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At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2003

Ethics, public policy and behavioral genetics.

Behavioral genetics is the identification of behavioral traits that are genetically determined, the identification of the genes that are involved, and the discovery of modes of intervention to alter the expected course of the disease. Unlike the classical Mendelian traits, many specific aspects of behavior are, in part, determined by several genes. The corresponding abnormalities of behavior or deficiencies are therefore polygenic. New genetic techniques are leading to the discovery of these genes, and the techniques and knowledge developed in the Human Genome Project make it possible to screen the genome of any individual for the presence of known polymorphisms. This raises great hopes for diagnosis and the individualization of therapy. However, the genetic prediction of unacceptable behavior can further lead to social and occupational discrimination and enforced therapy. This raises serious concerns about how this information will be collected and who will have access to it.

Confidentiality↗
PubMed2003

Metaphors in behavioral genetics.

Behavioral geneticists sometimes use metaphors to describe the role of genes in human behavior. In this paper, five sample texts are analyzed: a popular book, a textbook, a scientific review article, and two original scientific articles representing different approaches in behavioral genetics. Metaphors are found in all the different kinds of sample texts, not only in the popular book and the textbook. This suggests that metaphors are used not only for rhetorical or pedagogical purposes but play a more fundamental role in scientific understanding. In the sample texts, the metaphors tend to be antideterministic, i.e., they do not imply genetic determinism but stress the interaction of multiple genes and multiple environmental factors. No conclusion can be drawn, however, as to whether antideterminism is representative of present-day behavioral geneticists in general. Certain historically important metaphors that may imply genetic determinism are qualified, avoided, or explicitly rejected. There are tensions between some of the metaphors, making them difficult to combine. All the metaphors that are used appear empirically apt, however sometimes only with certain qualifications.

Genetic Determinism↗
PubMed1997

Behavioral genetics '97: ASHG statement. Recent developments in human behavioral genetics: past accomplishments and future directions.

The field of behavioral genetics has enormous potential to uncover both genetic and environmental influences on normal and deviant behavior. Behavioral-genetic methods are based on a solid foundation of theories and methods that successfully have delineated components of complex traits in plants and animals. New resources are now available to dissect the genetic component of these complex traits. As specific genes are identified, we can begin to explore how these interact with environmental factors in development. How we interpret such findings, how we ask new questions, how we celebrate the knowledge, and how we use or misuse this knowledge are all important considerations. These issues are pervasive in all areas of human research, and they are especially salient in human behavioral genetics.

Adoption↗
PubMed1983

Developmental behavioral genetics.

Developmental behavioral genetics is the study of genetic and environmental influences on individual differences in behavioral development. The interdiscipline offers exciting possibilities for research in both child development and behavioral genetics. In this prelude to a special section on developmental behavioral genetics, the potentialities of the interdiscipline are discussed and an overview of the articles that follow is presented.

Adoption↗
PubMed2000

Contributions and promise of human behavioral genetics.

Human behavioral genetics has contributed greatly to our understanding of human behavioral development. Twin, family, and adoption studies have shown that genetic effects are ubiquitous and that both genes and environments contribute to individual differences in behavior. The unique ability of behavioral genetic methods to separate genetic from environmental effects has also led to important discoveries about how the environment works in development and to the elucidation of the complex ways environments and genes interact across the life span. Although quantitative methods have been the mainstay of the field of human behavioral genetics since Galton's time, the Human Genome Project and advances in molecular genetics are providing new tools and promise as we enter the 21st century. Thus the future of human behavioral genetics lies in the cross-disciplinary exchanges and collaborations that will increasingly occur in the years to come among quantitative and molecular scientists who work with both animal and human systems. This research may someday culminate in an understanding of the biological basis of behavior that spans from how the brain develops and functions to a grasp of how genes influence thought at the molecular level.

Adoption↗
PubMed2003

Behavioral genetics of Drosophila ananassae.

Drosophila ananassae has a unique status among Drosophila species because of certain peculiarities in its genetic behavior. The most unusual feature of this species is its relatively high frequency of spontaneous male recombination. The results of studies on non-sexual behavior, such as phototactic responses, eclosion rhythm, and preferences for oviposition and pupation sites, lead us to suggest that this behavior is under polygenic control, with a substantial amount of additive genetic variation. Sexual isolation has been reported in D. ananassae with the degree of such isolation being stronger in isofemale lines than in natural populations. The significant variations seen in the mating propensity of several isofemale strains, inversion karyotypes and wild type strains, the diminishing effects of certain mutations on the sexual activity of males, and the positive responses to selection for high and low mating propensity point to a genetic control of sexual behavior in D. ananassae. Males contribute more to variation and thus are more subject to intrasexual selection than females. There is a positive correlation between sternopleural bristle number, mating propensity and fertility in D. ananassae. This correlation between morphometric traits and mating success suggests that larger flies are more successful in mating than smaller ones. There is also evidence for adaptive plasticity and a trade-off between longevity and productivity in D. ananassae. Rare, specific courtship song parameters that provide males with a mating advantage have also been reported in different geographic strains of D. ananassae. The remating behavior of males and females, sperm displacement, and the bi-directional selection for female remating speed indicate that post-mating behavior in this species may also be under genetic control. The occurrence of size assortative mating further indicates that there is size-dependent sexual selection in D. ananassae.

