Genetic determination of all giftedness

Genes are the foundation of all our attributes. This may seem like an obvious statement for many - but for some, it is controversial. This is the core of the nature-nurture debate: are we born or made?

From everything I have read, seen and understood in life, I am firmly on the side of nature. I have seen so many instances of people with abilities and attributes that show familial inheritance, that it could not be otherwise. The gene is all: at least, it is most of the story.

I have posted elsewhere about the remarkably strong relationship between the IQ of the parents and the IQ of the children, once they become adults (a correlation of 0.8). Intelligence is not the only strongly inherited characteristic - our height, our health, our immune systems...everything is there, in the genome. Though many may dislike it, we are very much a product of our genes (though these genes interact with their environment).

I am moved to write about this, today, because of my recent encounter with a supercentenarian. Many react to such a person by asking: "What is their secret?" They believe that there is some environmental quirk which led to such a long life. Well, I have to disappoint you. Teresa Hsu, is presently reputed to be 110 years old. That is interesting and amazing in itself - but what do you think about its cause when I tell you that her mother lived to 104? It begins to look rather like another case of genetic inheritance, doesn't it? Well, how about this: her mother's grandmother lived to 103. Thus Teresa Hsu, far from being possessed of some behavioural secret, is the product of a long-line of female centenarians, in her family. It is an attribute of her family, as much as blue eyes are the attribute of other families. It is a genetic inheritance.

All human giftedness, in my opinion, backed by both observation, and reading of much scientific literature, is founded in the genome. This applies to all ways in which one person may be special compared to another. If you look at them closely enough, you will almost always be able to pinpoint a familial cause: they are the product of their inherited genes.

We should not be concerned that so much of what we are is genetically based. That actually is a cause for celebration - for everyone of us is unique (barring twins etc) - and possess a set of attributes and dispositions, given to us by our genes, that no other person in history has ever possessed or will ever possess. We are all, by genetic definition, completely unique. I find that refreshing.

(If you would like to read of Ainan Celeste Cawley, a scientific child prodigy, aged seven years and eight months, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, four years and one month, and Tiarnan, eighteen months, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2006/10/scientific-child-prodigy-guide.html I also write of gifted education, IQ, intelligence, genetics, child prodigy, child genius, baby genius, adult genius, savant, the creatively gifted, gifted adults and gifted children in general. Thanks.)

Genius IQ and Genetic Inheritance

If you have a genius child, where does that genius come from? The short answer is you...

There has been a century long nature-nurture debate regarding human intelligence: are we born great or are we made great? Does brilliance shine forth from the womb...or is it something grown laboriously later? Is genius a genetic gift, or the product of good education and parenting?

Uncomfortable though it may be for some, there is a strong answer to this question that has long been known. The evidence comes in the heritability of IQ. You see, if you have a gifted child, whether moderately gifted, highly gifted, exceptionally gifted, or profoundly gifted, there will be a strong correlation between the IQ of the parents and that of the child: gifted child implies gifted parents.

This correlation is not so clear in childhood, but strengthens as the child grows older, such that by the time the child is an adult, the correlation between the IQ of the parents, and the IQ of the child, as an adult, is 0.8. That is a very high correlation, considering that a correlation of 1.0 would indicate identity of IQ, and perfect correlation. There is, therefore, relatively little room for the influence of the environment on the IQ of the resulting adult: all that fuss about education and worries over parenting style, make relatively little difference to adult smartness.

In brief, if you have inherited smart genes, you are overwhelmingly likely to be a smart adult. If you have profoundly gifted parents, you too are likely to be profoundly gifted - or perhaps exceptionally gifted. The same story applies to your children: a genius IQ is an inherited gift, like so many other human atttributes.

As I have noted before, there are many other attributes to true genius, than just IQ test results - but it is one factor, and an important one, that has been proven to have a very high genetic heritability.

This post is, in a way, an extension of my comment in the previous post on Prodigy and Pushy Parents - myth or truth? You see those who bluntly accuse the parents of gifted children of pushy parenting should realize something: the true gift is in the genes - if it is there, it is there because of inheritance, not tutors and extra classes, and demanding the best from one's child. To blame another for their genes, is the height of foolishness - yet that is what, in effect, many other parents do, when confronted with the gifted child and their gifted parents.

Genius is a gift, so too is extreme intelligence, or intelligence of any degree. Cherish that inheritance, but realize that that is what it is: an inheritance - and thank your parents for it - as I do mine, here.

(For posts on Ainan Celeste Cawley, six, a scientific child prodigy, and his gifted brothers, go to:
http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2006/10/scientific-child-prodigy-guide.html )