Genetics is how intelligence and character are transmitted. Children inherit intelligence from their mothers.

There are so many controversies, speculations and expectations around this topic that I want to know the opinion of experts. Myths about growing intellectuals comments Nadezhda Zyryanova, Candidate of Psychological Sciences, Associate Professor, Department of Psychogenetics, Lomonosov Moscow State University.

Myth one

The mind is inherited, and "bad" genes cannot be changed. In fact, the intelligence of a child depends both on genes and on the environment in which he grows up. This was proved by studies of the intellectual level of identical twins, who by chance were separated and brought up in different families, in different cultural environments. The genotype of these twins is the same, but the level of intelligence turned out to be different.

It is difficult to determine how intellectually gifted a child is, especially when he is very small, and it is impossible to change the genotype. But it is possible to create a rich environment for the development of all his natural abilities. The importance of the environment is also proved by the following fact: when children whose natural parents did not differ in intelligence and abilities were adopted by families that could provide these children with all the conditions for development, the intellectual level of the adopted children after communicating with their new smart parents increased significantly.

An interesting experiment was conducted by our psychologists. They observed a group of six-year-olds with the same IQ. Some of them stayed for another year in kindergarten part went to school. A year later, the level of intelligence of those who went to school was higher than the level of intelligence of "kindergarteners". It is not surprising: the school offers a richer environment for development.

Myth two

The main thing is to give impetus to the development of intelligence at an early age, then everything will go by itself. Not true. In one study, American psychologists selected young children whose mothers had a very low level of intelligence and focused on their mental development and preparation for school. For several years of training, psychologists have managed to significantly increase the intelligence of these crumbs: some have an IQ higher by 30 points! When they entered school, they were ahead of many peers in development. But when the special classes ended, the children returned to the world of their underdeveloped relatives, began to study in ordinary schools, their intellectual level gradually decreased and became no higher than the average level of their peers.

Americans say about intelligence: "Use it or lose it" - use it, otherwise you will lose it. You have to constantly train your brain.

Myth three

Only communication with adults develops the child. This statement is true for babies. Yes, a child learns to speak, to think, by communicating with adults. Parents explain to him the meaning of new words, teach him new expressions, correct him when he pronounces something incorrectly. And babies, left to their own devices, twins, the weather, which parents leave for a long time in each other's company, begin to lag behind their peers in mental development.

But later, in school years communication with peers is just as necessary as communication with adults. During the presidency of John F. Kennedy in the United States, a situation arose that scientists did not fail to take advantage of. Kennedy decided to combine schools for black and white children. Prior to this, the children of white and black Americans studied separately. The white parents of the state of Georgia - the descendants of South American planters - were categorically against such an innovation. They stopped taking their children to schools and the schools closed for two years. Children, and they were mostly from quite prosperous, wealthy families, studied with hired teachers at home. When the conflict was settled two years later and the children returned to school, it turned out that their IQ (in the United States they constantly measure the level of intelligence of schoolchildren) was significantly lower than the IQ of children from other states who did not interrupt their studies at school and continued to communicate with their peers. And this gap was eliminated only after 4 years.

Myth four

To get a smart child, you need to develop in him logical thinking. Employees of the Department of Psychogenetics, Faculty of Psychology, Moscow State University conducted a long-term observation of the development of the intellect of a group of people from 6 years of age to 24 years of age. And we saw that the level of logical thinking was higher in those adolescents and young people who at the age of 6 were distinguished by rich visual-figurative thinking.

So do not rush to solve logical puzzles with preschool children. Kids need to develop fantasy, imagination, imaginative thinking, compose more with them, draw, play. The game is very milestone in child development. Our well-known psychologist, researcher of the world of childhood D. B. Elkonin said: if a child preschool age, this will affect its further development.

Myth five

People different peoples differ in intelligence. In the United States, the intelligence of white and black races was constantly studied and compared. And in the past, it always turned out that whites have IQs, on average, about 15 points higher. From this it was concluded that blacks are a genetically defective race. But more recent research has shown that the cause of the difference in IQ levels is not genes, but environment. And 15 points is a typical difference in the level of intelligence of privileged segments of the population and groups with limited rights, regardless of nationality. When they determined the level of intelligence of representatives of black and white groups, equal in status in society, education, income, in the number of children in the family, in the spiritual values ​​of their parents, it turned out that they had the same IQ.

