Is Genius Genetic?

Intelligence and talent may be something we're born with, but there's evidence that nurture is at least as important as nature in determining genius. Learn more in this episode of BrainStuff, based on this article: https://science.howstuffworks.com/life/genetic/genius-genetic.htm

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
Welcome to Brainstuff, a production of iHeartRadio, Hey brain Stuff
Lauren Volgebaum here, what does it take to be considered
a genius? Is a genius a remarkable artist who moves
our spirits, a scientist who changes the way we understand
the world, or a student who scores off the charts

(00:23):
on every aptitude test. Okay, tests can be biased, in
can be gained, But consider those other varieties of geniuses,
people with amazing musical, artistic, athletic, and intellectual talents. Is
genius nature or nurture? Were the Mozarts and monaise of
the world born with their genius or did their environment

(00:46):
shape who they became? Genetics does appear to have a
big role in our intelligence and talents. Researchers at Washington
University School of Medicine in Saint Louis have identified a
specific genes that may help manage our skill level for
organizing things logically. And although this is just one part
of the mystery between our genes and intelligence, the discovery

(01:10):
certainly warrants some thought. This type of discovery may help
explain why early studies in regard to intelligence seem to
favor genetics over environment when it comes to IQ scores.
Those studies showed that even though some adoptive children grew
up in an environment completely separate from their biological parents,
their IQs were more aligned with their biological parents than

(01:32):
that of the adoptive parents. But that's not the end
of the story. That possible gene linked to organizing things
logically is one piece of a much larger puzzle that
goes for intelligence and other talents as well. Most of
the time, when society claims someone as a genius, it's
for multiple traits personality, cognitive capacity, motivation, all working together.

(01:59):
Even though these loved traits have a basis in genetics,
it doesn't mean that they're set in stone. After all,
one trait may require a collaboration of multiple genes. According
to cognitive psychologist Scott Barry Kaufman, a hereditary advantage for
a trait that might lead us to great things isn't
sure to express itself. Genes develop on their own on

(02:20):
their own timeline. That means someone could be a child
prodigy if everything comes together early on, but genius might
not emerge until later in life, and it could even wane.
This is where genetics and environment collide. For anyone who
doesn't hit the genetic jackpot. How much hope can environmental

(02:42):
influences provide a lot? It turns out, especially when it
comes to superior performance. A per psychologist Kay Anders Ericson.
Ericson found that even though our society's high performers, such
as Olympic athletes and first chair musicians seem born to
their roles, we can be assured that knowledge, training, and

(03:03):
practice are at play. In essence, they've earned their genius
titles and set themselves apart through good old fashioned hard work.
A Creating a setting conducive to hard work and developing
a genius may start with a person's home environment. A
socioeconomic status appears to be an underlying factor here, but

(03:23):
even in the most loving and encouraging home, limited access
to resources, educational programs, and even proper nutrition can be
daunting challenges. There's a concept in sociology called the Matthew effect,
named for a biblical passage a Matthew twenty five twenty
nine that describes how a person with abundance will continue
to accrue abundance. Its biblical meaning has been debated, but

(03:48):
sociologically speaking, the Matthew effect means that people tend to
gain success of whatever kind proportionally to whatever resources they
started out with, So in talking about genius, the ideas
that someone with even a minor natural ability has a
better chance of growing that ability than a person without it.
This involves another psychological concept called the multiplier effect, which

(04:13):
takes that inkling of ability and multiplies its strength exponentially
to design an environment conducive to fostering it. For example,
if a child shows a small amount of athletic promise,
maybe they can kick a ball farther than their pals.
That child might start kicking the ball more often, and
might hang out with other kids who can kick a

(04:34):
ball and join a soccer team. The adults in the
child's life might applaud their success, leading to even more
practice and more achievement. On the other hand, a kid
who falls down the first time they kick a ball
might be picked last for the team and be too
discouraged to give it another try. So neither genetics nor

(04:56):
environment appear to work alone, and you can't misscessarily predict
a genius from birth. Who knows when and at what
point your genius might develop? After all, what if the
reason that the child fell the first time they tried
to kick the ball wasn't because of a lack of skill,
but rather slippery grass. Today's episode is based on the

(05:20):
article is Genius Genetic on how stuffworks dot com, written
by Elizabeth Sprouse. Brain Stuff is production of iHeartRadio in
partnership with how Stuffworks dot Com and is produced by
Tyler Klang. Four more podcasts my heart Radio, visit the
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