Behavioural genetics is the field of biology that studies the role of genetics in animal (including human) behaviour. Foundations of modern biology There are five unifying principles Genetics (from Ancient Greek grc-Latn genetikos, “genitive” and that from grc-Latn genesis, “origin” a discipline of Biology, is Human beings, humans or man (Origin 1590–1600 L homō man OL hemō the earthly one (see Humus Behavior or behaviour (see spelling differences) refers to the actions or Reactions of an object or Organism, usually The field is an overlap of genetics, ethology and psychology. Genetics (from Ancient Greek grc-Latn genetikos, “genitive” and that from grc-Latn genesis, “origin” a discipline of Biology, is Ethology ( from Greek ἦθος ethos, "character" and λόγος logos, "knowledge") is the scientific study of Animal Psychology (from Greek grc ψῡχή psȳkhē, "breath life soul" and grc -λογία -logia) is an Academic and Classically, behavioural geneticists have studied the inheritance of behavioural traits.
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History
In 1869, Francis Galton published the first empirical work in human behavioural genetics, Hereditary Genius. Sir Francis Galton FRS ( 16 February 1822 &ndash 17 January 1911) half-cousin of Charles Darwin, was an Here, Galton intended to demonstrate that "a man's natural abilities are derived by inheritance, under exactly the same limitations as are the form and physical features of the whole organic world. " Like most seminal work, he overstated his conclusions. His was a family study on the inheritance of giftedness and talent. Study of the heritability of IQ is a controversial field of research that includes biology psychology philosophy sociology and anthropology Galton was aware that resemblance among familial relatives can be a function of both shared genes and shared environments. Contemporary behavioural genetics studies special populations—in human research, twins and adoptees and in animal research, specially bred strains and lines—to separate genetic from environmental effects. Twin studies are one of a family of designs in Behavior genetics which aid the study of individual differences by highlighting the role of environmental and genetic
The initial impetus behind behavioural genetic research was to demonstrate that there were indeed genetic influences on behaviour. In psychology, this phase lasted for the first half of the 20th century largely because of the overwhelming influence of behaviourism in the field. Behaviorism or Behaviourism, also called the learning perspective (where any physical action is a behavior is a philosophy of Psychology based on the Later behavioural genetic research focused on quantitative methods, and today there is a large emphasis on applying techniques from molecular genetics to analyse individual genes that influence behaviour. Molecular genetics is the field of Biology which studies the structure and function of Genes at a molecular level
Contemporary behavioural genetics
Currently, the largest branch of human behavioural genetics is psychiatric genetics which studies phenotypes such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and alcoholism. Psychiatric genetics, a subfield of behavioral neurogenetics studies the role of genetics in psychological conditions such as Alcoholism, Schizophrenia, Bipolar Schizophrenia ( from the Greek roots schizein (σχίζειν "to split" and phrēn Alcoholism is a term with multiple and sometimes conflicting definitions
Recent trends in behaviour genetics have indicated an additional focus toward researching the inheritance of human characteristics typically studied in developmental psychology. For instance, a major focus in developmental psychology has been to characterize the influence of parenting styles on children. However, in most studies, genes are a confounding variable. Because children share 50% of their genes with each parent, any observed effects of parenting styles could be effects of having many of the same genes as a parent (e. Parenting style is a psychological construct representing standard strategies parents use in raising their children g. harsh aggressive parenting styles have been found to correlate with similar aggressive child characteristics: is it the parenting or the genes?). Thus, behaviour genetics research is currently undertaking to distinguish the effects of the family environment from the effects of genes. This branch of behaviour genetics research is becoming more closely associated with mainstream developmental psychology and the sub-field of developmental psychopathology as it shifts its focus to the heritability of such factors as emotional self-control, attachment, social functioning, aggressiveness, etc. Developmental psychopathology is the study of the development of psychological disorders such as Psychopathy, Autism, Schizophrenia and depression
Several academic bodies exist to support behaviour genetic research, including the International Behavioural and Neural Genetics Society, Behavior Genetics Association, the International Society for Psychiatric Genetics, and the International Society for Twin Studies. Behavior genetic work features prominently in several more general societies, for instance the International Behavioral Neuroscience Society.
Methods of human behavioural genetics
Human behavioural geneticists use several designs to answer questions about the nature and mechanisms of genetic influences on behavior. The International Behavioural and Neural Genetics Society (IBANGS was founded in 1996 as the European Behavioural and Neural Genetics Society The Behavior Genetics Association promotes research into the connection between Heredity and Behavior. All of these designs are unified by being based around human relationships which disentangle genetic and environmental relatedness.
So, for instance, some researchers study adopted twins: the adoption study. In this case the adoption disentangles the genetic relatedness of the twins (either 50% or 100%) from their family environments. Likewise the classic twin study contrasts the differences between identical twins and fraternal twins within a family compared to differences observed between families. Twin studies are one of a family of designs in Behavior genetics which aid the study of individual differences by highlighting the role of environmental and genetic This core design can be extended: the so-called "extended twin study" which adds additional family members, increasing power and allowing new genetic and environmental relationships to be studied. Excellent examples of this model are the Virginia 20,000 and the QIMR twin studies.
Also possible are the "children of twins" design (holding maternal genetic contributions equal across children with paternal genetics and family environments; and the "virtual twins" design - unrelated children adopted into a family who are very close or identical in age to biological children or other adopted children in the family. While the classical twin study has been criticized they continue to be of high utility. Twin studies are one of a family of designs in Behavior genetics which aid the study of individual differences by highlighting the role of environmental and genetic Twin studies are one of a family of designs in Behavior genetics which aid the study of individual differences by highlighting the role of environmental and genetic There are several dozen major studies ongoing, in countries as diverse as the USA, UK, Germany, France, The Netherlands, and Australia, and the method is used widely in fields as diverse as dental caries, BMI, aging, substance abuse, sexuality, cognitive abilities, personality, values, and a wide range of psychiatry disorders. The body mass index ( BMI) or Quetelet index, is a statistical measurement which compares a person's weight and height Ageing or aging (American English is the accumulation of changes in an organism Substance abuse is the overindulgence in and dependence of a Drug or other chemical leading to effects that are detrimental to the individual's physical and mental health Generally speaking human sexuality is how people experience and express themselves as sexual beings Intelligence (also called intellect) is an Umbrella term used to describe a property of the Mind that encompasses many related abilities such as the capacities A personal and cultural value is a Relative ethic value, an assumption upon which implementation can be extrapolated Psychiatry is a medical specialty which exists to study, prevent, and treat Mental disorders in Humans Psychiatric This is broad utility is reflected in [several thousands of peer-review papers], and several dedicated societies and journals (See Twin study). Twin studies are one of a family of designs in Behavior genetics which aid the study of individual differences by highlighting the role of environmental and genetic
References
- Carey, G. (2003) Human Genetics for the Social Sciences. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications. [1]
- DeFries, J. C. , McGuffin, P. , McClearn, G. E. , Plomin, R. (2000) Behavioral Genetics 4th ED. Robert Plomin ( 1948 in Chicago, Illinois) is an American Psychologist best known for his work in Twin studies and W H Freeman & Co.
- Scott, J. P. and Fuller, J. L. (1965) Genetics and the Social Behavior of the Dog. University of Chicago Press.
- Weiner, J. (1999) Time, Love, Memory : A Great Biologist and His Quest for the Origins of Behavior. Jonathan Weiner is a Pulitzer Prize -winning author of non-fiction books on his biology observations in particular Evolution in the Galápagos Islands, Knopf
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