Tuesday, June 26, 2007

6/26/2007 Older Siblings Smarter It's Proven

6/26/2007 Older Siblings Smarter It's Proven



There was a study done by Norwegian scientists that indicate that the older sibling in a family has a higher IQ on average than their younger siblings. The difference was only 2 IQ points, but this study has caused controversy anyway.

The problem is not just squabbling over methods but interpretation. How such a fact, if accepted, will help anyone I don't know. But the study seems to convince some that the conflict over whether or not birth order plays any role in intelligence at all is settled.

Being first born in my family, I must say that I think their interpretations are all wrong. The article quotes a professor of psychology saying that the first child acquires this high IQ by imitating the parents. How do they figure that one? Does the child acquire their intelligence by going to work at a job he hates and then falling asleep in front of the TV? No, you don't get smarter by imitating your parents. In our family, while I was certainly invested with the need to bond with parents as any child is, I quickly learned to stay away from my parents as much as possible. If I have a higher IQ than my siblings, I'll tell you why it is.

Because first born have to fend for themselves. Many children are accidents, and in many cases their parents are not ready to be parents. Many first born are born to parents who are poor because they are young. And many first born are born to parents who haven't the foggiest idea how to be parents. Children learn more from their parent's actions than words. They have to learn to predict their parent's actions to avoid dangers. That means both punishment and other dangers that might have to do with parent's inadequacies like alcohol or just bad temper. These inadequacies are worse at younger ages in adult life than later.

When the next kid comes along, the first born is expected to care for it. If the new child gets hurt, the first born often gets the blame. The first born becomes smarter because it needs to; it needs to be able to outsmart it's parents to survive. It needs to learn to tend to it's own needs without consequnce and escape the punishments of it's parents.

Meanwhile, subsequent offspring often end up with a different version of the same parents. Hormones a bit more in check. Finances a but better. The younger offspring must learn to defend itself against the older offspring, often it relies on the parents for this purpose.

That's what I believe about intelligence. We are often as smart as we need to be. In many of our lives, it is a powerful urge to please our parents. But it is nowhere near what the psychologists believe. Parents used to leave their offspring to the wolves if it proved genetically inferior. Children would do the same to parents if it were socially acceptable and if they felt justified. This idea that one gets intelligence from a parent's values is pure romance, not science. A group of parents trying to prove their own value on their own terms through scientific methods. The reality does not justify everybody.

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