Nature and nurture an introduction to human behavioral genetics

AbstractThe important implications for developmental psychopathology that derive from advances in psychiatric and behavioral genetics are discussed in relation to a series of mistaken stereotypes: that strong effects mean that environmental influences must be unimportant; that genes provide a limit to potential; that genetic strategies are of no value for studying environmental influences; that nature and nurture are separate; that genes for serious diseases are necessarily bad; that diseases have nothing to do with normal variation; that genetic findings will not help identify diseases; that genetic influences diminish with age; that disorders that run in families must be genetic; that disorders that seem not to run in families cannot be genetic; and that single major genes lead only to specific rare diseases that follow a Mendelian pattern. The reasons why these stereotypes are mistaken are considered in relation to genetic concepts and findings.

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Nature and nurture: an introduction to human behavioral genetics

Choice Reviews Online ◽

10.5860/choice.27-5763 ◽

1990 ◽

Vol 27 (10) ◽

pp. 27-5763-27-5763

Keyword(s):

Behavioral Genetics ◽

Nature And Nurture

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Behavioral Genetics, Genetics, and Epigenetics

The Oxford Handbook of Developmental Psychology, Vol. 1 ◽

10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199958450.013.0005 ◽

2013 ◽

pp. 90-128 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

David S. Moore

Keyword(s):

Environmental Factors ◽

Learning And Memory ◽

Behavioral Genetics ◽

Psychological Characteristics ◽

Epigenetic Mechanisms ◽

Psychological Processes ◽

Adoption Studies ◽

Cast Doubt ◽

Nature And Nurture ◽

Genetic Contributions

When considering how “nature” and “nurture” contribute to development, psychologists often take the former to mean “influenced by genes.” Traditionally, behavioral geneticists have used twin and adoption studies to assess the extent of genetic influence on various behaviors. Recently, the heritability statistics these studies generate have been criticized as meaningless, partly because biologists have established that genes cannot influence development independently of environmental factors; genetic and nongenetic factors always cooperate to build traits. This chapter considers genetic contributions to some psychological characteristics, thereby demonstrating what genes can and cannot do. New discoveries regarding the control of genes via epigenetic mechanisms are of interest to developmental psychologists because they have the potential to reveal how environments and genes interact, help us understand certain behavioral disorders, and illuminate normal psychological processes like learning and memory; in addition, they cast doubt on the neo-Darwinian dogma that ancestors’ experiences cannot influence descendants’ development. Advances in genetics have clarified how molecular factors contribute to psychological characteristics and indicated that all of our characteristics are influenced by developmental circumstances.

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Nature, nurture, and psychopathology: A new look at an old topic

Development and Psychopathology ◽

10.1017/s0954579400000031 ◽

1991 ◽

Vol 3 (2) ◽

pp. 125-136 ◽

Cited By ~ 28

Author(s):

Michael Rutter

Keyword(s):

No Value ◽

Rare Diseases ◽

Developmental Psychopathology ◽

Behavioral Genetics ◽

Environmental Influences ◽

Genetic Influences ◽

Normal Variation ◽

Major Genes ◽

Nature And Nurture ◽

Genetic Strategies

AbstractThe important implications for developmental psychopathology that derive from advances in psychiatric and behavioral genetics are discussed in relation to a series of mistaken stereotypes: that strong effects mean that environmental influences must be unimportant; that genes provide a limit to potential; that genetic strategies are of no value for studying environmental influences; that nature and nurture are separate; that genes for serious diseases are necessarily bad; that diseases have nothing to do with normal variation; that genetic findings will not help identify diseases; that genetic influences diminish with age; that disorders that run in families must be genetic; that disorders that seem not to run in families cannot be genetic; and that single major genes lead only to specific rare diseases that follow a Mendelian pattern. The reasons why these stereotypes are mistaken are considered in relation to genetic concepts and findings.

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Behavioral Genetics: Concepts for Research and Practice in Language Development and Disorders

Journal of Speech Language and Hearing Research ◽

10.1044/jshr.3805.1126 ◽

1995 ◽

Vol 38 (5) ◽

pp. 1126-1142 ◽

Cited By ~ 14

Author(s):

Jeffrey W. Gilger

Keyword(s):

Language Development ◽

Behavioral Genetics ◽

State Of The Art ◽

Genetic Research ◽

Great Promise ◽

Behavioral Genetic ◽

Fine Grained ◽

Future Goals ◽

Current State ◽

Research Designs

This paper is an introduction to behavioral genetics for researchers and practioners in language development and disorders. The specific aims are to illustrate some essential concepts and to show how behavioral genetic research can be applied to the language sciences. Past genetic research on language-related traits has tended to focus on simple etiology (i.e., the heritability or familiality of language skills). The current state of the art, however, suggests that great promise lies in addressing more complex questions through behavioral genetic paradigms. In terms of future goals it is suggested that: (a) more behavioral genetic work of all types should be done—including replications and expansions of preliminary studies already in print; (b) work should focus on fine-grained, theory-based phenotypes with research designs that can address complex questions in language development; and (c) work in this area should utilize a variety of samples and methods (e.g., twin and family samples, heritability and segregation analyses, linkage and association tests, etc.).

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