Genes, Behavior, and the Social Environment

Genes, Behavior, and the Social Environment

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  • Author: Institute of Medicine
  • Publisher: National Academies Press
  • ISBN: 0309133815
  • Category : Social Science
  • Languages : en
  • Pages : 384

Over the past century, we have made great strides in reducing rates of disease and enhancing people's general health. Public health measures such as sanitation, improved hygiene, and vaccines; reduced hazards in the workplace; new drugs and clinical procedures; and, more recently, a growing understanding of the human genome have each played a role in extending the duration and raising the quality of human life. But research conducted over the past few decades shows us that this progress, much of which was based on investigating one causative factor at a time—often, through a single discipline or by a narrow range of practitioners—can only go so far. Genes, Behavior, and the Social Environment examines a number of well-described gene-environment interactions, reviews the state of the science in researching such interactions, and recommends priorities not only for research itself but also for its workforce, resource, and infrastructural needs.


Genes and Behaviour

Genes and Behaviour

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  • Author: David J. Hosken
  • Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
  • ISBN: 1119313422
  • Category : Science
  • Languages : en
  • Pages : 272

Provides a broad snapshot of recent findings showing how the environment and genes influence behavior The great debate of nature versus nurture rages on — but our understanding of the genetic basis of many behaviors has expanded over the last decade, and there is now very good evidence showing that seemingly complex behaviours can have relatively simple genetic underpinnings, but also that most behaviours have very complicated genetic and environmental architecture. Studies have also clearly shown that behaviors, and other traits, are influenced not just by genes and the environment, but also by the statistical interaction between the two. This book aims to end the nature versus nurture argument by showing that behaviors are nature and nurture and the interaction between the two, and by illustrating how single genes can explain some of the variation in behaviors even when they are seemingly complex. Genes and Behaviour: Beyond Nature-Nurture puts to rest the nature versus nurture dichotomy, providing an up-to-date synopsis of where we are, how far we've come and where we are headed. It considers the effects of a dual-inheritance of genes and culture, and genes and social environment, and highlights how indirect genetic effects can affect the evolution of behavior. It also examines the effect of non-self genes on the behavior of hosts, shines a light on the nature and nurturing of animal minds and invites us to embrace all the complexity nature and nurture generates, and more. Explores exciting new findings about behavior and where we go from here Features contributions by top scholars of the subject Seeks to end the nature versus nurture debate forever Genes and Behaviour: Beyond Nature-Nurture is a unique, and eye-opening read that will appeal to Ph.D. Students, post-doctoral fellows, and researchers in evolution and behavior. Additionally, the book will also be of interest to geneticists, sociologists and philosophers.


From Neurons to Neighborhoods

From Neurons to Neighborhoods

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  • Author: National Research Council
  • Publisher: National Academies Press
  • ISBN: 0309069882
  • Category : Social Science
  • Languages : en
  • Pages : 610

How we raise young children is one of today's most highly personalized and sharply politicized issues, in part because each of us can claim some level of "expertise." The debate has intensified as discoveries about our development-in the womb and in the first months and years-have reached the popular media. How can we use our burgeoning knowledge to assure the well-being of all young children, for their own sake as well as for the sake of our nation? Drawing from new findings, this book presents important conclusions about nature-versus-nurture, the impact of being born into a working family, the effect of politics on programs for children, the costs and benefits of intervention, and other issues. The committee issues a series of challenges to decision makers regarding the quality of child care, issues of racial and ethnic diversity, the integration of children's cognitive and emotional development, and more. Authoritative yet accessible, From Neurons to Neighborhoods presents the evidence about "brain wiring" and how kids learn to speak, think, and regulate their behavior. It examines the effect of the climate-family, child care, community-within which the child grows.


The Dependent Gene

The Dependent Gene

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  • Author: David S. Moore
  • Publisher: Macmillan
  • ISBN: 9780805072808
  • Category : Science
  • Languages : en
  • Pages : 324

This book provides an analysis of the nature vs. nuture debate, arguing for an end to the 'either/or' nature of the discussions in favor of a recognition that environmental and genetic factors interact throughout life to form human traits.


The Neurobiological Basis of Suicide

The Neurobiological Basis of Suicide

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  • Author: Yogesh Dwivedi
  • Publisher: CRC Press
  • ISBN: 143983881X
  • Category : Medical
  • Languages : en
  • Pages : 485

With recent studies using genetic, epigenetic, and other molecular and neurochemical approaches, a new era has begun in understanding pathophysiology of suicide. Emerging evidence suggests that neurobiological factors are not only critical in providing potential risk factors but also provide a promising approach to develop more effective treatment and prevention strategies. The Neurobiological Basis of Suicide discusses the most recent findings in suicide neurobiology. Psychological, psychosocial, and cultural factors are important in determining the risk factors for suicide; however, they offer weak prediction and can be of little clinical use. Interestingly, cognitive characteristics are different among depressed suicidal and depressed nonsuicidal subjects, and could be involved in the development of suicidal behavior. The characterization of the neurobiological basis of suicide is in delineating the risk factors associated with suicide. The Neurobiological Basis of Suicide focuses on how and why these neurobiological factors are crucial in the pathogenic mechanisms of suicidal behavior and how these findings can be transformed into potential therapeutic applications.


