Intelligence: Nature vs. Nurture
By Mark & Jordan
Definition: WordNet states that intelligence is the ability to comprehend; to understand and profit from experience. This definition itself gives off the feeling that intelligence comes under nurture, as one can only grow in intelligence from experience.
Proof for Nurture:
James Flynn, a political scientist from New Zealand has noticed that IQ levels globally have been rising at approximately three points per decade.
The reason behind this increase, suggested by Ulric Neisser, could be due to the bombardment of visual image learning such as advertisements, posters, video games, and television instead of learning through audio and lingual teachings. As children are so highly exposed to these visual images, they are becoming more competent and smarter visually, which assists them in performing highly in IQ tests which are dominated by visual puzzles.
Further proof for the nature side of the argument is the study of feral children. These are children that have been brought up by animals and then found to have drastically lower intelligence and little likeness to regular humans. The case of the feral chills known as “Victor” supports such thoughts. He was found at the age of seven in a French forest and studied by physician, Jean-Marc-Gaspard Itard. He attempted to teach Victor, but normal intelligence was never achieved. This demonstrates that early learning is instrumental in a child’s intelligence as an adult.
Proof for Nature:
The “Two Jims” is one of many twin studies conducted to test whether through different upbringing; the two would have dramatically different lives. The “two Jims” is one of the best experiments to support the Nature side of the Nature Vs. Nurture debate on intelligence.
Neither James knowing of each other’s existence throughout growing up, raised by two different families. However, when the two James’ were reunited at the age of 39, they were uncannily similar. “Both worked as part-time deputy sheriffs, both had abilities in mechanical drawing and carpentry, both liked maths but disliked spelling,” (semester 1 blog, 2009)
This shows that even though different families raised them, both excelled and enjoyed similar academic fields.
Conclusion:
One should think of intelligence as a rubber band. Rubber bands come in different sizes: some are quite small, while others are fairly large. Each of us is born with a certain amount of intelligence; just picture it as a particular rubber band. That’s the nature part. If we nurture that intelligence, we can help it develop. That would be the equivalent of stretching the rubber band.
There is, however, a limit to how much we can stretch a rubber band. We can stretch a large rubber band much farther than we can stretch a small rubber band. Nurturing intelligence is like stretching a rubber band. A gifted child has the intelligence that is equivalent to a large rubber band. If we challenge a gifted child, we stretch his or her intelligence. The same is true for any child. The more we challenge that child, the more we stretch the intelligence.
However, based on the fact that the evidence for Intelligence being caused by Nurture, one has to accept that it is the dominating reason behind intelligence.
Questions:
- With the evidence gathered here, what is your opinion on the topic? Is Intelligence related to Nature or Nurture?
- If more experiments were to be conducted, would it be possible to find a better method of increasing intelligence through nurture?
Bibliography:
· Bainbridge, Carol. "Creating Gifted Children - Nature or Nurture?" Creating Gifted Children - Nature or Nurture? About.com. 24 May 2009, URL accessed: http://giftedkids.about.com/od/gifted101/qt/nature_nurture.htm>.
· Erupting Mind (2009) Intelligence, Nature or Nurture viewed 24th May 2009 (http://www.eruptingmind.com/nature-nurture-intelligence/)
· Nature Vs. Nature in Intelligence (2005) Viewed 24th May 2009 (http://www.wilderdom.com/personality/L4 1IntelligenceNatureVsNurture.html)
· "Nature vs Nurture in Intelligence." Wilderdom - a project in natural living & transformation. 10 Apr. 2005. 24 May 2009, URL accessed: http://www.wilderdom.com/personality/L4-1IntelligenceNatureVsNurture.html#EvidenceNature>.
· O’Neil, S. (2009) Semester 1 2009 Nature Vs. Nurture : Twin studies Viewed 24th May 2009 (http://semester12009naturevsnurture.blogspot.com/)
By Mark & Jordan
Definition: WordNet states that intelligence is the ability to comprehend; to understand and profit from experience. This definition itself gives off the feeling that intelligence comes under nurture, as one can only grow in intelligence from experience.
Proof for Nurture:
James Flynn, a political scientist from New Zealand has noticed that IQ levels globally have been rising at approximately three points per decade.
The reason behind this increase, suggested by Ulric Neisser, could be due to the bombardment of visual image learning such as advertisements, posters, video games, and television instead of learning through audio and lingual teachings. As children are so highly exposed to these visual images, they are becoming more competent and smarter visually, which assists them in performing highly in IQ tests which are dominated by visual puzzles.
Further proof for the nature side of the argument is the study of feral children. These are children that have been brought up by animals and then found to have drastically lower intelligence and little likeness to regular humans. The case of the feral chills known as “Victor” supports such thoughts. He was found at the age of seven in a French forest and studied by physician, Jean-Marc-Gaspard Itard. He attempted to teach Victor, but normal intelligence was never achieved. This demonstrates that early learning is instrumental in a child’s intelligence as an adult.
