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As a dynamic, interdisciplinary field, behavior genetics and its evolution are being followed closely by scientists across the psychological and medical domains. The discoveries surrounding the human genome and the advancement in molecular genetic technologies have ?led to studies becoming increasingly sophisticated and yielding ?yet more conclusive and useful results. This is certainly the case in the area of child and adult psychopathology.?Behavior Genetics of Psychopathology summarizes the state of the field, examiningthe role of genes and environment as they affect common neurodevelopmental and psychiatric conditions. Emphasizing key research areas (comorbidities, twin studies, the integration of methods), the book assesses the current literature, offers up-to-date findings, sorts through lingering controversies, and identifies a clear future agenda for the field. Expertly-written chapters focus on issues of both general salience that shape behavior genetics of psychopathology, to specific disorders of major clinical importance, among them:?ADHD: the view from quantitative genetic research.Autism spectrum disorders and their complex heterogeneityGenetic influences on anxiety and depression in childhood and adolescence.Evidence for etiologically-defined subgroups within the construct of antisocial behavior.Sleep and psychopathology: the reasons for their co-occurrence. Behavioral genetic approaches to the etiology of comorbidity.Epigenetics of psychopathology.?This combination of timeliness and depth of coverage make Behavior Genetics of Psychopathology a frontline resource for behavior geneticists, psychologists, psychiatrists, and neuroscientists, and is perfectly suited to graduate students looking to join these fields.

I develop "personalized social policy" as a speculative exercise to examine the possibility that policy makers and service providers, making decisions under conditions of uncertainty, could use genetic information to divide clients into "treatment groups" receiving differential service goods to better meet individual needs or achieve efficiency. Using real and hypothetical examples from genetics and social services, I show how personalized social policy might work and discuss its implications for the practical organization and theoretical justification of social policy. The analysis suggests that behavior genetics could dramatically impact social policy, not by sowing fatalism about change, but by offering specific, practical tools that would reorganize the institutional and professional composition of social services delivery and bolster functionalist rationales for social welfare. Policy analysts should focus on specific ways genetic information might affect policy decisions to prepare proactive responses should the prospect of personalized social policy become a reality.

ObjectivesThis study explains how behavior genetic analysis using a twin design can help us assess the validity of our measures.MethodsWe test multiple indicators of response propensity, a measure used by survey researchers to better understand the similarities and differences between survey respondents and nonrespondents. The response propensity indicators evaluated include response to follow‐up surveys and subsequent waves of a panel and the completion of a sensitive recontact information sheet to aid subsequent recontact efforts.ResultsA classical and the newly proposed method of validation all point to insufficient validity of our response propensity measures. Construct validation using data from the National Survey of Midlife Development in the United States exhibited little correlation between indicators. Genetic analysis suggests that the success of subsequent data‐collection efforts is predominantly driven by additive genetic effects, while nonresponse to inquiries for recontact information is influenced predominantly by familial environmental predictors.ConclusionOur results indicate that different underlying constructs drive the response propensity indicators, suggesting that nonresponse is, at minimum, multidimensional.

This study explains how behavior genetic analysis using a twin design can help us assess the validity of our measures. We test multiple indicators of response propensity, a measure used by survey researchers to better understand the similarities and differences between survey respondents and nonrespondents. The response propensity indicators evaluated include response to follow-up surveys and subsequent waves of a panel and the completion of a sensitive recontact information sheet to aid subsequent recontact efforts. A classical and the newly proposed method of validation all point to insufficient validity of our response propensity measures. Construct validation using data from the National Survey of Midlife Development in the United States exhibited little correlation between indicators. Genetic analysis suggests that the success of subsequent data-collection efforts is predominantly driven by additive genetic effects, while nonresponse to inquiries for recontact information is influenced predominantly by familial environmental predictors. Our results indicate that different underlying constructs drive the response propensity indicators, suggesting that nonresponse is, at minimum, multidimensional. Adapted from the source document.

