Nature vs. Nurture: Human Intelligence

Intelligence is the single most important contributing factor for humanity's rise to the most dominant species on the planet. This trait distinguishes humans from other animals because of how much greater our capacity is for it. However, the question remains whether or not our high level of intelligence is governed more by our heredity or by our environment. In the Lilienfeld text, three types of studies are described and they are family studies, adoption studies, and twin studies. These studies are very useful in determining differences in genetics and environmental factors. These studies have been used with various intelligence tests in order to determine correlations between people with similar genetics or environment. This allows scientists to analyze the relationship and make hypotheses however in this particular case no conclusion about whether nature or nurture plays a bigger role in the development of intelligence. In my opinion genetics plays a bigger role as it sets the bar for a person's intelligence level as well as determines the ease with which environment can achieve intellectual potential.