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Monday, January 31, 2011

Genes in the environment

Genes in the environment
Until researchers began to look at genetic components in personality, psychologists had generally assumed that familial similarities are caused by similar environments. However, it is a mistake to view familial environments as shared between family members .Children growing up in the same family can experience very different lives, and even common family experiences such as death or divorce are experienced differently by different siblings (Dunn & Plomin, 1990). Therefore, it is perhaps not surprising that more recent studies have tended to downplay the role of the ‘shared environment’, because often it is not fully shared between family members. A complex interaction between genes and environment may be the key consideration. Research in behavioural genetics has also begun to consider the effects of genetics on the environment. Parenting behaviour may have a genetic influence, in terms of the parts of the parent’s personality which are influenced by genetic factors. In addition, recent rese rch suggests that parenting behaviour may also be influenced by genetic components of the child’s personality. Plomin, DeFries and Fulker (1988) found that adoptive parents were more responsive to their adopted children whose natural mother had been high on activity and impulsivity. It is therefore possible that children who are genetically more active and impulsive cause their parents to be more responsive to their needs than do other children. Therefore, the relationship between genes and environment may be an even more complex (two-way) interaction than was previously thought.

[Robert Plomin (1948– ) is Professor of Behavioural Genetics at the Institute of Psychiatry in London and Deputy Director of the Social, Genetic and Developmental Psychiatry (SGDP) Research Centre. The goal of the SGDP Research Centre is to bring together genetic and environmental research strategies to study behavioural development, a theme that characterizes his research. Plomin’s special interest is in harnessing the power of molecular genetics to identify genes for psychological traits in order to advance our understanding of the developmental interplay between genes and environment.]

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