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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 · Comment  · Tags: , , , , ,

Taken from Introduction: Why do humans range so widely in their susceptibility to mental illness, in their willingness to take risks, and in their performance on intelligence tests? One answer to this question comes from scientists in the field of behavioral genetics. They say that the variation in behavioral traits across a population is due, in part, to the genes. So many studies have pointed to connections between genes and particular behaviors that most scientists now feel comfortable stating that there is such a link for every possible behavior. But what does it really mean to say that there is a link between genes and behavior?
Does it mean that there is a gene that makes some of us blush when embarrassed; that there is one gene that makes you prefer classical music and another gene that makes you dislike it; that there is a bunch of genes that each provides for different levels of skill in playing poker? The answer to all these questions is no. Does it mean behavior passes down from generation to generation, i.e., is inherited, just like baldness and eye color? Again, the answer is no.
So when next you see an article that proclaims, “Gene for [insert a human behavior here] discovered,” read it with a critical eye. Or when you next hear someone say, “He inherited his [insert a human behavior here] from his father,” receive that with skepticism, too.
The pervasive role of genes in behavior does not mean what it is commonly misunderstood to mean. It does not mean that a gene or even several genes can make you act in any particular way. It does not mean that a behavior can “pass down through the genes.” Such claims are not accepted in behavioral genetics.
It does mean that genes play a vital role in the body’s development and physiology, and it is through the body, acting in response to and upon surrounding environments, that behavior manifests itself. So while we do inherit our genes, we do not inherit behavior traits in any fixed sense. The effect of our given set of genes on our behavior is entirely dependent upon the context of our life as it unfolds day to day.

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Genetics.pdf

October 20, 2009 · Filed Under Biology · Comment  · Tags: , , , , , , ,

The principles of genetics with application to the study of biological function at the level of molecules, cells, and multicellular organisms, including humans. Structure and function of genes, chromosomes and genomes. Biological variation resulting from recombination, mutation, and selection. Population genetics. Use of genetic methods to analyze protein function, gene regulation and inherited disease