was good at what she knew but otherwise not what I'd call bright (a very rigid thinker in many ways). My dad OTOH is a very flexible thinker; either I inherited it or observed and copied, who knows.

My own DC both seem bright in their different ways; interestingly, DS1 seems more pedestrian and linear while DS2 has seemed to just 'get' complex notions from very early on in a way his brother didn't. No change in parenting, although birth order may well have an impact. Fascinating stuff really!

I also think that some traits are passed on, genetically, such as skill with languages, musical talent, physical prowess etc.

I am sure I did read recently that intelligence was genetic. I’m very clever and my son is too so I must admit I just assumed he got it from me.

There's an immense difference between intelligence and academic achievement, which many people are confusing on this thread. There may also be different kinds of intelligences, people who have different skills and capabilities wired in. It's a huge area of research with a lot to unpack in it.

Most members of homo sapiens sapiens start with a similar baseline of capability, but we are a social species and social differences have an impact from birth. There's clear differences even by the time children enter school in vocabulary and language capabilities between the social classes, and those differences all too easily become entrenched as children move through the education system.

I think there is a lot of credibility in it being hereditary. My df was incredibly intelligent made the newspapers as a child, I am apparently highly intelligent as well and my dc were/are considered gifted. Ds is definitely more intelligent than I am possibly like df I imagine
Df was never a pushy parent and I'm not either so don't imagine nurture has a lot to do with it in our family although I think dc soak up information without seemingly any effort onour oart.
One of ds's teachers said that he had an incredible general knowledge. I don't doubt that some of it came from places we visited, discussions he heard, programmes we watched and listened to and books in the home. Had I not been intelligent would he have had the same resources, who knows?

Far too many people have vested interests in making intelligence hereditary. It really isn't. What does heredity even mean in a species whose brain develops so much after birth?

Interesting info on this thread. Just from observation, I would say there's definitely a strong inherited element to intelligence but obviously varies between people. In Dh family for example, parents both fairly academic, they had four children, all have degrees but variable levels of academic success within that. They all 4 sat the 12+ exam for example, only one measure but marks ranged from 116-136.

www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b041xbxc

More of nature than nurture.

temporary, there is SO MUCH evidence that intelligence is hereditary. No-one discounts the importance of experience, and both positive and negative experiences do play a role in performance of IQ tests. However, the majority influence across many different types of studies (twin, adoption, sibling, longitudinal) all points towards genes playing a very important role.

I’m not sure who would have any agenda (nefarious or otherwise) in pushing this. Even proponents of genetic-informed education want environment to be optimal for children to reach their potential.

No there isn't. Again, what does heredity mean in a species with a brain that is not hard wired? What is intelligence?

I'm not saying heredity plays no role, but there have always been agendas whenever these kind of discussions crop up, and western societies are moving in an unpleasant direction at the moment.

We're all clustered around the mean anyway except for a few outliers who apparently all are on MN. I doubt a few points here or there make much difference to how fullfilling someone's life is, or how they tackle most of the problems we face. Education level is as much about opportunity as natural intelligence.

The hereditary type I am talking about is at the top 5% type in their yearly cohort.

Yes the more 'average intelligence' (obviously not average as such) between say 75% and 90% are more influenced by circumstances. However the top 5% - just are that intelligent and clearly so from a very young age.

DD at a super selective grammar where all are classed as top 5% in their age group for intelligence - however, there is a big spread/range within that 5% and very different at the 1-2% level to the girls that are more the bulk of the school toward top 5%.

Innate intelligence at a very high level is obvious to a parent when child is about three - and is not learned. Whether they achieve their academic potential is circumstance driven - but definitely the wiring of a very bight child is either there or not.

I unfortunately can't agree that being kind and responsible always gets you further in life. Sometimes it holds people back.

It's a mixture for sure, DH is from two highly academic parents. He is an expert in his field and I have looked in a newspaper more than once and seen him quoted. However his sister is pretty dumb, I know that's unkind but it's true.

I'm one of six dc and am the only one who went to University. The others have had lives of NMW jobs, my sisters have no qualifications though my brother does. I am the product of an affair. My DH has said many times your Fathers genes appear to have saved you. My Fathers other dc are also all professionals, my Father didn't raise me and I didn't even meet him till I was 13.

Not sure how it works but many interesting theories. I do think having an enquiring mind is really important as is being driven which I think is one of those random things that some people are just born with.

If we look at genes, my father left school at 15 (pretty normal in the country I grew up in the 1950’s) and always did manual work. That said he did start his own business and was able to provide a relatively nice standard of living for us, think private school, annual holidays etc. Mother was a school teacher who stopped teaching the day she got married, again pretty normal in the 1960’s. My brother and I have followed v different paths, both reasonably successful in our own ways but neither of us amazingly academic but have used the education we were given.

Fast forward to today and DH left school at 15 and is definitely not ‘book learned’ or in anyway academic but boy is he driven. This has enabled him to come from an extremely poor and dysfunctional family to be what in any society would be judged a success. We have been able to send out DC’s to excellent schools and while both have done v well academically (one currently at an RG uni, the other sitting A Levels and has an offer from Oxford). One is definitely more intelligent than the other but more importantly is also incredibly driven.

Now they’ve both had the same upbringing and opportunities but the outcomes are already looking to be very different.

So in answer to your question I think there are a lot of variables and the intelligence question is really a mix of nature and nurture with the occasional random like my DH.

I think that it is mostly nature, just as being good at sport, art, tall, short, dark or light skinned etc is mostly nature. If two parents are academic then there is a very good chance that their children will be too. If only one parent is then the child will either be similar to one or other of the parents or in between.