Think You're Smart? A New Study Finds You're Probably Right

Ever wonder why certain people seem to be consistently sure they are going to ace tests, and then do? A new study claims that these people's confidence is not only as determining a factor in their academic success, but is also genetic.

According to Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic, a psychologist working out of Goldsmiths University in London, his study of grade school children with excellent grades showed that they all rated their intellectual abilities very highly, regardless of their actual intelligence. Stranger still is that the result is also independent of the environment in which the children were raised, making the outstanding grades seemingly independent of both nature and nurture.

However, nature was found to come into play, in that the confidence felt by the children in their intellectual abilities was determined to be inherited from their parents. This confidence gene was found to account for half of the children's self-perceived intellectual prowess, whereas environment could be figured into the other half.

The study was conducted by looking at 3843 pairs of twins, of which 1877 were fraternal. By studying each set's perception of their own intellectual abilities, Chamorro-Premuzic could distinguish easily which must be genetically-based, and which could be environmentally-based, since the fraternal twins do not share identical genetic information.

Trying to find a way to determine a person's intrinsic intelligence has long been a challenge to psychologists. The most common way has traditionally been to give the person a so-called IQ test. Developed in 1904 by a French scientist commissioned with finding a way to empirically differentiate between children's intelligence, the original IQ (Intelligence Quotient) test was referred to as the Benet Scale. The Benet Scale believed that, by asking children to copy patterns or put objects in order, one could tell what later would be referred to as their Intelligence Quotient, as a function of their age. The IQ itself was determined by taking the ratio of "mental age" to chronological age. For example, if 70% of 8-year-olds could perform a task well, then that task would be appropriate for that "mental age." The average was deemed to be a perfect match-up (IQ = 100), and scoring higher meant that your "mental age" was greater than your chronological age. For instance, an 8-year-old passing 10-year-old tests would have an IQ of (10 / 8) x 100 = 125.

It is as yet uncertain if the gene in play would be one or many, linked to intelligence and/or personality. It is also uncertain how this will affect the increasing skepticism by many about the accuracy and utility of IQ tests. IQ tests have long been accused of being biased, unfairly testing the abilities of minorities, women, and people from foreign cultures."Confidence as important as IQ in exam success"

http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn17187-confidence-as-important-as-iq-in-exam-success.html?DCMP=OTC-rss&nsref=online-news

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"IQ Test: Where Does It Come From?"

http://iq-test.learninginfo.org/iq01.htm

iq-test.learninginfo.org