Question: does a child's intelligence depend on the parent's genes

Jacquie Oliwa answered on 6 Jul 2017:

Hi Nish..
Interesting question, and as a (smart) woman I am tempted to perpetuate the rumour that intellignece is determined by the mother 😉
Jokes aside..

Inheritance of intelligence is complex…and there are a lot of debates that you may come across, the commonest one being nature (genetics) vs nurture (environment). There is no one gene for intelligence. It is probably a collection of genes that might give you more ‘brain power’ but once again it depends on what you do with it, or how the society you are in influences you e.g. is the pursuit of education encouraged?

It’s also important to recognise that human intelligence is highly influenced by stimuli during fetal development, infancy and childhood. So things like maternal infections or drug use during pregnancy; malnutriton and poor stimulation during infancy all add to influence whether one turns out to be intelligent or not..But there’s another thing: intelligence only marks a starting point. What happens later on in life is determined by two other factors: talent and hard work. And they sometimes cancel each other out.

So the answer to your question is that there is really there’s no strong evidence, and furthermore, scientists can’t even agree on a single definition of what intelligence is!
Best wishes,
Jacquie