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There are two factors which determine an individual's intelligence. The first is the sort of brain he is born with. Human brains differ considerably , some being more capable than others. But no matter how good a brain he has to begin with, an individual will have a low order of intelligence unless he has opportunities to learn. So the second factor is what happens to the individual-the sort of envi ronment in which he is brou
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ght up. If an individual is handicapped environmentally, it is likely that hi s brain will fail to develop and he will never attain the level of intelligence of which he is capable. The importance of environment in determining an individual's intelligence can be demonstrated by t he case history of the identical twins, Peter and Mark. Being identical, the twins had identical brains at birth, and their growth processes were the
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same. When the twins were three months old, their p arents died, and they were placed in separate foster homes. Peter was raised by parents of low int elligence in an isolated community with poor educational opportunities. Mark was reared in the hom e of well-to-do parents who had been to college. He was read to as a child, sent to good schools, a nd given every opportunity to be stimulated intellectually. This environmental
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difference continued u ntil the twins were in their late teens, when they were given tests to measure their intelligence. Mar k's I. Q. was 125, twenty-five points higher than the average and fully forty points higher than his id entical brother. Given equal opportunities, the twins, having identical brains, would have tested at r oughly the same level.
