Is Intelligence genetic and inherited or is our brain power determined by our environment? And what can you do about it, if anything?

The nature nurture debate has been argued over for centuries.  Many ‘experts’ have suggested that the privileged and successful have achieved so much because they have better genes and genetic superiority. While those who don’t do so well are poor or less successful because they have inferior DNA.

Yet research shows that the genetic influence on intelligence is not the cause of the wide achievement gap in society. Intelligence depends more on environmental factors than on genetic factors.

Recent findings from the human genome project have found that the relationship between genetics and intelligence is far more complex that we originally thought.

Genes can be activated or deactivated by our interaction with our environment and the way we learn can help us achieve far more than whether we have a particular set of genes. In fact evidence shows that our environment can activate and deactivate genes throughout our lives.

Here are five reasons why you don’t have to worry about genes influencing your intelligence and educational performance.  And, importantly, what you can do about improving your intelligence today.

Is the inheritability of intelligence a myth?

We are product of our genes, there is no doubt about that. But our genes operate in complex ways with our environment.  They can be activated or deactivated depending on our home environment, our schooling, and in a multitude of other ways in which we interact as an individual with the outside world.

For instance, changes in environment, access to education and culture have caused average IQ levels in the US to rise by 30 points between 1900 and 2012. This means that the average person in 2012 had a higher IQ than 95 percent of the population in 1900.

This rise in IQ is not because of a collective improvement in the gene pool in the US. It was a direct cause of  better schooling and improved nutrition. In other words, the average intelligence of the US rose because of improved environmental factors and not genetic factors.

Not only are complex behavioural traits affected by many hundreds of genes, but there are multiple interactions between them and with the environment during development – the burgeoning science of epigenetics. Heritabiliy neither defines nor limits educability.
Steven Rose, Professor of Biology, Open University

A large study of 127,000 people tried to discover the genes that determined higher educational attainment. It found that genes only accounted for a 0.02 percent differences in educational differences or attainment – a mere one month of schooling.

Wealth is more inheritable than genes

Numerous studies have found that success and wealth are determined more by economic factors than genetics.

If you are born into a richer family or society you are more likely to achieve more than someone who isn’t.  A study from the National Bureau of Economic Research found that children’s income is strongly influenced by the wealth of their parents.

Also the most equal nations in the world have the highest average intelligence levels.

Better schooling improves outcomes not genes

The country that invests more in teaching and recruits the top ten percent of graduates to the teaching profession is Finland. It is also the top of the international league table for educational attainment.

The Finnish don’t have better genes than every other nation in the world. But they do have a better education system, which receives more funding and better resources than any other in the world.

Schools in the city of London also saw a radical improvement in the grades of their pupils between 2002 and 2013. The number of children achieving grades C and above in GCSEs, their final high school exams, increased by a staggering 50 percent.

The reason?

No, not a city-wide improvement in the genetic pool of London children aged between 11 and 16. The cause was a significant investment and improvement in school standards. They invested first in primary schools and then followed this up by investing and improving by secondary schools.

London’s schools have become extremely good at helping poor children succeed.  This is despite the incredible diversity of their pupils.  This success is likely to lead to better jobs and more social mobility among those educated in the capital.
Jo Blanden, University of Surrey 

Some of the reasons for the success in London was based on early intervention. The main explanation for better GCSE results is that pupils from poorer backgrounds were entering secondary school with better test scores at age 11.

The successful Head Start program in the United States, which has been copied around the world, provides comprehensive pre-schooling education for those from the most deprived backgrounds.

The results of research into the program’s effectiveness found that children attending Head Start programs, compared with children from the same background who didn’t:

• had stronger academic performance
• were less likely to be diagnosed with learning difficulties
• were less likely to commit crime
• were less likely to suffer from poor health
• were more likely to graduate from school
• were more likely to attend college

Again there was no sudden improvement in the gene pool across the United States. But there was a marked improvement in the educational support given to poorer families, which helped children from these backgrounds achieve their full potential.

Neuroplasticity – your brain keeps on growing

Eric Kandel won the Nobel Prize in 2000 on his groundbreaking research into the plasticity of the brain. He found that the brain keeps on developing throughout life, making new connections between neurons.

This is in stark contrast to the previous scientific consensus that believed that the brain developed during early childhood and remains unchanged throughout life.

Neuroplasticity on the other hand means that as you learn new information and skills your brain changes and grows.

There are many ways to improve the neuro-plasticity of the brain. Research has found that meditation and exercise are able to generate growth in grey matter:

From leaning a new musical instrument to playing chess and doing crosswords, there are many ways to grow your brain. These 30 science-backed brain exercises will help make you smarter.

It’s about mindset not inheritability of intelligence

Research at Stanford University has found that the key reason why people fail is because they have a negative mindset.

Too often people believe they can’t solve a problem, aren’t good at something, like maths, and believe that their talents are fixed from a young age.

People also believe that making mistakes is key evidence that they aren’t good at something.

Yet research shows that thinking more positively and accepting that making mistakes is part of the learning process can make the difference between success and failure.

Those people who have a closed mindset won’t attempt challenging tasks because they think failure shows up their lack of ability. Whereas those with a growth mindset realize that struggle or failure is a natural part of learning.

Classes with children using a growth mindset approach have seen a marked improvement in their ability to study and attain higher grades at maths.

Studies have also shown that when students are taught to think of their intelligence as something that they can develop, rather than fixed, they achieve significantly better grades.

People are also to improve their memory and to study better if they have a more positive mindset.

In one study, half of a group of 91 teenagers from poorer backgrounds who weren’t doing very well at maths were given lessons in growth mindset. The groups that were given the lessons improved their scores drastically.

Belief in the ability to achieve increases motivation and leads to greater success.

So now you know:  your intelligence isn’t inherited but made. The  environment in which you live and the way you think about learning in by far more important than genes.

Research shows that even if you had a poor start in life or believe they you aren’t very good at something, believing that you can succeed by working hard, learning from your mistakes and improving your motivation to succeed can help you achieve great things.

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