Behavioral and Psychiatric Genetics: Learning from History

Abstract

Behavioral and Psychiatric Genetics (BPG) offers great promise for clarifying the causes of both normal behaviors as well as psychiatric disorders, and in the latter case serving as a more rational basis for treatments. But the field has also generated serious social concerns about individual and ethnic stereotyping of intelligence and violent behaviors. This short talk identifies some of these themes from the 1970s, 80s, and 90s, and reviews recent shifts about the directions BPG is taking in the first decade of the twenty-first century. I cover the collapse of simple molecular gene-behavior models in the 1990s, and the rise of gene-environment interaction paradigms, as well as the increasing role of neuroscience in BPG in the present decade. I close by citing molecular-studies that may require we revisit previous historical lessons, now in a molecular genetics-neuroscience context.To watch Dr. Schaffner’s presentation, please see the "Google Video posting.":http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-2384504189343195854&hl=en