Nature versus Nurture

An interesting aspect of intelligence is the fact that we are all born with different levels of it. That sounds like an open door, but where intelligence comes from has been at the center of much debate throughout the years. This terrain is what we call the nature versus nurture debate. Is intelligence determined more by genes or more by environment?

Another, more precise, way of putting it is, are the differences we see in intelligence between individuals more the result of the differences between their genes, or more the result of the differences between their environments? This discussion turns out to be without end since the two dimensions are inseparable. If you compare two people who grew up in very different environments, it makes sense that any differences in intelligence have to do with the differences between the environments. If you compare two people who grew up in exactly the same environment, logic dictates that any differences in intelligence are related to the differences between their genes.

Hereto, the concept of heritability comes into play. Heritability is the degree to which variation in a particular trait, like intelligence…