Next time you raise an eyebrow at the views of your partner, friend, brother/sister or colleague, remember they could be helping to make you become smarter. New research shows that intelligence isn’t fixed but can be developed throughout adulthood by family members, bright friends and intellectually improving careers.
Stimulating households where people talk, make jokes and challenge each other can raise IQ levels by several points, as can jobs that mentally encourage employees. The study challenges the commonly held belief that intelligence is fixed by the age of about 18.
Current scientific common view suggests intelligence is controlled by genes, with environmental factors like schooling and nutrition playing a part up to this age. After this point, IQ scores remain stable.
But James Flynn, professor of psychology at Otago University in New Zealand, argues people can improve their own intelligence throughout their lives. He believes intellectual stimulation from other people is important as the brain seems to be rather like a muscle—the more you use it, the stronger it gets. However, the opposite 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 analyzed US intelligence tests from the last 65 years and created new IQ age tables. According to the age tables, 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 brothers and sisters. However, children with a low IQ could gain six to eight points by having brighter brothers and sisters and special educational treatment to help pull them up.
Professor Flynn also concluded that although genetics and early life experiences determine about 80% of intelligence, the remaining 20% is linked to lifestyle. This means people can raise their IQ, or allow it to fall, by ten points or more. Professor Flynn suggests the best way to develop IQ levels is to meet with bright friends and find an intellectually challenging job.
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