We all know that one kid in the class that would basically answer every question. Everyone would make an assumption that kid is smart. Many people would think that one kid was born smart. Is it really though or based on environment? There is also kids who did not excel well in elementary and middle school and now all of a sudden excel pretty well in high school classes.
“Intelligence is a complex trait influenced by genetic and environmental factors”
Intelligence comes in many forms and measured in different ways. It is mainly measured by the IQ test. An intelligence quotient (IQ) is a total score derived from a set of standardized tests or subsets designed to assess human intelligence. An IQ of 100 or higher is pretty normal for most people. An IQ of 120 or higher is superior or gifted. Below an IQ of 100 are usually people who have Down syndrome. Usually the child will inherit both of the parent’s IQ. It will show how much the child can obtain and limit information depending. There is also another form of intelligence which is emotional intelligence which is mostly a skill that most people should know how to use naturally. Emotional intelligence also known as EQ and IQ are like the most basic and important parts to develop intelligence overall. The thing is if one of these gets negatively affected, it will also affect the other and vice versa.
Emotional intelligence is basically how to control and express our emotions at the right time and maintaining relationships. There are five components of EQ which is self-awareness, self-regulation, internal motivation, empathy and social skills. Self-awareness is when a person understands his or her own emotion and how to correct the emotions in different surroundings. Self-regulation is having control of emotional impulses and moods. Internal motivation is about a desire in ones' inner self and being curious to succeed in life. Empathy is having the ability to understand other people's emotion. Social skills are the main building blocks of emotional intelligence because it would improve in all the factors that I mentioned previously. Without these factors or skills, one could have a serious emotional trauma and personality disorders.
There is another main branch that I mentioned which is intelligence quotient (IQ). The IQ test measure a person's overall verbal and nonverbal areas. The test cover 4 areas which are verbal comprehension, perceptual learning, working memory and processing speed. All these areas are mainly affected by environment and genetics. For environment, one example would be how parents value education for their child. Cultures and pollution can also affect intelligence in a negative or positive way. For genetics, most of the time would be premature birth because the brain isn't fully if a pregnancy last less than 37 weeks. In some scientific research, premature babies are slightly smarter than mature babies but scientists has not confirmed about this case. DNA also played a role for intelligence because scientists know that there is one certain gene from one parent that can influence intelligence. The problem is that this case was not confirmed because we don't know which parent or type of gene would mainly affect intelligence. Genetics and DNA are complex matter that only few scientists would understand and figure out which gene affects intelligence. One example anyone could easily figure out is Down Syndrome which affected intelligence because of an extra chromosome. All we know is that IQ is most likely hereditary from one of the parents due to certain genes playing a role. One thing scientists are unclear about is that IQ can help or not help school's performance.
Environmental factors can easily affect how a person's intelligence and this would include many things. One would be how the child lives in his or her home environment. Does the child feel safe or comfortable in their home? If the child doesn't feel safe at home, it could affect how he or she learns in the classroom because the child would only care about one thing safety, not education even if the child learns something, he or she would most likely probably forget about it because of other issues in the home. Is there drugs or abuse in the home? These are most likely the common things that may children face today which starts from the parents. If a parent start alcohol abuse, eventually the child of that parent would also start it which would affect his intelligence by having hard time concentrating or comprehending the information. It is really important for any child to have a good environment because it can affect their whole entire life emotionally, mentally and physically. Also if you are facing any type of abuse or trauma, please call Child Protective Services.
Nutrition also plays an important role in intelligence. Every time, when you go on to the internet, somewhere it would talk about brain foods or superpower brain food. These things are actually real. You see our brain is also an organ which needs energy. Without energy, our brain wouldn't function properly causing to get incorrect answers or sometimes brain farts. It is important to have good nutrition meaning no junk foods. Junk foods especially high sugar foods will give you only a boost of energy but then immediately you get very tired which can affect how you think. That is why every time before a test, your teacher would always tell you to get a good night rest and eat a good breakfast.
Mental illnesses can also affect intelligence and how we think. As of today, most people especially in teenagers has been facing depression and anxiety. These can really take a toll on your intelligence because it will affect not only in school and how you think but will also have difficulties on daily-lives task. The reason why it will affect your overall intelligence, because it will take over your emotional intelligence. You see intelligence has two main branches that I previously mentioned that would develop your overall intelligence which is a good thing. The problem is that if one type is affected, all your other types and branches will also get affected because that types aids in with the other factors. Emotional intelligence aids with many other types of intelligence which makes a person who he or she is.
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