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Why smart friends and families make people smarter
Certainly our friends, acquaintances, siblings, colleagues and partners have some influence on our behavior and our views. But do these people directly affect our intelligence? Researchers have now found that our intelligence quotient (IQ) can be increased in adulthood when we spend our time with intelligent people.
Our intelligence does not seem to be fixed. It would therefore be possible for our closer environment to influence human intelligence. Physicians have now discovered in an investigation that our so-called IQ can increase by a few points if we surround ourselves with intelligent people. The stimulation by intellectual colleagues, partners, friends or family members increases our intelligence. The results of the study will be published in a book by Professor James Flynn of the University of Otago next month.
Certainly, each of us has heard in his life once, that one should choose his dealings exactly. Friends, acquaintances, work colleagues and family members have a great influence on our actions and our views. Researchers have now discovered that our environment can even increase or decrease our IQ. (Image: tai111 / fotolia.com) People around you can make them smarter but also dumber
A widespread notion assumes that intelligence is "static" from the age of 18 years. Scientific evidence suggests that intelligence is largely determined by genes. Of course, environmental factors such as education and nutrition also play an important role in our IQ, but IQ levels stabilize at the age of 18. A new study now tried to refute this assumption. The physicians were actually successful. They managed to discover that our intelligence is influenced by our environment. The IQ can thereby rise or fall, even at an older age. People can "upgrade" their own intelligence over the course of life if they surround themselves with the right people, explains author James Flynn of the University of Otago in New Zealand to the magazine "Tech Times".
The brain is like a muscle, even in old age it can be trained and strengthened
The brain is like a muscle. The more you use it, the stronger it gets. Decisive here is the intellectual stimulation of other people, explains the physician. However, the opposite is possible. If people are not intellectually challenged in their homes or workplaces, the IQ may drop, warns the author. Professor Flynn has analyzed US intelligence tests from the last 65 years and correlated the findings with the age of the humans. This allowed him to create new tables that included IQ and age. He found out that the cognitive quality of a family changes the IQ of all members, especially the intelligence of the children. This quality could either increase or even decrease the IQ, depending on the intelligence of the siblings and parents, explains Professor Flynn.
Impact of clever family members on the IQ
A clever ten-year-old child with brothers and sisters of average intelligence will have a five to ten-point disadvantage in IQ compared to a similar kid with equally smart siblings, the experts say. However, children with a lower IQ could gain six to eight points if they had clever siblings and received special educational treatment. Professor Flynn's book "Can Your Family Make You Smarter?" Will be published next month. The book also concludes that although genetics and early life experiences affect about 80 percent of how smart we become. The remaining 20 percent are linked to our lifestyle. This means that people around them can increase or decrease their IQ by up to 10 points, the researcher explains.
Tips for increasing IQ and explaining the Flynn effect
You can change your IQ yourself, through your environment and your own efforts. The best way to increase your IQ is making friends with smart people, finding an intellectually challenging job, and marrying a smart person, suggests Professor Flynn. The psychologist became famous in the professional world, with evidence of a long-term increase in the intelligence of the population. This phenomenon is therefore called the Flynn effect. The physician noted that since 1930, the average IQ has increased by three points per decade. It is believed that this is due to a combination of factors, including improving education, nutrition and an increasingly complex world that more intellectually stimulates people, explains Professor Flynn. (As)