And in Germany, they compared the intelligence of children from mixed marriages and children of ethnic Germans. And also in the same social groups there were no differences.

By the way

The American scientist J. R. Flynn calculated that in the second half of the 20th century the level of intelligence of all the inhabitants of the planet increased by about 20 points. We have become smarter. This is explained by the improvement of living conditions, the development of health care, a change in the structure of nutrition: we began to eat more proteins and vitamins ... And our rich information environment: the number of educated people is increasing, the general awareness of the population is growing.

Our reference

Philosophers under the intellect understand the ability to think and rationally know the world. Psychologists interpret this term more broadly: including not only logical thinking, but also the ability to learn quickly, find a way out of problem situations, and accumulate practical experience.

The Mormon Experience. The intellectual level of children from large families also depends very much on the education and social status of their parents. In educated families where children are taken care of, the level of intelligence of the first four is not lower than that of peers from one-child and small families. And only the fifth can be worse. It can be seen that our parents do not have enough strength for the fifth. AT large families, where the parents themselves do not shine with either intelligence or education, a decline in intelligence is already observed in the second child, not to mention all subsequent ones.

However, in large families of Mormons and Quakers, who traditionally take care of their children a lot, the intelligence of their heirs does not decrease, regardless of what number they were born in.

Oh sure. All of our traits are heritable to some degree—even those that are seemingly completely acquired, like tan and French*.

In order not to end the article right here, let's try to be specific about the question.

On what does intelligence depend more - on heredity or on upbringing?

All our traits depend partly on heredity and partly on environmental conditions. But the strength of the influence of the environment for different signs is different. For example, livestock breeders know that even from a completely outbred cow, you can get more milk due to good feeding and care (environmental influences). But it is impossible to increase the fat content of milk in the same way - this parameter almost completely depends on heredity.

Human intelligence, like the fat content of cow's milk, depends mainly on heredity. In 1996, the American Psychological Association rated the influence of heredity / upbringing on the level of intelligence as 75/25 **, in 2004, an analysis of several dozen scientific papers in this area issued 85/15. (Wikipedia, English)

Is genius inherited?

No, it is not transmitted. Genius is a unique, one-in-a-million combination of genes. During the formation of germ cells, a recombination of genes occurs, the unique combination is destroyed, and the children of geniuses turn out to be completely ordinary people.

This cruel rule hits hardest of all, again, on livestock breeders - the children of the most beautiful, most delicious and fat pigs are much inferior to their parents. - I wish they could be propagated vegetatively, like strawberries! It is for this (for the absolute preservation of the signs of a brilliant parent) that they are trying to introduce cloning into agricultural practice, but so far something has not been very successful.

Can smart parents have stupid kids?

Maybe why not. The combinations from the previous question are random - they work both for good and for bad. But. Out of a lot of randomness, statistics are born, and they tell us that smart parents, most likely, smart children will be born ***.

Looking at your blockhead, you begin to think that statistics have rested on him? - Perhaps at this moment you are the hero of the proverb “they don’t show half the work to a fool.” The child's brain is not yet formed; with age, the child will more and more resemble you in his intellect. (The same American association that gave us 75/25 for teens and older gave it 45/55 for kids.)

Is the older child really smarter than the next?

Everyone, probably, read in fairy tales that the first child in the family is a smart kid, the second is “this way and that”, and the third is a fool. The trick is that this is not only a fairy tale, but also a harsh reality: the fact of a decrease in the level of intelligence in the second and subsequent children is statistically confirmed and is not disputed by anyone now. (For the second children: yes, the older one is indeed smarter, but the difference is small, about three IQ points.)

In 2007, Norwegian scientists tried to explain this phenomenon and measured the intelligence of children in families where the first child died at an early age. From the point of view of biology, the eldest child in such families was the second, from the point of view of education - the first; it turned out that such children were smart, like the first ones. Consequently, the decrease in intelligence with the growth of the child's ordinal number is explained not by biological factors (heredity), but exclusively by upbringing ****.

Is intelligence passed from mother to sons?

This fairy tale in Russian-language sources walks like this: "The genes for intelligence are located on the X chromosome, which the boy receives only from his mother - therefore, the intelligence of the son depends on the mother," while referring to the research of British scientists. This is immediately alarming: it is well known that "British scientists" half the time means "an evil editor ordered us to urgently write a note, and we sucked a little bit out of our finger."

