Modern science finally starts to catch up with Neolithic-era shepherds who knew that genetic variants are retained and passed on:
A landmark article went online a few days ago in the journal Molecular Psychiatry. The study was prepared by a team of 32 researchers headed by the University of Edinburgh’s Gail Davies…..the bottom line of the article is reasonably simple. Using nothing but genetic information, the team of researchers was able to establish that the narrow heritability of crystallized intelligence (the kind that can be more easily affected by education) is at least 40 percent. The narrow heritability of fluid intelligence (the kind that involves pure problem-solving ability, independently of acquired knowledge) is at least 51 percent. Note the at least. The study’s authors explicitly state that these estimates are lower bounds.
Well…this is a twist on the “common semse” debate…
The “h/t” link isn’t working.
I don’t know, the fact that intelligence is largely heritable always just struck me was one of those “gee, ya think?” kind of things.
I’ve never come across the notions of “crystallized” vs. “fluid” intelligence before. Interesting stuff.
Black Mamba
To me it seems a difference twixt what to think and how to think with a decided advantage to the how gene…or the fluid if you will.
Black Mamba, I think it was obvious for pretty much everybody until a few decades ago when utterance of the fact began to be proscribed under the dictates of political correctness.
The “h/t” link is fixed. Thanks.
I’m not bright enough to figure that out, syncro. Maybe tomorrow after I read the article.
I’m always wary of IQ tests mind you (why yes I did do well on mine thankyouverymuch). One of the smartest people I know, who also happens to be an Ashkenazi Jew, and therefore belongs to what is I believe the highest-scoring group of people, took an IQ test in university (this would have been a long time ago) and scored in the 70s. She was categorized as a “high-grade moron” or something. She wasn’t goofing off or anything. It really bugged her, and she’s not a neurotic type.
It’s one of those things I take with salt.
EBD – of course it’s race angle makes it so poisonous. And yes, you really should be paying me for my proof-clicking contributions 🙂
Black Mamba
From the link within the link…
Our results unequivocally confirm that a substantial proportion of individual differences in human intelligence is due to genetic variation, and are consistent with many genes of small effects underlying the additive genetic influences on intelligence.
Interesting stuff indeed.
Depressing for teenagers who generally have the dumbest 2 people on earth for parents.
WalterF
Depressing or invigorating…
Shouldn’t that post have been in the “blatantly obvious” category? For those who wonder about why the genetic basis of human nature is so vigorously denied by Marxist academics (a majority in the social “sciences”) I’d suggest reading Steven Pinker’s The Blank Slate. It’s an excellent review of the nature/nurture controversy.
The prevailing weltanschauung among Marxist “intellectuals” is that Conscious Organisms Generated by Society (COGS) enter the world as neurologically identical subunits which are then socially programmed. If there are any abnormalities in the subunits behavior or cognition, it is the fault of their programming – not the COGS. This is the type of thinking that gives rise to affirmative action, university groupthink and catch and release programs for native Indian criminals. Adherents of this theory believe that COGS can be programmed in any manner one wishes just like a PC will run Linux or even Windoze.
IQ is a test that has withstood the test of time and is an excellent predictor of intellectual ability. IQ alone, however, tells one nothing about whether a particular individual will be a success or failure in their life. IQ is just one of the factors involved and someone with an IQ of 200 who can’t be bothered to pick up a book will likely fare far worse economically than an individual with an IQ of 100 who’s extremely motivated to learn and work.
It’s interesting that there’s at least 50% genetic contribution and likely more. The “g factor” has survived everything that’s been thrown at it and I suspect that it will likely turn out to be related to synaptic plasticity and wetware processing speed. The most likely place to look is at brain lipids and synaptic plasticity given the high levels of lipid storage diseases such as Tay-Sachs and Gaucher’s diseases among Ashkenazi Jews who have the highest group intelligence among humans.
I know ET will probably weigh into this discussion with her thoughts of the meaninglessness of population IQ’s but they are as significant as GNP/capita. Some years back I posted that instead of affirmative action one would be far better off researching intelligence enhancing drugs; the $3 trillion wasted by the first affirmative action president of the US would probably be producing super-genius’s routinely now had it been spent on a cognitive enhancement research program instead.
How much of the IQ contribution was from interactions with the Neaderthals?
More interesting that the results themselves (which as EBD says are painfully obvious) will be the parade of outrage which shall surely follow.
Just take down the names, my friends. It will be a list of people who are fragging up our education system.
I should add to my above comment that evidence of heritability for intelligence does not really support or disprove “societal IQ”. Two different things entirely.
One issue is the standard IQ test measures one dimension of intelligence, where many dimensions exist. The idiot-savant is an extreme example, a person who can calculate the square root of two out to three hundred decimals and recite the last five in an instant, but can’t do up their own shoes. Off the charts in one dimension, in the basement in all others.
Another problem, savants can in time be taught to tie their shoes. Other examples exist. Modern neuro physical therapy relies entirely on brain plasticity, which has been shown to be quite profound in some cases. So it is entirely possible to accept that intelligence is inheritable AND trainable both at the same time.
Bell Curve is one of those popular ideas which doesn’t bear up under closer scrutiny, kind of like Global Warming. I don’t like that kind of thing no matter which side of the political spectrum is pushing it. Just because David “Fruitfly” Suzuki hates the Bell Curve doesn’t mean I should support it, right? We can defeat the socialists without resorting to populist junk science of our own.
Just keep on digging for the truth, that’ll put them out of business faster than anything.
Gee whiz – instinctive behavior is inherited… who’d a thunk it. Psst, don’t tell most of the rest of the animal kingdom, but then their instincts might tell them to not care…
Skip, humans don’t have instinctive behavior. Bees do, dogs do, we don’t. That’s one of the issues balled up in the debate, lots of people think temperament, verbal ability and other human traits are “instinctive”.
Not.
Phantom – horsepucky. That’s just plain egocentrism.
Phantom if you think humans don’t act ‘instinctively then how do you explain the “ways of a man with a maiden”? Solomon couldn’t figure it out.
We Christians have known this bit if information for millenia. We even have a fancy name for it. We call it grace or gifting. We believe each individual is given certain gifts that are to be used for the betterment of mankind.
Unfortunately we in the west are wasting vast talent pools because we like to think that ‘education’ is the only way to impart said gifts. We too often take a very very gifted individual and try to judge him by the things he lacks talent in and thus disqualify him for the things is more talented. I know a fellow who can fix almost any car that is broken down but isn’t a mechanic because he can’t do the math required to get his mechanic’s ticket. He does all the service work on my vehicles.
See what I mean? The common usage of the word “instinct” in general conversation is incorrect. It doesn’t mean that.
The “Bee Dance” that communicates the direction and distance to flowers is instinct. Human behavior, including the basics such as walking and speech, is -learned-.
About the only actual instincts humans have at birth are startle, Babinsky reflex, falling reflex and crying. Everything else is learning.
Black Mamba – “One of the smartest people I know, who also happens to be an Ashkenazi Jew, and therefore belongs to what is I believe the highest-scoring group of people, took an IQ test in university (this would have been a long time ago) and scored in the 70s. She was categorized as a “high-grade moron” or something. She wasn’t goofing off or anything. It really bugged her, and she’s not a neurotic type.”
Total speculation here but I think a brilliant and creative thinker can find all sorts of ways to consider the various options “right” that weren’t anticipated by those who create the test items. She may have been off the chart actually.
The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree?