Misunderstanding Genetic/environmental Interactions
Popular non-scientific or lay-scientific audiences frequently misunderstand or simply fail to recognize the existence of norms of reaction. A widespread conception is that each genotype gives a certain range of possible phenotypic expressions. In popular conception, something which is "more genetic" gives a narrower range, while something which is "less genetic (more environmental)" gives a wider range of phenotypic possibilities. This limited conceptual framework is especially prevalent in discussions of human traits such as IQ, Sexual orientation, altruism, or schizophrenia (see Nature versus nurture).
Popular conception of genotype/phenotype interaction
TRAIT SCALE <--6----------5----------4----------3----------2----------1----------0--> ^ (Genotype A) ^ ^ (Genotype B) ^ | | | | Environ <------> Other Environ <------> Other extreme extreme extreme extremeThe problem with this common simplified image is not that it does not represent a possible norm of reaction. Rather, by reducing the picture from two dimensions to just one, it focuses only on discrete, non-overlapping phenotypic expressions, and hides the more common pattern local minima and maxima in phenotypic expression, with overlapping ranges of phenotypic expression between genotypes.
Read more about this topic: Norms Of Reaction
Famous quotes containing the words genetic and/or interactions:
“Man is not merely the sum of his masks. Behind the shifting face of personality is a hard nugget of self, a genetic gift.... The self is malleable but elastic, snapping back to its original shape like a rubber band. Mental illness is no myth, as some have claimed. It is a disturbance in our sense of possession of a stable inner self that survives its personae.”
—Camille Paglia (b. 1947)
“In child rearing it would unquestionably be easier if a child were to do something because we say so. The authoritarian method does expedite things, but it does not produce independent functioning. If a child has not mastered the underlying principles of human interactions and merely conforms out of coercion or conditioning, he has no tools to use, no resources to apply in the next situation that confronts him.”
—Elaine Heffner (20th century)