New research proves that phrase “I got it from my mama” is actually true. Research from Psychology Spot shared that people are born with certain genes that work differently depending on if they come from your mother or father. Turns out that when it comes to intelligence, those specific genes come from your mother.
Intelligence genes are located on chromosome X. Since women carry two of the X chromosome, children are twice as likely to get their level of intelligence from mom.
The study reports that even if the same gene is inherited from your father, it is deactivated. Some genes work the opposite way and only come from your father. Interesting, huh?
Another study concluded the same thing. The Medical Research Council Social and Public Health Sciences Unit in the United States shared a study about mothers in 1994 and interviewed 12,686 young people between the ages of 14 and 22.
The questions were based on those children’s IQ, race, socio-economic status, and education. The most accurate predictor of intelligence ended up being the IQ of their mother. Crazy that your mother’s IQ can be more significant than your level of education when it comes to how smart you end up! Do you think this is actually accurate?
Turns out you really can thank your mother for your level of intelligence.
What do you think of this research? Do you find it to be true or do you think you got your intelligence from your father or from education?
Of course, your intelligence is also affected by other factors such as education, learning from others, reading books and much more. However, this study is definitely interesting. It makes us want to call our moms to thank them!
If you thought this article was interesting, please share it with your mom (or a friend)!
[H/T: Good Housekeeping]