INTELLIGENCE - NATURE AND NURTURE
Created | Updated Jan 28, 2002
INTELLIGENCE - NATURE AND NURTURE
<P>There has been a long standing argument between the importance of nature and nurture in the shaping of a person. Television documentaries show identical twins and marvel at their similarities and differences, whether brought up together or rarely, separated at birth. But it seems few frank conclusions are drawn from such interesting case studies, as television focuses on the human social side rather than addressing the fundamentals of intelligence.</P>
<P>It is widely believed that the programming for every subtlest physical attribute is ours from birth. However, because intelligence takes time to become measurable, it is not clear whether it is so pre-determined. The IQ test which attempts to measure intelligence accurately, actually measures the ability to perform certain tasks. The performance of these tasks is dependant on having learned to apply your intelligence, through careful nurturing/stimulating of your abilities. It assumes that all candidates have been almost equally stimulated and motivated to learn .A child who had been left un-stimulated would probably not be able to take the test at all. This would not mean however, that he had no intelligence.</P>
<P>The answer lies in pre-set ability levels. Consider if each person is born with a genetically pre-set maximum level of attainment for any of the myriad of abilities a person may have. Two children with different pre-set abilities will both reach say ten percent of maximum ability, after two years of equal study. However these gains are not the same. If the first child has a maximum ability of one thousand, then the score at this time is one hundred. If the second child has a lower maximum ability of six hundred, then the attained score will be sixty. The teacher/observer will notice the first child finding the work easy and the second child struggling with some aspects. This assumes an equal level of enthusiasm on the part of the children. </P>
<P>What this means is that the first child will learn faster than the second. It doesn't mean that the child with the higher ability will be the most accomplished however. If a child with a lower ability has more motivation and stimulation, then they may have reached perhaps twenty percent of their ability by this time. This would mean the score in the case of the second child might be twenty percent of six hundred and therefore ahead of the first child. However in the case of such a large difference in ability, if the first child continues to study then the scores will eventually cross each other. Very few people come close to their theoretical maximum. If a person studies/practices very hard for many years they will begin to approach it, but gains will slow down exponentially. </P>
<P>One of the conclusions of this theory is that we are born with many abilities which can be nurtured to attain high level's of achievement. So both of the sides of the argument are fulfilled, we need both nature and nurture to shape our skills and thought processes. Intelligence is something we are born with however and which cannot be accurately measured. Aptitude tests have tried to shape our lives and careers, but again such tests depend on pre-stimulation of the ability in question. This leaves some people with unexplored talents, under-achieving because they are not fully utilising their greatest abilities.</P>
<P>There has been a long standing argument between the importance of nature and nurture in the shaping of a person. Television documentaries show identical twins and marvel at their similarities and differences, whether brought up together or rarely, separated at birth. But it seems few frank conclusions are drawn from such interesting case studies, as television focuses on the human social side rather than addressing the fundamentals of intelligence.</P>
<P>It is widely believed that the programming for every subtlest physical attribute is ours from birth. However, because intelligence takes time to become measurable, it is not clear whether it is so pre-determined. The IQ test which attempts to measure intelligence accurately, actually measures the ability to perform certain tasks. The performance of these tasks is dependant on having learned to apply your intelligence, through careful nurturing/stimulating of your abilities. It assumes that all candidates have been almost equally stimulated and motivated to learn .A child who had been left un-stimulated would probably not be able to take the test at all. This would not mean however, that he had no intelligence.</P>
<P>The answer lies in pre-set ability levels. Consider if each person is born with a genetically pre-set maximum level of attainment for any of the myriad of abilities a person may have. Two children with different pre-set abilities will both reach say ten percent of maximum ability, after two years of equal study. However these gains are not the same. If the first child has a maximum ability of one thousand, then the score at this time is one hundred. If the second child has a lower maximum ability of six hundred, then the attained score will be sixty. The teacher/observer will notice the first child finding the work easy and the second child struggling with some aspects. This assumes an equal level of enthusiasm on the part of the children. </P>
<P>What this means is that the first child will learn faster than the second. It doesn't mean that the child with the higher ability will be the most accomplished however. If a child with a lower ability has more motivation and stimulation, then they may have reached perhaps twenty percent of their ability by this time. This would mean the score in the case of the second child might be twenty percent of six hundred and therefore ahead of the first child. However in the case of such a large difference in ability, if the first child continues to study then the scores will eventually cross each other. Very few people come close to their theoretical maximum. If a person studies/practices very hard for many years they will begin to approach it, but gains will slow down exponentially. </P>
<P>One of the conclusions of this theory is that we are born with many abilities which can be nurtured to attain high level's of achievement. So both of the sides of the argument are fulfilled, we need both nature and nurture to shape our skills and thought processes. Intelligence is something we are born with however and which cannot be accurately measured. Aptitude tests have tried to shape our lives and careers, but again such tests depend on pre-stimulation of the ability in question. This leaves some people with unexplored talents, under-achieving because they are not fully utilising their greatest abilities.</P>