Proof for Nature:
The “Two Jims” is one of many twin studies conducted to test whether through different upbringing; the two would have dramatically different lives. The “two Jims” is one of the best experiments to support the Nature side of the Nature Vs. Nurture debate on intelligence.
Neither James knowing of each other’s existence throughout growing up, raised by two different families. However, when the two James’ were reunited at the age of 39, they were uncannily similar. “Both worked as part-time deputy sheriffs, both had abilities in mechanical drawing and carpentry, both liked maths but disliked spelling,” (semester 1 blog, 2009)
This shows that even though different families raised them, both excelled and enjoyed similar academic fields.
Conclusion:
One should think of intelligence as a rubber band. Rubber bands come in different sizes: some are quite small, while others are fairly large. Each of us is born with a certain amount of intelligence; just picture it as a particular rubber band. That’s the nature part. If we nurture that intelligence, we can help it develop. That would be the equivalent of stretching the rubber band.
There is, however, a limit to how much we can stretch a rubber band. We can stretch a large rubber band much farther than we can stretch a small rubber band. Nurturing intelligence is like stretching a rubber band. A gifted child has the intelligence that is equivalent to a large rubber band. If we challenge a gifted child, we stretch his or her intelligence. The same is true for any child. The more we challenge that child, the more we stretch the intelligence.
However, based on the fact that the evidence for Intelligence being caused by Nurture, one has to accept that it is the dominating reason behind intelligence.
Questions:
- With the evidence gathered here, what is your opinion on the topic? Is Intelligence related to Nature or Nurture?
- If more experiments were to be conducted, would it be possible to find a better method of increasing intelligence through nurture?
Bibliography:
· Bainbridge, Carol. "Creating Gifted Children - Nature or Nurture?" Creating Gifted Children - Nature or Nurture? About.com. 24 May 2009, URL accessed: http://giftedkids.about.com/od/gifted101/qt/nature_nurture.htm>.
· Erupting Mind (2009) Intelligence, Nature or Nurture viewed 24th May 2009 (http://www.eruptingmind.com/nature-nurture-intelligence/)
· Nature Vs. Nature in Intelligence (2005) Viewed 24th May 2009 (http://www.wilderdom.com/personality/L4 1IntelligenceNatureVsNurture.html)
· "Nature vs Nurture in Intelligence." Wilderdom - a project in natural living & transformation. 10 Apr. 2005. 24 May 2009, URL accessed: http://www.wilderdom.com/personality/L4-1IntelligenceNatureVsNurture.html#EvidenceNature>.
· O’Neil, S. (2009) Semester 1 2009 Nature Vs. Nurture : Twin studies Viewed 24th May 2009 (http://semester12009naturevsnurture.blogspot.com/)
INTELLIGENCE
ReplyDeleteResponding to the topic of intelligence, I personally believe that a person’s ability to think and act is a major part of one’s nature but also a part of one’s nurture.
Case one: A person (let’s call him Burney Bob) has highly intelligent parents and grandparents who have become very known for their own specific works. Bob is raised in this family and follows their beliefs and values and finishes his schooling with honours and is awarded dux.
Bob has natural intelligence.
Case two: Bob’s parents are highly intelligent however he is adopted at birth to a family of not so smart people, and their values are not very high. Bob continues to pass all of his subjects with grades that no there child receives and continues to be his own individual person.
Intelligence can be nurtured into someone’s lifestyle, if a decent amount of study occurs, the person will have some ability to learn and become more intelligent, and however one’s natural ability to solve comes through your primarily your genes.
Alex W
A person’s intelligence is a result of their nurturing environment. This is because children model their parents/guardians behaviour. If they see that their parents are constantly pushing them to study, the children will study in order to make their parents proud; however if the child sees that the parents do not care about the child’s academic achievements then the child will not either because they do not see a point. Ask any child in the school who is failing, most would say “I don’t care about schoolwork” Most of these people do not try. This may be because of many reasons: They don’t see their parents caring, they want to pursue a profession in which academic work is unimportant or because they want to be “cool” and fit in with a peer group. As mentioned in the report, the IQ of today’s population is growing. This is not because we are “breeding better kids” but because more resources are now available to students and their parents. Another reason is that there is more rush to get a job in today’s environment thus students may feel the need to push themselves harder to reach their goals. The world is growing in intelligence because we are using it to make new discoveries and inventions unlike the people living with animals (they do not need as much intelligence to survive).
ReplyDeleteI have concluded that every person is born with a certain amount of intelligence, depending on their genes. If nurtured ‘correctly’, a child will maintain their intelligence and proceed to broaden their knowledge and intelligence. On the other hand, a child that has not been nurtured ‘correctly’ and knowledge and beliefs were not learned, the intelligence level that they were destined to have, would not be maintained, therefore dropping the children’s intelligence level would fall below the expected standard. These points show that children, like stated in the blog, can become as intelligent as their mind will allow them to, but also states that children are not required to maintain the level of knowledge they have been provided with.
