In the late nineteenth century, Sir Francis Galton collected information on accomplishments, physical traits and occupational status of members of families and began the correlational approach to behaviour genetics. In agreement with the prevailing...

Behavioral genetics is a multidisciplinary field that studies both the genetic and environmental contributions to variations in behavior. Because genes cannot exist without an environment to act upon, behavioral genetics must consider the unique...

The idea that ‘insanity’ may be hereditary is an ancient one, but it was not until the twentieth century that this began to be explored in a systematic and scientific fashion. Two major developments at the beginning of the century allowed...

Despite longstanding hostility to the biological explanation of human behavior, there are presently three general research programs aimed at the study of genetic influences on behavior: sociobiology and evolutionary psychology, behavioral genetics, and...

Behavioural genetics is the field of biology that studies the role of genetics in animal (including human) behaviour. The field is an overlap of genetics, ethology and psychology. Classically, behavioural geneticists have studied the inheritance of...

A behaviour can often be defined as the conduct of a person, the manner and mode of action in which this person treats others and the way he or she responds to a stimulus.1 Characterising the behaviour of a person is therefore not a...

The social and ethical scruples thrown up by the science of new genetics are by now familiar. Who will benefit from the therapies? Will the gold rush for gene patenting be controlled? Will screening create a new underclass of the uninsurable and the...