A search on British sites confirmed my fears. Yes, indeed, the boy receives the X chromosome only from the mother (he receives the Y chromosome from the father). The genes responsible for intelligence exist, there are several dozen of them, some of them may be on the X chromosome. Because of this, the child receives slightly more intelligence genes from the mother than from the father - say, 18 from the mother and 16 from the father (the numbers are sucked from the finger).

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* White-skinned people (redheads, freckles) cannot tan like everyone else; people who are receptive to languages, with the same training, will own French better than all the rest.
** Clarification: heritability shows the proportion of genotypic variation in phenotypic variation, i.e. takes the spread of a trait in a population and calculates which share of this spread make up genes, and what - the environment. The statement "the share of heredity in the formation of intelligence is 75%" is a simplification.
*** If parents helluva lot smart, then they need to read the paragraph about genius again.
**** a) parents deal with subsequent children less than with the first; b) the example for the first child is the parent, and for the second, the first child.

Issues related to the inheritance of the intellectual abilities of parents by a child have long been discussed by society. The giftedness of a small person primarily depends on the mother, since the harmonious development of the fetus is largely determined by her behavior and physical condition during pregnancy. However, the influence of genetic information is no less important.

On the transfer of the "mind gene": "for" ...

Back in the twentieth century, scientists studied a group of identical twins. It turned out that intellectual ability are only translated through the X chromosome. Therefore, giftedness is not transmitted to the son from the father, since in this case the child receives only the Y chromosome, which is in no way associated with talents. The general rules are as follows:
. if the father is gifted, the probability that his intellectual abilities will be transferred to his son is 0%, and to his daughter - 25%;
. with high IQs of the mother, the son can get all 100%, and the daughter - 75%;
. if both parents are talented, then the boy inherits the intellect of the mother, and the girl inherits the father (the male X chromosome suppresses the female).

Interestingly, the age of the parents also matters. A lady of 35-40 years old has a higher chance of giving birth to a talented child (as well as a mentally retarded one, by the way) than a woman of 18-20 years old. The chances of giving birth to a capable baby increase if a mature mother chooses a young man as a father.

... and "against"

However, there are diametrically opposed opinions in scientific circles. In particular, Wolf Kitses cited a selection of such facts in his diary:
. Identical twins raised together do not reach the maximum in mental development, as they are very focused on each other. However, if they are separated (or one child dies), the individual's IQ may increase by 10 points. This example clearly illustrates the important role of external developing, and by no means hereditary factors.
. It was found that, on average, the IQ level is highest for the youngest student in the class and the eldest son in the family (ceteris paribus). The youngest student often turns out to be the weakest, and therefore he has to develop more actively in order to “catch up and overtake” his classmates. As for the first-born, researchers believe that in families when raising children, there are intellectual niches that differ from each other. Usually the first child gets maximum developmental attention, which has a positive effect on his intellect.

In addition, scientists have determined that the population of developed countries is rapidly getting smarter. Experts believe that the intelligence of people is growing due to the emergence of new types of schools, expanding access to education, acquiring innovative ways of teaching, implementing the fruits of scientific progress, etc. All these moments make it possible to really interest talented children, develop them mental capacity.

Instead of an epilogue

It seems that having inherited the “mind genes” from their parents, children cannot grow up to be truly talented on their own. In order to develop the abilities of a gifted child, parents need to make a lot of efforts. Often a mother or father - geniuses and talents recognized in society - do not devote enough time to their children (due to their own employment). So from the kids subsequently grow personalities, so little resemblance to gifted parents. But geniuses are often raised by quite ordinary people who do not shine with special achievements and merits. Nevertheless, such seemingly inconspicuous individuals invest a lot of strength and health in the upbringing of their children, thanks to which the talent of the younger generation can be fully realized.

There are also such data from American physiologists: 2/3 of personality development depends on the natural abilities of the child, 1/3 - on the influence of upbringing and environment. So in addition to the hereditary level of intelligence, the success and susceptibility of the baby to learning is greatly influenced by his self-confidence, consciousness, friendliness, anxiety and many other factors. Hereditary abilities are just start-up capital that needs to be wisely disposed of.

Ecological parenting. Children: The results of scientific research suggest that the level of intelligence of a person is mainly determined by maternal, not paternal genes. This means that in order to give birth to a smart child, there is absolutely no need to “hunt” for Nobel laureates.

