> A good environment helps people without the right genetics; but this does not mean that this group can beat another set with right genetics in the same good e

> A good environment helps people without the right genetics; but this does not mean that this group can beat another set with right genetics in the same good environment. I think that's backwards from what Plomin is saying in that quote. He's saying that, regardless of genetics, a better environment will cause the average performance of the group experiencing it to outperform the average performance of a group experiencing a worse environment. And he's saying that DNA influences the amount of each group's variation around that average performance. For example, if we were looking at height, * There are two groups, 1 and 2; people in Group 1 have one kind of tallness DNA (tDNA, something I just made up), and people in Group 2 have another kind of tDNA; also, Group 1 grows up in an environment with better nutrition and exercise than Group 2. Both groups are one gender, let's say women, to simplify height statistics. * Group 1 averages a height of 5'7" due to their relatively better environment, and due to their tDNA their variance is that 50% are between 5'5" and 5'8", a 3-inch range, and 95% are between 5'3" and 5'10", a 7-inch range. * Group 2 averages a height of 5'5" due to their relatively worse environment, and due to their different tDNA their variance is larger: 50% score between 5'3" and 5'9", a 6-inch range, and 95% are between 5'0" and 5'11", an 11-inch range.