ObjectiveGroup identity is a central concept in many social science disciplines. We investigate why people identify with groups and show favoritism to in‐group members. We anticipate group identifications are substantially influenced by genes and social environments, likely working through stable personality traits.MethodsUsing twin study data from the National Survey of Midlife Development in the United States (MIDUS I), we investigate the heritability of in‐group identification and favoritism, as well as the extent to which the genetic bases of these orientations are shared with genetic underpinnings of personality traits, primarily focusing on the "Big Five": openness to experience, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, and emotional stability/neuroticism.ResultsGroup identification is largely attributable to genetic factors. However, environments also affect group identification. The heritability of personality traits accounts for a modest portion of the genetic variation of group identification.ConclusionOur findings have implications for the study of collective action, identity politics, and the growing research program investigating social and political behavior genetics.

The last several decades have witnessed remarkable advances in neurobiological approaches, including evolutionary, neuropsychological, behavioral genetic, and physiological methods to explore individual differences in social and political phenomena. In this special issue, we seek to include these advances into the greater political psychology discourse through a series of articles focused on topics of enduring interest to political psychologists, such as candidate evaluation, voter turnout, race, and public preferences concerning social welfare policy.

"In this unique amalgam of neuroscience, genetics and evolutionary psychology, Ryan argues that leftists and rightists are biologically distinct versions of the human species that came into being at different moments in human evolution. The book argues that the varying requirements of survival at different points in history explain why leftists and rightists have anatomically different brains as well as radically distinct behavioral traits. Rightist traits such as callousness and fearfulness emerged early in evolution when violence was pervasive in human life and survival depended on the fearful anticipation of danger. Leftist traits such as pro-sociality and empathy emerged later as environmental adversity made it necessary for humans to live in larger social groups that required new adaptive behavior. The book also explores new evolutionary theories that emphasize the role of the environment in shaping not only human political behavior but also humans' genetic architecture. With implications for the future of politics, the book explores how the niche worlds we build for ourselves through political action can have consequences for the evolution of the species. Proposing a new way of understanding human politics, this is fascinating reading for students and academics in psychology, the social sciences, and humanities, as well as general readers interested in political behavior"--

Are people free to make choices, or do genes determine behavior? Paradoxically, the answer to both questions is "yes," because of neurogenetic individuality, a new theory with profound implications. This theory emerged from gene discoveries by Dr. Goldman and his colleagues which have been recently published in 'Nature'. Genetic studies reveal pathways from DNA to behavior that are helping us understand the diversity of human behavior and behavior of other species. In this book, the complexity of human behavior and a person's ability to choose is explained as deriving from a relatively small number of genes which direct neurodevelopmental sequence. The author uses judicial, political, medical, and ethical examples to illustrate that this lifelong process is guided by individual genotype, molecular and physiologic principles, as well as by randomness and environmental exposures we choose and do not choose. Poses and resolves challenges to moral responsibility raised by modern genetics and neuroscience Preface will be written by a world renowned geneticist or neuroscientist. Authoritatively written, provides a neurogenetic mechanism for the origins of free will and ability to make moral choices to engage a broad audience of professionals

"Genetics and Heritability Research on Political Decision Making" published on by Oxford University Press.

From a biologist's perspective, social behavior includes any behavior that involves at least two actors. By this definition, social behavior can include aggregation in slime molds, the colony structure of the eusocial insects, or the coordinated efforts of humans across vast distances to successfully land on the moon. The diversity of this range of behavior shares one driving force: natural selection. While natural selection acts at the level of phenotype (e.g., morphology, metabolism, behavior) the ultimate unit of natural selection is the gene contained in DNA-the object of inheritance. The relationship between DNA and social behavior is uncovered in the field of sociogenomics, defined as the mechanistic study of genes, gene products, and gene × gene interaction networks supporting emergent social behaviors.

The Cambridge Handbook of Violent Behavior and Aggression presents the current state of knowledge related to the study of violent behaviors and aggression. An important extension of the first Handbook published ten years ago, the second edition maintains a distinctly cross-disciplinary focus by representing the newest scholarship and insights from behavior genetics, cross-cultural comparative psychology/criminology, evolutionary psychology, criminal justice, criminology, human development, molecular genetics, neurosciences, psychology, prevention and intervention sciences, psychiatry, psychopharmacology, public health, and sociology. The Handbook is divided into introductory and overview chapters on the study of violent behavior and aggression, followed by chapters on biosocial bases, individual and interpersonal factors, contextual factors, and prevention and intervention work and policy implications. It is an essential resource for researchers, scholars, and graduate students across social and behavioral science disciplines interested in the etiology, intervention, and prevention of violent behavior and aggression