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Behavioral Genetics - An introduction to how genes and environments interact through development to shape differences in mood, personality, and intelligence.pdf

November 8, 2009 · Filed Under Medical Textbook  · Tags: , , , , ,

Taken from Preface: Behavioral geneticists aim at no less than showing us how genes help to explain why we behave the way we do. One big reason they do their work is that understanding why we behave the way we do is inherently interesting. The second big reason is that they hope their work eventually will lead to curing behavioral disorders as different as alcoholism and schizophrenia. Today they are far from understanding how genes influence those behaviors, but that is their goal.

One might think that such a fascinating field would by now have spawned many brief introductions for lay readers. But that hasn’t happened. Part of the explanation for this gap is that the science is complicated. Part of the explanation is that the subject matter of behavioral genetics-mental disease, personality, intelligence is controversial.

Moreover, in the past, research in behavioral genetics has been used to support hateful prejudices, and so perhaps this has led many otherwise-interested writers to steer clear of the topic.

The process that led to this book was started in 1999 as part of a project to explore ideas for improving the public’s understanding of behavioral genetics and to fill the void described above. A series of meetings brought together genetic researchers, social scientists, lawyers, and ethicists. Participants shared their knowledge of the science and together explored the question, “What does the public need to know to understand and talk about behavioral genetics?” An experienced writer (not a scientist) listened, asked questions, took notes, and read the papers contributed by participants for another project product, a scholarly volume. Then she started drafting this book, which was subsequently reviewed at several stages by project participants. The result is, we think, a work that is both instructive and a delight to read.

Each chapter begins with a fictional but plausible anecdote about an individual with a question that has to do with behavior. These anecdotes set the genetic science into a real world context. They start readers thinking about basic questions such as, How do behavioral geneticists study the connection between genes and behavior? Can those studies tell me anything about why I act the way I do? Can they tell me anything about the chances that I can make my child do well or badly in life? And so forth. With the story as the hook, readers are pulled into each chapter, where they are introduced to the scientific concepts that can help answer the fictional character’s question.

Writing about behavioral genetics is like building a structure on shifting sands. Each day, new discoveries are being made, previously heralded claims are being revised, and new paradigms for the relationship between genes and behavior are being proposed. For example, as this book explains in Chapter 2, the human genome used to be compared to a codebook, a book of life, or an encyclopedia. But today scientists recognize that the genome is much more dynamic than any kind of book and so new metaphors are being tried out - metaphors that may or may not stick with time, depending on what researchers learn next.

Despite the difficulty of capturing a fast-moving subject, we believe this text succeeds as an introduction to the field. It should help readers obtain a firm grounding in the basic science and the tools used by researchers to explore the contribution of the genes (and their essential counterpart, the environment) to behavior. Readers should come away with a vocabulary for discussing the science and with a sense of what genetic science can tell us and do for us, and what its limitations are.

This text describes the promise of - and the problems with - the complex science of behavioral genetics in a way that should be accessible to a broad audience, from high school and college students with an interest in science to the educated lay person whose family may be experiencing events similar to those portrayed in the book’s stories. If you want to see where the fascinating and sometimes controversial science of behavioral genetics is headed in the 21st century, you’ve come to the right place.

As the lead investigators for the larger project, we are indebted to the staff at the Ethical, Legal and Social Implications Research Program at the National Human Genome Research Institute, especially Joy Boyer and Elizabeth Thomson, for their generous support of our work (RO1 HG001873). We are also deeply grateful to Elving Anderson for, at every step of this project, giving so generously of his time and knowledge, as well as to the many project participants (listed on page 131) who contributed their expertise to the preparation of this volume. Finally, we thank Catherine Baker for her tireless work to understand and then describe for you the work of behavioral genetics.

If you would like to read the special supplement of the Hastings Center Report, which summarizes the findings of the project that produced this introduction to behavioral genetics, or you would like to learn more about the volume of essays for advanced students and scholars, please visit our website at http://www.aaas.org/spp/bgenes, where this volume is also available.

Contents:

  • Preface
  • Introduction
  • Acknowledgements
  • What is behavioral genetics?
    • Margaret, an ambitious mother
    • Defining behavior
    • Forms of behavior
    • Behavioral genetics
    • Margaret’s ambition
    • Science in society
  • How do genes work within their environments?
    • Hoda, a perplexed nurse
    • The human genome
    • Function of the human genome
    • Variety within the human genome
    • Similarity across genomes
    • Imagining the genome
    • Behavior and the genome
    • Hoda’s perplexity
    • Some caveats
  • How do environments impinge upon genes?
    • Skip, a regretful man
    • Environment illustrated
    • Gene/environment interactions
    • Developmental noise
    • Gene/environment correlations
    • Shared and nonshared environments
    • Heritability (and environmentability)
    • Skip’s regrets
    • Developmental pathways
  • How is genetic research on behavior conducted?
    • Anja, an identical twin
    • Animal studies
    • Family studies
    • Twin studies
    • Adoption studies
    • Combined studies
    • Linkage analysis
    • Association studies
    • Microarray analysis
    • Knockout studies
    • Anja’s question
    • Concerns about non-molecular research
    • Concerns about molecular research
    • Overcoming the research concerns
  • How do mental disorders emerge from the mix of genes and environments?
    • Lamar, a man with bad news
    • Genotype/phenotype complexity
    • More genotype/phenotype complexity
    • Polygenic disorders: complexity multiplied
    • Schizophrenia, a polygenic disorder
    • Bipolar disorder, also polygenic
    • Research challenges
    • Lamar’s dilemma
    • Normal and abnormal traits
  • How is the ability to control impulses affected by genes and environments?
    • Trevor, in trouble with the law
    • Impulsive behavior and ADHD
    • Is ADHD a disorder or a trait?
    • Novelty-seeking: a positive impulsive trait
    • Antisocial personality: a negative impulsive trait
    • Criminality: a legal description, not a trait
    • Research into criminality
    • The myth of “genes for criminality”
    • Trevor’s defense
    • Potential research consequences
    • Treatment concerns
    • Other research concerns
  • How is intellect molded by genes and environments?
    • Mr. Huang, a puzzled patriarch
    • Defining intelligence
    • History of intelligence testing
    • Measuring g
    • Quantitative research into intelligence
    • Molecular research into intelligence
    • Predicting individual intelligence
    • Mr. Huang’s speculations
    • Accounting for disparities in population IQs
    • Eugenic concerns
    • Glossary/Index
    • Project Participants

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