Is a person’s intelligence innate and unchanging, or something that can stagnate or grow depending upon the environment in which it is nurtured? Few scientific controversies have been fought more fiercely.
Intelligence is “Formed through an interaction between genetic endowment and environment,” and that education “Can be a fundamental factor in the environment’s influence.”Increasingly, it makes less sense to think of genes and environments as independent causes,” writes a research team led by Penn State sociologist David Baker.
Writing, appropriately enough, in the journal Intelligence, Baker and his team describe a three-pronged study that finds consistent evidence of the impact of education on intelligence.
“Pre-school cognitive endowments” were a non-factor, meaning the instruction raised intelligence across the board, regardless of innate abilities.
“But at the same time, there is increasing evidence that such development is inherently tethered to one’s immediate environment, shapes the brain in specific ways.
Their study suggests that intelligence is “Formed through an interaction between genetic endowment and environment,” and that education “Can be a fundamental factor in the environment’s influence.”
Originally published at Cogly.
