[hmkpoker]

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The book that SunofBeach is onto here is an excellent read. Its called "The Bell Curve" rather than jar [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

In that book the authors talk about all kinds of things that effect measures of general intellegence. Parents, schools etc. They say that to them it appears that if you have a large enough sample size then general intelligence is 60% genetic and 40% environmental factors. For any one individual it can be all one or the other factor though.
On the different types of intelligence most experts would say that there is a difference between verbal skills and mathematical skills. But many believe there is also a general intelligence factor for people.
When the authors commented on racial differences of general intelligence (ie Jewish race scoring higher, and certain minorities lower) that got some controversial press even though they also said that some of those differences could lessen over time.

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We reviewed that book in one of my psychology courses. There is an error in the racial component, that being that it seems likely to reflect an environmental factor. Blacks and hispanics, for example, often come from a poorer socio-economic status than jews, whites and asians. Accordingly, results reflective of SES manifest.

As for the genetic component, it dilutes greatly with the disparity of the genes. A study was done on identical twins separated at birth, raised in different environments. A high (85%ish) correlation exists in their IQ scores). Fraternal twins in similar conditions were much, much lower (50%), and siblings' correlations were almost irrelevant.