The results of scientific research suggest that the level of human intelligence is mainly determined by maternal, not paternal genes. This means that in order to give birth to a smart child, there is absolutely no need to “hunt” for Nobel laureates.

Mothers are more likely to pass on the genes responsible for mental abilities, since these genes are linked to the X chromosome, which in women is represented in two copies, while in men - in one, writes The Independent.

Moreover, as the researchers suggest, based on the latest scientific data, the “intelligent” genes received from the father can be automatically deactivated in the offspring.

The fact is that the genes responsible for intelligence are included in the category of genes controlled by sex, which behave differently depending on their origin. Some are active only if they are inherited from the father, and some only if they are inherited from the mother.

"Intellectual" genes just belong to the last variety.

As shown by studies conducted on genetically modified laboratory mice, individuals with an excessive dose of maternal genes grow large brains, and the body develops poorly. Conversely, in mice with an excess of paternal genes, the body grows large, but the brain remains small.

By studying the distribution of cells containing only maternal and only paternal genes in the brains of mice, scientists found that cells with paternal genes predominate in the ancient limbic system of the brain and are responsible for such basic things as sex, food and aggression. At the same time, not a single "father" cell was found in the cerebral cortex, which is responsible for the most advanced cognitive functions - thinking, speech, memory, and planning one's actions.

The fact that these data are also true for humans was confirmed by researchers from the University of Glasgow (UK). Every year since 1994, they have tested the mental abilities of nearly 13,000 young people aged 14 to 22. The analysis showed that even taking into account many factors, from the level of education to the socio-economic status of the participants in the study, the most accurate way to predict their intellectual level is by the IQ level of their mothers.

At the same time, science says that mental abilities are determined by heredity only by 40-60%. Everything else is connected with the external conditions in which a person grows and develops, but this part of the contribution to the intelligence of the child depends to a large extent on the mother.

As researchers from the University of Washington (USA) found out, it is the close emotional connection between mother and child that is the key factor for the normal development of certain areas of his brain. Scientists analyzed how a group of mothers communicate with their children for seven years after their birth.

It turned out that in children who received good emotional and intellectual support from their mothers at the age of 13, the size of the hippocampus - an area of ​​the brain associated with memory, learning and stress response - was 10% larger than in those children who were kept by their mothers. on distance.

This will be of interest to you:

A strong bond with the mother provides the child with a sense of security and freedom to explore the world scientists say. Loyal, attentive mothers help the child overcome all difficulties and realize their potential. At the same time, dads also do not need to despair - they pass on to their children, both with the help of genes and participating in their upbringing, many other important qualities that help develop not only the intellect, but also the personality as a whole. published

Moms all over the world now have a great reason to praise themselves for the intelligence of their children. According to a new study, children most often inherit intelligence from their mothers.

Genes responsible for intelligence

Common sense dictates the logical conclusion that intelligence is inherited by a child from both parents (and sometimes this is actually the case), but most often the genes located on the X chromosome, usually inherited from the mother, are responsible for the mental development of the baby.

The results of the study clearly show that certain genes act differently depending on whether they are inherited from the mother or from the father.

The genes responsible for intelligence and predisposition to learning are located on the X chromosome. Because women have two X chromosomes and men have only one, the mother is twice as likely to inherit intelligence as the father. According to the study, the genes responsible for intelligence, inherited on the father's X chromosome, are most often deactivated.

Results of previous studies

If you're still not ready to believe the results of the new study, it's worth taking a look at the results collected over several decades.

As early as 1994, representatives of the Medical Research Council began interviewing people between the ages of 14 and 22. To date, researchers have interviewed about 13,000 people. After an intelligence quotient (IQ) test, in the best possible way predict the outcome, after education level and socioeconomic status, proved to be the intelligence of the mother.

Social factors

In addition to scientific research, there is also a social theory that explains why mothers are responsible for the intelligence of their children. According to statistics, it is mothers who spend more time with children and are responsible for their upbringing and environment just at the time when the child’s mental activity is actively developing and developing.

Most often, smart mothers raise smart children, artistically gifted parents raise artists, and musically gifted children most often grow up in musical families.

However, do not write off dads. Scientists estimate that less than 50% of human intelligence is due to genetic inheritance. About 40-60% of intelligence is formed in children due to external factors.