scholarly journals Behavioral genetics

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Severi Luoto ◽  
Michael A. Woodley of Menie
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Behavior ◽  
Human Behavior ◽  
Behavioral Science ◽  
Behavioral Genetics ◽  
Genetic Material ◽  
Theoretical Background ◽  
Life Outcomes ◽  
Selection Pressures ◽  
Genetics Research ◽  
Evolutionary Science

In this introductory chapter, we discuss the nexus between evolutionary theory and behavioral genetics, using it to elucidate the biological origins of human behavior and motivational predispositions. We introduce relevant behavioral genetics methods and evolutionary theoretical background to provide readers with the necessary conceptual tools to deepen their engagement with evolutionary behavioral genetics—as well as to help them take on the challenge of building a scientifically and evolutionarily more consilient account of human behavior. To demonstrate the utility of behavioral genetics in evolutionary behavioral science, our analytical examples range from personality, cognition, and sexual orientation to pair-bonding. We conclude by presenting a few recent landmark studies in behavioral genetics research with a particular focus on two aspects of sexual behavior: assortative mating and same-sex sexual behavior. This chapter considers behavioral genetics methods and their connection with evolutionary science more broadly while providing a succinct overview of recent advances in understanding the evolutionary genetic underpinnings of human sexual behavior, mate choice, and basic motivational processes. It is a sine qua non of scientifically principled evolutionary behavioral scientists to acknowledge the distal evolutionary and proximal genetic processes which, interlinked, underlie the psychobehavioral predispositions that form the variegated fabric of human societies and, more broadly, the diversity of life found in nature. These evolutionary processes operate from distal selection pressures acting on genetic material through hundreds of millions of years of natural selection—and from individual and population differences in genotypes to their manifestations in complex behavioral phenotypes and life outcomes in contemporary humans—which, in turn, enact concomitant selection pressures on the genetic material underlying and arising from them.

scholarly journals Beyond nature vs. nurture in expertise research – comment on Baker & Wattie

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Z. Hambrick ◽  
Alexander P. Burgoyne
Keyword(s):  
Natural Selection ◽  
Human Behavior ◽  
Human Performance ◽  
Genetic Factors ◽  
Behavioral Genetics ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Expert Performance ◽  
Intensive Training ◽  
Genetics Research ◽  
Nature Vs Nurture

The field of expertise is mired in a nature vs. nurture debate. Despite what we now know from behavioral genetics research about the underpinnings of human behavior, some expertise theorists continue to deny or downplay the importance of genetic factors (“innate talent”) in expert performance. In this commentary, we argue that this viewpoint is neither defensible nor productive. Our argument is based on two observations. First, there are always limits on human performance, even among individuals who have engaged in long periods of intensive training. Second, grounded in a neurobiological system that has evolved through natural selection, variation across people in phenotypes reflecting these limits will have a genetic component. We comment on directions for future research to advance the field of expertise.

scholarly journals Better Government, Better Science: The Promise of and Challenges Facing the Evidence-Informed Policy Movement

2019 ◽  
Vol 22 (1) ◽  
pp. 521-542 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jake Bowers ◽  
Paul F. Testa
Keyword(s):  
Public Policy ◽  
Human Behavior ◽  
Behavioral Science ◽  
Contextual Knowledge ◽  
Theoretical Understanding ◽  
Policy Practice ◽  
The Social ◽  
Social And Behavioral Science ◽  
Research Designs ◽  
New Policies

Collaborations between the academy and governments promise to improve the lives of people, the operations of government, and our understanding of human behavior and public policy. This review shows that the evidence-informed policy movement consists of two main threads: ( a) an effort to invent new policies using insights from the social and behavioral science consensus about human behavior and institutions and ( b) an effort to evaluate the success of governmental policies using transparent and high-integrity research designs such as randomized controlled trials. We argue that the problems of each approach may be solved or at least well addressed by teams that combine the two. We also suggest that governmental actors ought to want to learn about why a new policy works as much as they want to know that the policy works. We envision a future evidence-informed public policy practice that ( a) involves cross-sector collaborations using the latest theory plus deep contextual knowledge to design new policies, ( b) applies the latest insights in research design and statistical inference for causal questions, and ( c) is focused on assessing explanations as much as on discovering what works. The evidence-informed public policy movement is a way that new data, new questions, and new collaborators can help political scientists improve our theoretical understanding of politics and also help our policy partners to improve the practice of government itself.

scholarly journals Police Responses to a Course in Psychology

1970 ◽  
Vol 16 (4) ◽  
pp. 403-408 ◽  
Author(s):  
Philip A. Mann
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Human Behavior ◽  
Behavioral Science ◽  
Police Responses ◽  
Science Concepts ◽  
Police Activity

Although much police activity involves dealing with human behavior and mental health, policemen typically receive little training in behavioral science concepts and techniques. Recent events have dramatized the need for such training, and some efforts are being made to provide it.

scholarly journals Developmental behavioral genetics research on school achievement is missing vulnerable children, to our detriment

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
LaTasha R Holden ◽  
Rasheda Haughbrook ◽  
Sara Ann Hart
Keyword(s):  
Behavioral Genetics ◽  
Scientific Evidence ◽  
School Achievement ◽  
Interaction Model ◽  
Environment Interaction ◽  
White Children ◽  
Gene By Environment Interaction ◽  
Genetics Research ◽  
P Gene ◽  
Gene Environment

Gene–environment processes tell us how genes and environments work together to influence children in schools. One type of gene–environment process that has been extensively studied using behavioral genetics methods is a gene-by-environment interaction. A gene-by-environment interaction shows us when the effect of your context differs depending on your genes, or vice versa, when the effect of your genes differs depending on your context. Developmental behavioral geneticists interested in children’s school achievement have examined many different contexts within the gene-by-environment interaction model, including contexts measured from within children’s home and school environments. However, this work has been overwhelmingly focused on White children, leaving us with non-inclusive scientific evidence. This can lead to detrimental outcomes when we overgeneralize this non-inclusive scientific evidence to racialized groups. We conclude with a call to include racialized children in more research samples.

scholarly journals The Evidence for Geary’s Theory on the Role of Mitochondrial Functioning in Human Intelligence Is Not Entirely Convincing

2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 29 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anna-Lena Schubert ◽  
Dirk Hagemann
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Processes ◽  
Social Factors ◽  
Intervention Studies ◽  
Cognitive Enhancement ◽  
Behavioral Genetics ◽  
Human Intelligence ◽  
Younger Adults ◽  
Genetics Research ◽  
Age Related

Geary (2018, 2019) suggested that heritable and environmentally caused differences in mitochondrial functioning affect the integrity and efficiency of neurons and supporting glia cells and may thus contribute to individual differences in higher-order cognitive functioning and physical health. In our comment, we want to pose three questions aimed at different aspects of Geary’s theory that critically evaluate his theory in the light of evidence from neurocognitive, cognitive enhancement, and behavioral genetics research. We question (1) if Geary’s theory explains why certain cognitive processes show a stronger age-related decline than others; (2) if intervention studies in healthy younger adults support the claim that variation in mitochondrial functioning underlies variation in human intelligence; and (3) if predictions arising from the matrilineal heredity of mitochondrial DNA are supported by behavioral genetics research. We come to the conclusion that there are likely many more biological and social factors contributing to variation in human intelligence than mitochondrial functioning.

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