ReplyDeleteI would like state that my understandings point me in the direction that nurture provides children with the ability to use intelligence, but the way in which the children have been genetically formed and their genes, make the decision whether or not to use the abilities provided.
Concluding, I believe that nature and nurture both play a large role in ones intelligence, but with the ‘correct’ nurture a child can be incredibly intelligent.
-Mel
I believe that intelligence is purely a product of nurture. In 1924, John Watson said "Give me a dozen healthy infants & my own specific world to bring them up in, & I'll guarantee to take any one at random & train him to become any type of specialist I might select - doctor, lawyer, artist, merchant, chef & yes, even beggar & thief, regardless of his talents, penchants, tendencies, abilities, vocations, and race of his ancestors." Watson was one who also believed that Intelligence was the result of nurture and someone’s upbringing and teaching. If a parent was to teach their child at a younger age, they would then become more used to learning and when they go to school, they would therefore find it easier to learn which would result in them being smarter. People are shaped by their environment, especially their upbringing; their personalities develop in response to external stimuli.
ReplyDeleteIf more research was conducted to find that Intelligence was definitely a result of nurture, I do believe that it would be increase the overall intelligence of people throughout the world would increase.
Based on these facts and the information gathered, I believe that nature is purely a product of Nurture.
Intelligence is a highly debated topic in Nature vs. Nurture. I believe the level of intelligence one has, is a product of nature, with only some influence from nurture.
ReplyDeleteI believe this because intelligence is a product of brain structure and how genes interact. Brain structure is something that is highly genetic and often predetermined at birth.
Currently through family ant twin studies of intelligence, there are startling results in favour of the nature side of this debate. In 1979, Thomas Bouchard collected twins and tested their IQ’s, comparing adopted twins and those that lived together. (Wilderdom, 2005)
Bouchard found:
• Identical twins reared together 86%
• Identical twins reared apart 76%
• Fraternal twins reared together 55%
• Biological siblings reared together 47%
• Parents and children living together 40%
• Parents and children living apart 31%
• Adopted children living together 0%
We can see that even when unrelated children live together in a similar nurture setting, their intelligence quota is very different. When separated, identical twins still have a 76% similarity. This data suggests that nurture has little impact in comparison to nature.
Nurture does have some impact on intelligence. Factors such as, schooling, home environment, books read and confidence. However I do not believe the impact of these environmental factors are substantial. I agree with Bouchard & Segal’s statement that “No single environmental factor seems to have a large influence on IQ..... studies fail to find strong environmental effects....environmental effects are multifactorial [meaning: largely dependent on genetics] and largely unrelated to each other" (Wilderdom, 2005).
Therefore I do not believe it is possible to increase intelligence through nurture. Nurture can only allow someone to reach a certain level of their potential. If that potential is not within them in the first place, no matter how well nurtured they are they cannot change their intelligence. I believe making a person ‘more intelligent’ would require rewiring the brain and genes completely.
Information from:
http://wilderdom.com/personality/L4-1IntelligenceNatureVsNurture.html
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/10/071016131452.htm
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_g2699/is_0002/ai_2699000233/
http://www.rationality.net/intelligence.htm
cathy
I have looked around the internet and strongly agree with Mark and Jordan’s theory that intelligence is like a rubber band. So I think that intelligence is caused by both nature and nurture. I believe that some people do start out smarter than others (and this gives them an advantage) but other people can stretch their “rubber band” (intelligence) as hard and as much as they want. For example, you could start as a fairly average child but if you work hard enough and learned from your experiences well you could become a rocket scientist. On the other hand, people that start with a large rubber band (people that are naturally smart) won’t have to work as hard to become a rocket scientist because they wouldn’t need to stretch their rubber band as hard.
ReplyDeleteSome people including myself believe that if you put people under pressure that their intelligence will increase faster because they need to start doing mental activities faster. This can also be illustrated by Mark and Jordan’s rubber band theory; the more pressure you put on the rubber band the quicker it stretches. For example, if people have to do all of their assignments in 1 week then they will come accustom to doing this but if they then have to do an assignment in 2 weeks they will find it a lot easier. This is because they have stretched their “rubber band” (intelligence) enough to become used to doing assignments in 1 week but when the pressure is taken off and they have 2 weeks they find it extremely easy.
So in conclusion I believe that intelligence is a product of both nature and nurture. If more experiments were to be conducted I believe that a better way to increase people’s intelligence would be to put them under pressure (to stretch their “rubber band”).
Iain
It believe that intelligence is mainly a product of nature- our genetic material. However, it depends on how we are nurtured for this intelligence to become prevalent.
ReplyDeleteIt is true that intelligence levels have been rising- this has been apparent since caveman ages and evoloution. it also helps that in this community that everyone is being educated in some form.
The two Jims case proves that intelligence shows a clear result of nature predicting intelligence. This is because Twin studies have shown that genetic effects vary regionally within the brain, with high heritabilities of frontal lobe volumes (90--95%)
I believe that it is very possible to increase intelligence through better nurturing. However, only to an extent. This is because there needs to be a capability within the brain to be able to process information.
Jillease