Traditional Studies Of Behavioral Genetics example essay topic

Behavioral genetics is the study of the interaction between the environment on is in and his / her genetic makeup. With roots in the study of human behavior and heredity by Sir Francis Galton, the relatively new field of behavior genetics seeks to identify the correlations between nature and nurture by the study of human DNA and different environmental variables. This task is confounded by certain obstacles such as the difficulty to define certain traits in a human being, such as intelligence, maintaining validity and reliability in test results, discovering the multiple genes that interact in behavior, and completing in-depth studies of populations and families involved in the study, determining the habitability, which can change with populations / environment modifications. The biological basis of behavior is the study that Galton started in the late nineteenth century. Through the years evidence has been found to indicate that behavior does in fact have a biological basis.

Such findings include the discovery that behaviors are often species specific, meaning that certain species behave in the same manner today as they have found centuries. Such behaviors are relative to eating, mating, and hibernating patterns. Humans, too, have biologically carried characteristics, such as mental illness, that travels through family lines. Additionally, behaviors can change when damage or alteration has taken place in their biological structures / processes, thus indicating that the biological factors have control. When modification is made to the factors, results are evident in the human.

Finally, behavior has a history that carries across different species, such as from chimps to humans. The relatively close DNA structures as well as the similar behaviors that cross-over reveal the evolutionary past and genetic similarities across species. Traditional studies of behavioral genetics have included twin and adoption studies to try and differentiate environment from heredity but new technology has allowed for further in depth studies that focus on determining a specific gene for a specific trait. Such studies have been relatively successfully, such as the discovery of the extra chromosome for Down Syndrome. However, it is easier to discover single gene and chromosomal disorders than it is to discern the interactions between multiple gene disorders and predispositions. Such research is the area of focus for development today.

The implications of behavioral genetics research on society are far-reaching. Behavioral geneticists have asserted that there is a genetic basis that determines various behaviors, such as criminal activity, homosexuality, and aggression. The "nature vs. nurture" debate cycles through the scientific world as scientists and researchers try to decipher which is more influential in determining behavior, genetics or the environment. Behavior genetics is by no means an irrefutable science.

If society were to accept that every characteristic and behavior, no one would ever have take the blame for his / her actions again. Additionally, society would have to determine how far it should let the tampering with genetic codes go - who decides which genes are bad and which are good? If everyone had the "good" genes that are the most ideal for survival, wouldn't we all eventually be the same? Such societal questions plague the scientific world as they delve deeper in the research and discovery. Genes influence behavior in corroboration with environment. No single gene determines a specific behavior alone.

Behaviors are affected by multiple as well as other variables, such as environment. Environment is a lot harder to completely identify than human DNA - there are a far greater number of variables involved with environment, such as the food one eats, music one hears, time spent in the womb, and the length of sleep each night. Furthermore, genes do no determine one's actions indelibly. Genetics merely serve as a predisposition for certain traits and behaviors which may need to be triggered by environmental stimuli, or other stimuli, that possibly will never materialize, thus the trait will never be an "issue".

However, and the media in their reports of scientific findings often overlook such knowledge which leads to misinterpretation of finding by the general population. Behavioral genetics is a field that is still growing and advancing, and as it does, issues involving societal influence and morality will have to be addressed.