Trying to shoot the messenger for his message

The nature of nurture: Genetic influence on “environmental” measures

Evidence for genetic influence on environmental measures will emerge in quantitative genetic analyses if genetically influenced characteristics of individuals are assessed by these environmental measures. Recent twin and adoption studies indicate substantial genetic influence when measures of the environment are treated as phenotypes in genetic analyses. Genetic influence has been documented for measures as diverse as videotaped observations of parental behavior toward their children, ratings by parents and children of their family environment, and ratings of peer groups, social support, and life events. Evidence for genetic influence on environmental measures includes some of the most widely used measures of environment – the Home Observation for Measurement of the Environment, the Family Environment Scales, and the Social Readjustment Rating Scale of life events, for example. The goal of this article is to document and discuss these findings and to elicit commentary that might help to shape the course of research on this topic, which has far-reaching implications for the behavioral and brain sciences.

How heritability misleads about race

The Bell Curve revives and elaborates an argument given by Jensen to the effect that facts about heritability of IQ in whites dictate that blacks are genetically inferior in IQ. But clarification of the concept of heritability shows that this reasoning is fallacious. Heritability is an uninteresting measure that only misleads us about race.