All kinds of correlations can be found around intelligent people, some more spurious than others. As the most intelligent people work mostly for another (less intelligent), the so-called law of Joy.
Another compelling correlation is that tall people are more intelligent than short people . But can a factor like height really influence our brain in such a profound way?
An (almost) absolute beginning
Not all tall people are smarter than short people, but we do find this to be the case in percentage terms. In other words, NBA players are not necessarily smarter than professional horse racing jockeys, who tend to be short. Einstein was not very tall .
The correlation between height and intelligence is calculated around a ratio of 0.2, from which it follows that both variables seem to be related only in 1 out of 5 people. As Dean Burnett abounds in his book The Idiot Brain :
Furthermore, it is not a very strong influence. If we take a tall person and a short person at random and measure their respective IQs, it will be very difficult to know in advance which of them will be the smartest. But if we do it with a sufficient number of such pairs selected equally randomly (say with 10,000 tall people and 10,000 short ones), we will obtain a general pattern, according to which the average IQ of the taller people will be slightly higher. that of the shorter people. Maybe a three or four IQ point difference.
Why?
At this point, what makes height that also seems to lead to intelligence? One of the most likely causes of intelligence is genetics, as intelligence is heritable to a fairly high degree, according to available studies by Thomas J. Bouchard .
For its part, height is also determined by numerous genetic factors, and it is suspected that there is a gene (or genes) that influence both the intelligence and the height of a person, which would provide a link between both variables .
Another possible theory is that to grow tall, a person must have access to good health and a good diet , both of which could also facilitate that person’s brain development. Finally, there is a third, not so accepted, but equally interesting theory, which Burnett explains:
both height and intelligence are masculine qualities that are normally attracted to women. Therefore, it is to be expected that tall and intelligent men will have more sexual partners and more opportunities to disseminate their DNA in the general population through their offspring, descendants who will possess the genes for height and intelligence in their own material. genetic.