Nature Via Nurture

Nature Via Nurture

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  • Author: Matt Ridley
  • Publisher: Harper Collins
  • ISBN: 0060006781
  • Category : Psychology
  • Languages : en
  • Pages : 340

Following his highly praised and bestselling book Genome: The Autobiography of a Species in 23 Chapters, Matt Ridley has written a brilliant and profound book about the roots of human behavior. Nature via Nurture explores the complex and endlessly intriguing question of what makes us who we are. In February 2001 it was announced that the human genome contains not 100,000 genes, as originally postulated, but only 30,000. This startling revision led some scientists to conclude that there are simply not enough human genes to account for all the different ways people behave: we must be made by nurture, not nature. Yet again biology was to be stretched on the Procrustean bed of the nature-nurture debate. Matt Ridley argues that the emerging truth is far more interesting than this myth. Nurture depends on genes, too, and genes need nurture. Genes not only predetermine the broad structure of the brain, they also absorb formative experiences, react to social cues, and even run memory. They are consequences as well as causes of the will. Published fifty years after the discovery of the double helix of DNA, Nature via Nurture chronicles a revolution in our understanding of genes. Ridley recounts the hundred years' war between the partisans of nature and nurture to explain how this paradoxical creature, the human being, can be simultaneously free-willed and motivated by instinct and culture. Nature via Nurture is an enthralling,up-to-the-minute account of how genes build brains to absorb experience.


Next Steps for Functional Genomics

Next Steps for Functional Genomics

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  • Author: National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine
  • Publisher: National Academies Press
  • ISBN: 0309676738
  • Category : Science
  • Languages : en
  • Pages : 201

One of the holy grails in biology is the ability to predict functional characteristics from an organism's genetic sequence. Despite decades of research since the first sequencing of an organism in 1995, scientists still do not understand exactly how the information in genes is converted into an organism's phenotype, its physical characteristics. Functional genomics attempts to make use of the vast wealth of data from "-omics" screens and projects to describe gene and protein functions and interactions. A February 2020 workshop was held to determine research needs to advance the field of functional genomics over the next 10-20 years. Speakers and participants discussed goals, strategies, and technical needs to allow functional genomics to contribute to the advancement of basic knowledge and its applications that would benefit society. This publication summarizes the presentations and discussions from the workshop.


Genes, Brain Function, and Behavior

Genes, Brain Function, and Behavior

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  • Author: Douglas Wahlsten
  • Publisher: Academic Press
  • ISBN: 0128128321
  • Category : Medical
  • Languages : en
  • Pages : 300

Genes, Brain Function, and Behavior offers a concise description of the nervous system that processes sensory input and initiates motor movements. It reviews how behaviors are defined and measured, and how experts decide when a behavior is perturbed and in need of treatment. Behavioral disorders that are clearly related to a defect in a specific gene are reviewed, and the challenges of understanding complex traits such as intelligence, autism and schizophrenia that involve numerous genes and environmental factors are explored. New methods of altering genes offer hope for treating or even preventing difficulties that arise in our genes. This book explains what genes are, what they do in the nervous system, and how this impacts both brain function and behavior.


Social by Nature

Social by Nature

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  • Author: Catherine Bliss
  • Publisher: Stanford University Press
  • ISBN: 1503603962
  • Category : Social Science
  • Languages : en
  • Pages : 359

Sociogenomics has rapidly become one of the trendiest sciences of the new millennium. Practitioners view human nature and life outcomes as the result of genetic and social factors. In Social by Nature, Catherine Bliss recognizes the promise of this interdisciplinary young science, but also questions its implications for the future. As she points out, the claim that genetic similarities cause groups of people to behave in similar ways is not new—and a dark history of eugenics warns us of its dangers. Over the last decade, sociogenomics has enjoyed a largely uncritical rise to prominence and acceptance in popular culture. Researchers have published studies showing that things like educational attainment, gang membership, and life satisfaction are encoded in our DNA long before we say our first word. Strangely, unlike the racial debates over IQ scores in the '70s and '90s, sociogenomics has not received any major backlash. By exposing the shocking parallels between sociogenomics and older, long-discredited, sciences, Bliss persuasively argues for a more thoughtful public reception of any study that reduces human nature to a mere sequence of genes. This book is a powerful call for researchers to approach their work in more socially responsible ways, and a must-read for anyone who wants to better understand the scholarship that impacts how we see ourselves and our society.


The Oxford Handbook of Developmental Psychology, Vol. 1

The Oxford Handbook of Developmental Psychology, Vol. 1

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  • Author: Philip David Zelazo
  • Publisher: Oxford University Press
  • ISBN: 0199958459
  • Category : Medical
  • Languages : en
  • Pages : 1049

This handbook provides a comprehensive survey of what is now known about psychological development, from birth to biological maturity, and it highlights how cultural, social, cognitive, neural, and molecular processes work together to yield human behavior and changes in human behavior.