Thursday, December 17, 2020

Can you inherit intelligence?


believe it or not, there are people that believe that intelligence can be inherited, as to why they get bad grades they see this "inherited intelligence" as the answer, but is this really true? or is it just an excuse to not learn?. first, we need to know what intelligence is. intelligence is a concept created by man that is used to "measure" academic success, which is not the same as success in life. some consider that intelligence is what you learn in school, others that is what you learn outside and how you apply it to your life; and well it's actually a little bit of both. there are know multiple aspects of intelligence that are recognized, for example, emotional intelligence. it is also said that knowledge is useless if you don't know how to apply it. and this knowledge of application comes with experience. After we have seen how broad the concept of intelligence is, is it heritable? the answer is no. you can, under no circumstance, inherit experience, and as we saw, intelligence also requires experience. 

I am a total believer that you do not inherit intelligence, you either work to acquire the knowledge and experience on how to apply it, or you decide not to, no genes involved.

The Truth About Intelligence: Is It Genetically Inherited Or Earned? (

Is Intelligence Inheritable or Environmental |


  1. I thought about intelligence being inherited, but I did not figure it would specifically be inherited. I do sometimes see a trend in certain traits in children and their parents, so I thought it did have something to do with inheritance as children often can think like their parents. I guess this is something that can continue to be tested.

  2. I never assumed for intelligence to be inherited, because like you, I also believe that you work to acquire the knowledge you have. Nonetheless, this was an extremely interesting read!