Is IQ malleable?

[milk]

Jordan Peterson is pretty adamant that it isn't. Is he right?

 

[retroactive]

its possible that you can lower it buy being in poor health, having terrible nutrition, or low thyroid. If you improve those things it could improve to your true baseline I suppose

 

[schultz]

I think it probably is to a degree.

 

[PxD]

This is a good question and researchers have been trying for years to figure out what portion of an IQ score is innate, fixed intelligence and what part is malleable or due to environmental factors, or even test-taking skill. Most research in this area indicates that the fixed piece, known as constant g, accounts for about 80% of IQ.

 

[Nemo]

Jordan Peterson is pretty adamant that it isn't. Is he right?

Ray says it's decreased by stress.

If you can recover from stress, and we know you can, you can recover from stress-caused low IQ.

I think half of IQ is sheer boldness and self confidence. You simply have the confidence to make a mark on the IQ test without second-guessing yourself.

I remember reading a study on goldfish way back where they actually tracked changes in the neurons of goldfish as they became the dominant fish or got knocked out of top spot. The dominant goldfish had higher goldfish IQs.

When I was studying the biochemistry of memory, it became clear that you could make a planaria worm or sea slug or rat stupid if you used negative consequences, like electric shock, in a maze. Test subjects that got treats instead got super great at learning mazes fast. They looked like they loved figuring out mazes.

I wouldn't let some clown defeat you with IQ nonsense.

 

[Energizer]

Ray's 2012 answer to this question

 

[Spud]

You can decrease it but not increase it. It’s related to brain structure and number of astrocytes.

 

[Nemo]

You can decrease it but not increase it. It’s related to brain structure and number of astrocytes.

Everyone has plenty sufficient astrocytes to increase their IQ. And brain structure changes with experience, good and bad.

 

[Spud]

Genius’ brains have been studied and found to have greater astrocyte density. You can’t just grown new ones and become smarter. Brain have plasticity but that doesn’t grow new neurons. You have this first 5 years of life to minimise neural pruning and after that your max iq is pretty much locked in.

 

[Nemo]

Genius’ brains have been studied and found to have greater astrocyte density. You can’t just grown new ones and become smarter. Brain have plasticity but that doesn’t grow new neurons. You have this first 5 years of life to minimise neural pruning and after that your max iq is pretty much locked in.

This is utter bull****. Thanks for the laugh.

All my scientific work was in neurobiochemistry.

 

[Spud]

Well you post a picture of your qualification and I’ll fold.

 

[Energizer]

"Q: How malleable is intelligence

RP in an email in 2012: "In 1962 Mark Rosenzweig showed that an enriched environment caused rats' brains to grow. A little later, someone found that the DNA content of human brains kept increasing until the age of 90, and about 10 years ago, studies started showing experience-related growth in human brains. Thyroid and thiamine can have great effects on mental ability, and the steroids can either shrink or expand the brain substance. The old Weissmanist-Hayflick doctrine has kept people from thinking about the adaptive nature of adult tissues, but more people are starting to realize that the principles of embryology keep functioning throughout life."

I can't find the original email unfortunately, he had citations as well, only the comment archived on Peatarian."

Since it seems my post wasn't read, I re-posted it again. Marian Diamond's work also shows rats put in stimulating environments grew larger cortices, and their brains shrunk in impoverished environments. The environmental stimulation also passed on the trait of having larger cortices in the offspring. This is called the Ray Peat Forum after all, more discussion of Ray's work is severely absent here (although it does take place sporadically), but I digress.

 

[ATCP]

From what I have read IQ is 80% genetic/heritable (I know the term genetic can trigger some peeps) with 20% variability linked to the environment. Childhood trauma, malnutrition/famine and unstimulating environments pushes your iq lower, with good nutrition, a trauma free childhood and a stimulating environment helps push your IQ higher within that 20% band.

Randomly - I find the IQ regression to the mean element fascinating. i.e Two high IQ people (lets say 130+) in an average iq (100) society - the kids will likely be above the average of 100, but not as intelligent as their parents.

I know in my own case - I never considered myself particularly intelligent. I was a "B + C" type student who didn't take advanced courses in school. Had a traumatic and physically abusive childhood, was obese, average iq parents, working class(ish) grandparents, no exercise, grew up eating junk food and didn't excel at much.

When I started eating more "peaty", lost weight, started exercising and started working on complex business problems in a pricing team for an airline, my ability to learn and retain information increased precipitously. I also learned Japanese fluently and now speak conversational German. Changing my environment (when I left home at 17) helped me and probably helped me maximise my IQ potential. I'm always looking for ways to push the boundaries and gain an edge too.

I've been using niacinimide, aspirin and gelatin for years. And have been eating blueberries and cocoa almost daily for the better part of 15 years. I think they have probably all helped as they are linked with cognitive benefits. I'm not pushing the paradigm in quantum physics, but I am far more intelligent than most in my family, and have been far more successful and I attribute that to fluid intelligence and grit (I'm 35 now).

 

[Amazoniac]

Yes: