Behavioral genetics is yesterday's flash in the pan rock star? I doubt it.
There is a huge momentum in this field that will carry it forward for decades
and centuries to come. It is possible that we will learn how to program life
forms with the same skill that we now create computer programs. In fact, all
life forms may essentially be tweakable computer programs. There is tremendous
excitement about this field at elite universities and research centers all
around the world -- many of the best minds are attracted to it.
tigerbengalis <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
There's nothing wrong with the article, any more than there is nothing wrong
with an article with an article from 2002 promoting a new rock group that's
being touted as the next supergroup, but which winds out disappearing from
public view within a few years.
Same with the attempts by Hamer discussed in the APA article--it just never
panned out, an in fact has hit a brick wall, although silly press hype about
Hamer's work at the time ("Gay gene found!!") were not really Hamer's fault.
Sean McBride <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
Ok -- what's wrong with this particular article?
tigerbengalis <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
Actually, I very much consider the American
Psychological Association to be on the fringe, at least scientifically
speaking. I'm not a science worshipper, and find plenty problematic with Big
Science, but no one in the scientific community would consider the APA terribly
relevant to scientific concerns or research, except maybe wonks in Big Pharma,
to the extent that the APA can help them push Prozac.
Sean McBride <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
[Behavioral genetics is very mainstream these days
-- unless you consider the American Psychological Association to be on the
fringe.]
http://www.apa.org/monitor/sep02/genes.html
APA Monitor on Psychology
Volume 33, No. 8 September 2002
APA forms working group on genetics research issues
Members of the BSA working group
Searching for genes that explain our personalities
Identifying such genes could eliminate the distinction psychologists make
between personality and psychopathology.
BY BETH AZAR
Finding any real "personality" genes is decades away. But researchers have a
good start.
In fact, more researchers are jumping into the complex fray of behavioral
genetics each year, fueled by the hope that identifying genes related to
personality traits will not only help them better understand what makes people
tick but also what goes wrong when normal "ticking" turns pathological.
The goal is to discover genes that affect brain functions that in turn affect
how people interact with their environments. The research is slowed by the
complexity of the search: Many genes are responsible for various aspects of
people's temperament, and those genes appear to interact with each other in
complicated ways that influence several traits at once--and then likely only in
very subtle ways, with any one gene likely accounting for only 1 or 2 percent
of the variance in a trait.
Researchers do, however, believe that their work will eventually pay off and
they'll have a new, more comprehensive, understanding of personality and
psychopathology as well as the complex play between genes and environment in
shaping personality.
Progress to date
Scientists have a strong foundation for their search for personality genes
from the years of basic psychology and neuroscience studies that have explored
just exactly what personality is and how personality-related behaviors might be
influenced by specific neural mechanisms. And although researchers still
debate exactly how to define personality, they have identified certain core
personality dimensions that are consistent across cultures, including
novelty-seeking, neuroticism and agreeableness.
Intriguing to people has been research in animals and humans that links certain
neurotransmitters with some of these dimensions or traits. For example, many
studies have found a connection between high levels of the neurotransmitter
dopamine and behaviors related to novelty-seeking. That gives researchers a
place to start looking--genes related to dopamine--among the nearly 50,000 in
the human genome.
To date, there are only two real candidate genes that anyone speaks of with
any confidence. The first potential link is between some behaviors related to
the Big-Five trait novelty-seeking and a gene that produces the protein
responsible for creating a dopamine receptor called DRD4. While some studies
have failed to replicate this connection, others have identified a link
between the DRD4 gene and other traits linked to novelty-seeking, such as drug
abuse and attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder. The indication is that this
gene--or perhaps some other gene related to it--may influence all these
interrelated characteristics.
The second candidate--linked to the Big Five trait neuroticism--is commonly
called the "Prozac" gene because it produces a protein related to the
neurotransmitter serotonin. Also known as the serotonin transporter gene or
5-HTTLPR, it has the strongest evidence linking it to neuroticism and other
anxiety-related traits, such as harm avoidance.
Even so, the gene appears to account for only about 1 to 2 percent of the
variance for these traits, says National Cancer Institute molecular biologist
Dean Hamer, PhD, one of the first scientists to search for personality genes.
"If that's as good as it gets," he says, "everything else is likely worse."