Animals↗
PubMed2005

Development and modification of child food preferences and eating patterns: behavior genetics strategies.

Behavioral genetics (BG) designs can offer useful strategies for studying the development of child food preferences and eating patterns. This review summarizes BG designs that tested familial influences on child eating behavior and implicated both genetic and home environmental factors. A range of BG strategies, including family and pseudo-family designs, classic twins designs, discordant sibling designs, cotwin control designs, and high-risk designs, have provided information on child development that could not have been obtained from the analysis of singletons. BG designs can provide can powerful tools for testing environmental theories of child nutrition and, potentially, for better understanding between-child variability in response to dietary interventions for overweight. The term BG may misleadingly imply only the classic twin design or just heritability estimation; BG strategies can be adapted creatively to address a range of questions concerning the development of child appetite and eating regulation.

Behavior Therapy↗
PubMed1990

Sex determination and the Y chromosome: the application of molecular genetic technique to behavioral genetics.

In mammals, the Y chromosome mediates both gonadogenesis and spermatogenesis. It is also known to influence such traits as histocompatibility, sperm head morphology, pubertal (but not adult) testosterone level, sexual behavior, and aggressive behavior. An immediate goal in my laboratory is the isolation and characterization of the Y chromosomal gene responsible for initiating differentiation of the primitive bipotential gonads to become testes: the Y chromosomal gonadogenesis gene. Function of this gene initiates a cascade of events involving large numbers of other genes scattered throughout the genome, but it is not responsible for initiating development of all of the male phenotype; where : is XXSxr karyotype males, bearing the Sxr region of the Y chromosome which includes this gene, are sterile. It is not known if this gene influences those behaviors known to be influenced by the Y chromosome. If animals with an XXSxr karyotype, transgenic for specific Y chromosomal genes, could be produced, questions such as this could be answered. The developmental biology of the testis, molecular genetics of the Sxr region of the Y chromosome, and isolation of the testis determination gene from DNA of XXSxr males are discussed. Also discussed are the production of transgenic mice and the prospects for using such animals as coisogenic strains, differing by precisely known DNA sequences, in behavior genetic analysis. Such animals could be used both to test for behavioral phenotype and to dissect out biochemical and neurological mechanisms responsible for the behavior.

Animals↗
PubMed1990

Population-based twin registries: illustrative applications in genetic epidemiology and behavioral genetics from the Finnish Twin Cohort Study.

The population-based twin registries of Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden represent an extraordinary resource for scientific research. Although each register has its own history and composition, they share certain common qualities. All the Nordic countries have a long tradition of population registration, a high standard of living and health-related registers of high quality. The large size of the registers means that they are uniquely placed for representative studies of rare occurrences. Examples of studies that these registers make possible are illustrated with data from the Finnish Twin Cohort, which in its first phase consisted of over 17,000 like-sexed twin pairs born before 1958. It has been recently expanded to include multiple births between 1958 and 1986 (nearly 23,000 sets) and their first-degree relatives. During this period the DZ/MZ ratio decreased, while an increase in MZ twinning rates was observed between 1974 and 1986.

Adult↗
PubMed1986

Behavioral genetic methods.

Traditional behavioral genetic methods involve the use primarily of family, twin, and adoption correlations to estimate the relative contributions of genetic and environmental influences in the etiology of individual differences. These methods and representative results for personality are described. However, newer methods are emphasized: structural models and model-fitting, multivariate analysis, genetic change and continuity in development, shared and non-shared components of environmental variance, and genetic components of "environmental" variation. Because most applications of these behavioral genetic methods to the study of personality involve self-report omnibus questionnaires, an important direction for future research in this area is to use these methods to explore new issues and new measures that have emerged from personality theory and research during the past decade.

Adoption↗
PubMed2005

Genetic and environmental influences on antisocial behaviors: evidence from behavioral-genetic research.

This article reviews behavioral-genetic research into human antisocial behavior. The focus is on studies of antisocial behavior that have been leading the way in investigating environmental and genetic influences on human behavior. The first generation of studies, which provided quantitative estimates attesting that genes and environments each influence about half of the population's variation in antisocial behaviors is interpreted. Then how behavioral-genetic methods are being applied to test developmental theory and to detect environmental causes of antisocial behavior is illustrated. Evidence for interactions between genes and the environment in the etiology of antisocial behavior is also examined. The article ends by envisioning future work on gene-environment interplay in the etiology of antisocial behavior.

Antisocial Personality Disorder↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Ethics in behavioral genetics research.

As research in behavioral genetics uncovers the genetic contribution to human behavior, it will undoubtedly further our understanding of normal human variation in many behavioral traits, such as personality, intelligence, and sexuality. This research also shows great potential for the diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of mental illnesses. Recent findings underscore this potential and document the increasing validity of research methods--methods that in the past have led to mistaken inferences about genes "for" violent behavior and homosexuality. Although all research with human subjects requires adequate attention to its ethical aspects, certain ethical issues involved with behavioral genetics are particularly acute and deserve careful attention. This article reviews these selected major ethical issues arising in (1) the conduct of behavioral genetics research; and (2) the application of its research findings. While some of the ethical concerns in the latter category are likely to be of substantial importance and animate considerable popular concern, they currently fall outside the realm of traditional research review. Determining how to deal with these concerns should be a focus of future scholarly work.

Behavioral Research↗