Next time you raise an eyebrow at the views of your partner, friend, sibling or colleague, remember they could be helping to make you smarter.New research shows that intelligence is not fixed but can be boosted throughout adulthood by family members, bright mates and intellectually stretching careers.Stimulating households where people talk, make jokes and challenge each other can boost IQ levels by several points, as can jobs that mentally energise employees.
The study challenges the commonly held notion that intelligence is ‘static’ by the age of about 18.Current scientific consensus suggests that intelligence is controlled by genes, with environmental factors such as schooling and nutrition playing a part up to this age. After this point, IQ scores stabilise.But James Flynn, Emeritus professor of political studies and psychology at the University of Otago in New Zealand, argues that people can ‘upgrade’ their own intelligence throughout their lives.He believes intellectual stimulation from others is crucial as the ‘brain seems to be rather like a muscle – the more you use it, the stronger it gets’.
However, the reverse is also true – so people who share a home or workplace with the intellectually challenged risk seeing their IQ levels nosedive as a result. Professor Flynn analysed US intelligence tests from the last 65 years and correlated the results with people’s ages. This enabled him to compile new IQ ‘age tables’.
He found the ‘cognitive quality’ of a family alters the IQs of all members, especially children. It can ‘lift’ or hold them back, depending on the ‘gap between their brightness and that of their siblings and parents’. A bright ten-year-old with brothers and sisters of average intelligence will suffer a five to ten point IQ disadvantage compared to a similar child with equally bright siblings, the ‘age tables’ revealed. However, children with a low IQ could gain six to eight points by having brighter siblings and special educational treatment to help pull them up. Professor Flynn, whose book, Does Your Family Make You marter? comes out next month, also concluded that although genetics and early life experiences determine about 80 percent of intelligence, the remaining 20 percent is linked to lifestyle. This means that people can raise their IQ, or allow it to fall, by ten points or more.
Professor Flynn suggests that the best way to boost IQ levels is to socialise with bright friends, find an intellectually challenging job and marry someone cleverer.
The study challenges the commonly held notion that intelligence is ‘static’ by the age of about 18.Current scientific consensus suggests that intelligence is controlled by genes, with environmental factors such as schooling and nutrition playing a part up to this age. After this point, IQ scores stabilise.But James Flynn, Emeritus professor of political studies and psychology at the University of Otago in New Zealand, argues that people can ‘upgrade’ their own intelligence throughout their lives.He believes intellectual stimulation from others is crucial as the ‘brain seems to be rather like a muscle – the more you use it, the stronger it gets’.
However, the reverse is also true – so people who share a home or workplace with the intellectually challenged risk seeing their IQ levels nosedive as a result. Professor Flynn analysed US intelligence tests from the last 65 years and correlated the results with people’s ages. This enabled him to compile new IQ ‘age tables’.
He found the ‘cognitive quality’ of a family alters the IQs of all members, especially children. It can ‘lift’ or hold them back, depending on the ‘gap between their brightness and that of their siblings and parents’. A bright ten-year-old with brothers and sisters of average intelligence will suffer a five to ten point IQ disadvantage compared to a similar child with equally bright siblings, the ‘age tables’ revealed. However, children with a low IQ could gain six to eight points by having brighter siblings and special educational treatment to help pull them up. Professor Flynn, whose book, Does Your Family Make You marter? comes out next month, also concluded that although genetics and early life experiences determine about 80 percent of intelligence, the remaining 20 percent is linked to lifestyle. This means that people can raise their IQ, or allow it to fall, by ten points or more.
Professor Flynn suggests that the best way to boost IQ levels is to socialise with bright friends, find an intellectually challenging job and marry someone cleverer.