That means perhaps hundreds of genes influence each of our personality traits
ever so slightly.
In fact, the work is so difficult from a molecular biology point of view, Hamer
is all but abandoning it.
"After 10 years or so, it's quite clear to me that at least for most traits
there are a very large number of genes involved," he says. The only area he'll
continue working on is sexual orientation. There he feels there's a better
chance of finding just a few key genes.
Blurring lines between 'normal' and pathological
The difficulty of the work isn't stopping others who anticipate the promise of
a greater understanding of personality as well as psychopathology. Already,
research has begun to blur the traditional line delineating personality and
psychopathology as separate entities.
For example, over the past decade, studies have established a connection
between high scores on the standard personality trait of neuroticism and major
depression. In fact, high neuroticism scores can predict whether someone will
develop major depression, says Kenneth Kendler, MD, director of the Psychiatric
Genetics Research Program at Virginia Commonwealth University, who conducted
some of the research showing this link. Other studies by Kendler suggest that
neuroticism and depression share as much as 60 percent of their genes. In fact,
most researchers in this area expect they'll find that many of the genes that
influence general personality also play a role in many forms of psychopathology.
Such findings would suggest that conditions such as depression, anxiety
disorders and attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder are one end of a
continuum that includes normal personality traits.
"Once we get genes for psychopathology, we'll get genes for personality" and
vice versa, says Robert Plomin, PhD, deputy director of the Social, Genetic and
Developmental Psychiatry Research Centre in the Institute of Psychiatry at
King's College, London. "At least for more common disorders, such as
hyperactivity, all the evidence points to a continuum of traits. Activity and
hyperactivity are just variants of each other."
Understanding environment through genes
The research could also revolutionize how psychologists define psychopathology,
which is currently diagnosed by symptoms, says Plomin.
"All our concern about diagnosis based on symptoms might be off base," he says.
Instead, psychopathology could be defined and diagnosed based on genes and
their interaction with the environment to produce certain outcomes. This would
allow clinicians to detect people at risk for a certain disorder and, perhaps,
prevent symptoms from ever occurring by modifying a person's environment.
Of course, the reality of using genetic markers to diagnose psychiatric
disorders--not to mention to assess personality traits--is likely decades away.
In fact, some researchers think it's unlikely because of the number of genes
involved in any one trait.
"One can fantasize about replacing self-report inventories with genetic assays
to assess personality traits," says psychologist Jeff McCrae, PhD, a
personality psychologist at the National Institute on Aging (NIA), "but I doubt
it will ever become a reality. The link between genes and traits is too
imperfect, and we would need to discover all the genes associated with each
trait and how they interact in order to come up with a gene-based personality
assessment." More likely--and equally important for personality researchers--is
the idea that they will be able to include genetic markers among the criteria
they use to validate their personality measures.
"[Genetic markers] could provide one more objective indicator against which to
evaluate our instruments," says McCrae.
In addition, finding genes is sure to help researchers better understand how
environment and genes interact to shape personality. That's the idea behind
research by McCrae and his long-time NIA collaborator Paul Costa, PhD. They
have developed the Five-Factor Theory, which says that personality traits
themselves are genetically based, but that characteristic adaptations--habits,
beliefs, values, self-concepts, roles, relationships, skills--are shaped
jointly by genetically determined traits and the environment.
Once they and other researchers pin down at least some of the genetics of the
traits, they could much more easily evaluate the environmental contribution to
these characteristic adaptations.
"For example," says McCrae, "we might find that people high in Gene A
everywhere in the world cried when they were depressed, but that they only
attempted suicide in certain cultures."
That might, he says, suggest that the environment has little to do with the
physiological expression of affect, but is crucial for understanding and
preventing suicide.
Though concrete answers are far off, "Understanding the genes and their
interactions will most certainly also help us understand environmental
influences," says University of Illinois personality and social psychologist Ed
Diener, PhD. "We will be able to see when the environment 'overrides' the genes
and why. And we will be able to see how environmental variations interact with
genetic variations."
Beth Azar is a writer in Portland, Ore.
PsychNET®
© 2002 American Psychological Association
---------------------------------
It's here! Your new message!
Get new email alerts with the free Yahoo! Toolbar.
---------------------------------
Need a vacation? Get great deals to amazing places on Yahoo! Travel.
