Research
Behavioral genetics is a field of research in psychology, that aims to determine heritability and to determine how much of the behavior is accounted for by genetic factors. Behavioral genetics began in England with Sir Francis Galton and his study of the inheritance of genius in families. He discovered that genius 'runs in families' and concluded that it is to a significant degree a heritable behavioral trait.
| "Behavior is influenced both by genes and the environment." |
Since Galton a lot of people tried to prove that genetics play an important role in many aspects of behavior. Those people proved that complex behaviors related to personality, psychopathology and cognition are all influenced to some degree by genetics. They have also found that genetics alone is never enough to explain behavior, because behavior is also influenced by the enviroment.
Today, most psychologists believe that behavior reflects both genetic and environmental aspects. They try to explain variability in a trait like intelligence or height or musicality in terms of the genetic and enviromental differences among people within that population.
|
|
|
Do you have more information about Behavioral genetics? Please share it in our database.
|
|
|
Twin studies