Study shows I'm smarter than my brothers

As the eldest of three, I'm delighted to hype a robust new Norwegian study (explained very well here in the New York Times) showing pretty conclusively that the I.Q.'s of oldest siblings are, on average, three points higher than their younger siblings. I've been telling Mom and Dad this for years -- but they won't listen!

In all seriousness, the study is profoundly important for one big reason. It's not because this huge population study (241,310 people) reveals anything about particular individual families (in our family, the youngest is the smartest). And it's not because it helps us understand how birth order might affect intelligence. Rather, it's simply because it's definitive scholarship helps chip away at the myth that we are all born with a certain intelligence. Intelligence, like all complex behavioral traits, clearly has strong genetic influences, but is ultimately a process, not a thing; like personality, it's a consequence of millions of tiny influential events from the realms of nutrition, parenting, play, sibling relationships, schooling, media exposure, and random happenings. The process starts at conception and never stops.

(This is my first post in while -- I'm still in the middle of wrestling with some of the actual content in the book, but hope to return soon to more regular posts.)

Comments

[Flowingly]

Hi, interesting site & newsletter
Maybe you'll like Robert Dilts' "Strategies of Genius" volumes. VERY practical.

Amazon link here:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/search/ref=sr_adv_b/?search-alias=stripbooks&field-keywords=&author=dilts&select-author=field-author-like&title=genius&select-title=field-title&subject=&select-subject=field-subject&field-publisher=&field-isbn=&node=&field-binding=&field-age=&field-language=&field-dateop=before&field-datemod=0&field-dateyear=2009&chooser-sort=rank%21%2Bsalesrank&mysubmitbutton1.x=0&mysubmitbutton1.y=0

Best regards :)
Flowingly

PS: also, I really like your site's comment posting features: preview, correct, "Email Address: (Not displayed with comment.)" . Good work.

[Jan Newton]

I don't know if you reported on this article or not - I checked your posts from January but didn't see it mentioned, but you might have mentioned it later. Anyway, it's from the Wall Street Journal on January 19, 2007 "How Thinking Can Change the Brain" by Sharon Begley. You can find the transcribed article here http://www.dalailama.com/news.112.htm.

I discovered the photocopy on my desk earlier today when I was cleaning; I'd copied it out of the newspaper (we get it at the office) and added it to my "future research" pile, LOL!

If I read it correctly, the basic premise and early evidence seems to indicate that "mind" - that is - thought - can actually change the way our brains are structured. Seems to tie into your research.

Jan

[Sam Koritz]

From http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/06/22/SIBLINGS.TMP "Your older sibling really is smarter, study says
More time with adults a likely factor, some say":

"Frank Sulloway, a UC Berkeley professor and birth order expert who wrote an accompanying commentary for Science, noted that the difference in IQ between the oldest child and siblings was a measly 2.3 points."

Two points? Very small beans. Consider: people who study this stuff claim that the difference in IQ between ethnic groups can be dozens of points.

[LemmusLemmus]

"the myth that we are all born with a certain intelligence. Intelligence"

I'm sure you can find some bloke in a pub who says this, but has any scientist ever claimed 100% genetic influence on IQ?

If anyone claims this, it is of course wrong - genetics do not explain all differences in IQ between individuals, which implies there must be some environmental influences. But do you have cites for the whole laundry list of factors that you give? As far as I am aware, the nutrition bit is uncontroversial, but for the others... In particular, Harris (1998: 37) says parenting does not influence IQ beyond adolescence.

Reference

Harris, J.R., 1998: The Nurture Assumption. New York et al.: The Free Press