Watch Origins of the human mind online: Episode 14 Myths and Realities of Heritability

With the decoding of the human genome in the beginning of the 21st century, there has been a major resurgence of interest in genes, particularly with respect to their infl uences in shaping behavior. This lecture emphasizes behavioral genetics, including the use of twin and adoption studies to infer heritability. A number of misconceptions related to heritability are considered, including the notions that high heritability signals the workings of a single gene, that heritability negates any role of the environment in infl uencing minds and behaviors, and that heritability is destiny.

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