G is for Genes by Plomin Robert Asbury Kathryn & Robert Plomin

Author:Plomin, Robert, Asbury, Kathryn & Robert Plomin
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Wiley
Published: 2013-03-29T16:00:00+00:00

IQ + Genetics = Controversy (and Name-calling)

Underpinning this chapter is the fact—and it is a fact—that cognitive ability is subject to significant genetic influence, particularly as children grow into teenagers and adults. And herein lies one of the principal fault lines between geneticists and educationalists. The fact that cognitive ability is subject to significant genetic influence is a source of huge controversy. Even very well-informed critics worry that publicly acknowledging a tangible physical basis for individual differences in IQ may lead to discrimination against less able children. And yet, which of these people would deny that babies are born with different temperaments and that some children are more shy, daring, serious, or outgoing than others? Who could bring two children into the world and fail to recognize this from the outset?

It seems to us that the idea of genetic influence is not objectionable in itself, only when it is attached to traits that are emotionally loaded in our society—the bases of our discrimination. Therefore genetic findings that attach to intelligence, race, crime, or sexuality are always given a lot of (usually wrongheaded) coverage in our media; lines are drawn and tempers get frayed. When miscommunicated, the fact of genetic influence on ability appears to threaten reasonable political and moral debate. Genetic influence is all too often mistranslated as genetic determinism, and that way lies the madness of Nazi sterilization programs for those with a low IQ, and selective breeding programs for those at the opposite end of the spectrum. Such horrors of history are based on a willful distortion of science and have led to a widespread public mistrust of genetics in general.

The truth is that next to nothing is determined by genes, and our environments are hugely powerful. Ironically, one good way to illustrate this is to look at one of the many misguided schemes organized by genetic determinists. The program in question was a sperm bank for Nobel Prize winners. It was set up in San Diego around 30 years ago under the dry moniker of “Repository for Germinal Choice,” later dubbed “The Genius Bank.” The founder, Robert Klark Graham—inventor of the shatterproof spectacle lens—believed that “retrograde humans” were breeding to excess and that the only way to stop the harm this was causing was to set up a breeding program for the most intelligent. He began by collecting sperm samples from a very small number of Nobel Prize winners. This in itself proved to be an inauspicious beginning: old men's sperm isn't ideal for fertilization, however clever the donor. Graham then lowered his sights to successful, healthy MENSA members. Married women who themselves were members of MENSA were allowed to request a sperm sample; many have since reported that it seemed like a reasonable way of screening for good genes. So why was it misguided? Well, it was based on two false assumptions: first, that IQ and achievement are the same thing; and, second, that they are entirely genetic and will breed true, like Mendel's peas. As

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.