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Understanding “What Could Be”: A Call for ‘Experimental Behavioral Genetics’

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dc.contributor.authorBurt, S. Alexandra
dc.contributor.authorPlaisance, Kathryn
dc.contributor.authorHambrick, David Z.
dc.date.accessioned2020-07-07T15:31:02Z
dc.date.available2020-07-07T15:31:02Z
dc.date.issued2018-08-13
dc.descriptionThis is a post-peer-review, pre-copyedit version of an article published in Behavior Genetics. The final authenticated version is available online at: https://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10519-018-9918-yen
dc.description.abstractBehavioral genetic (BG) research has yielded many important discoveries about the origins of human behavior, but offers little insight into how we might improve outcomes. We posit that this gap in our knowledge base stems in part from the epidemiologic nature of BG research questions. Namely, BG studies focus on understanding etiology as it currently exists, rather than etiology in environments that could exist but do not as of yet (e.g., etiology following an intervention). Put another way, they focus exclusively on the etiology of “what is” rather than “what could be”. The current paper discusses various aspects of this field-wide methodological reality, and offers a way to overcome it by demonstrating how behavioral geneticists can incorporate an experimental approach into their work. We outline an ongoing study that embeds a randomized intervention within a twin design, connecting “what is” and “what could be” for the first time. We then lay out a more general framework for a new field—experimental BGs—which has the potential to advance both scientific inquiry and related philosophical discussions.en
dc.description.sponsorshipThe funding for this research was provided by the Templeton Foundation through the Genetics of Human Agency Initiative.en
dc.identifier.urihttps://doi.org/10.1007/s10519-018-9918-y
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/10012/16040
dc.language.isoenen
dc.publisherSpringeren
dc.subjectGxEen
dc.subjectrandomized interventionen
dc.subjecttwin studyen
dc.titleUnderstanding “What Could Be”: A Call for ‘Experimental Behavioral Genetics’en
dc.typeArticleen
dcterms.bibliographicCitationBurt, S.A., Plaisance, K.S. & Hambrick, D.Z. Understanding “What Could Be”: A Call for ‘Experimental Behavioral Genetics’. Behav Genet 49, 235–243 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10519-018-9918-yen
uws.contributor.affiliation1Faculty of Artsen
uws.contributor.affiliation1Faculty of Environmenten
uws.contributor.affiliation2Knowledge Integrationen
uws.contributor.affiliation2Philosophyen
uws.peerReviewStatusRevieweden
uws.scholarLevelFacultyen
uws.typeOfResourceTexten

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