Tag: Introduction to Human Behavioral Genetics

Introduction to Human Behavioral Genetics

Matt McGue, Regents Professor, Department of Psychology (and co-directs Minnesota Center for Twin and Family Research)
University of Minnesota

“One of psychology’s defining issues concerns the origins of individual differences in behaviour… At the core to answering these questions is the ages-old “nature-nurture” debate: Are the behavioral differences among us due predominantly to inborn natural differences or the cumulative impact of our experiences? The nature-nurture debate generated much controversy and acrimony within psychology, although today most are willing to retire the debate and declare both sides victorious.

This course provides an introduction to behavioral genetics, the field within psychology that demonstrated that Nature and Nurture both play a fundamental role in the development of psychological traits. We will explore how early behavioral genetic research radically changed how psychologists conceptualized human behavior and how the mapping of the human genome is fundamentally altering current research approaches to a wide range of behavioral characteristics. The course will cover the traditional behavioral genetic methodologies of twin and adoption studies as well as modern approaches based on molecular genetic techniques.

… a basic understanding of… how behavioral genetic research has changed psychology’s view of human behavior… strengths and limitations of traditional behavioral genetic methodologies such as twin and adoption studies… the behavioral genetic approach to psychiatric phenotypes (to be illustrated by schizophrenia) and psychological phenotypes (to be illustrated by intelligence)… and the structure and function of the human genome and the prospects for identifying the specific genetic variants underlying individual differences in behavior…”

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