The Heredity Hoax Challenging Flawed Genetic Theories of Human Development

Preface

Section I. Framing the choice: The pseudo-evidence and pessimism of genetic reductions vs. the evidence and optimism derived from research framed by dynamic, relational development systems based concepts.

Editors’ Introduction

1. Addressing the heredity hoax in science and society: A view of the issues - Richard M. Lerner and Gary Greenberg

2. The fallacies and failures of genetic reductionism: An historical review of lessons learned - Gary Greenberg

Section II. Metatheory and theory about the nature-nurture coaction

Editors’ Introduction

3. Metatheory and the primacy of conceptual analysis in developmental science - David C. Witherington, Willis F. Overton, Robert Lickliter, Peter J. Marshall, and Darcia Narvaez

4. The failure of biogenetic analysis in psychology: Why psychology is not a biological science - Gary Greenberg

5. What Galton’s Eugenics Has Wrought - David S. Moore

Section III. The concepts of instinct and critical periods

Editors’ Introduction

6. Development evolving: The origins and meanings of instinct - Mark S. Blumberg

7. Critical period: A history of the transition from questions of when, to what, to how - George F. Michel and Amber N. Tyler

8. Short arms and talking eggs: Why we should no longer abide the nativist–empiricist debate - John P. Spencer, Mark S. Blumberg, Bob McMurray, Scott R. Robinson, Larissa K. Samuelson, and J. Bruce Tomblin

Section IV. Evolution

Editors’ Introduction

9. Toward a new developmental and evolutionary synthesis - Gilbert Gottlieb

10. Précis of Evolution in Four Dimensions - Eva Jablonka and Marion J. Lamb

11. Developmental evolution - Robert Lickliter

12. Evolving evolutionary psychology - Darcia Narvaez, David S. Moore, David C. Witherington, Timothy I. Vandiver, and Robert Lickliter

13. Evolution beyond neo-Darwinism: A new conceptual framework - Denis Noble

Section V. Behavior genetics: heritability, twin studies, adoption studies, and IQ

Editors’ Introduction

14. From gene to organism: The developing individual as an emergent, interactional, hierarchical system - Gilbert Gottlieb

15. The heritability fallacy - David S. Moore and David Shenk

16. The 1990 “Minnesota Study of Twins Reared Apart” IQ Study: Ripe for Retraction? - Jay Joseph

Section VI. Sociobiology

Editors’ Introduction

17 Sociobiology and the theory of natural selection - Stephen Jay Gould

18. Sociobiology and human development: Arguments and evidence - Richard M. Lerner and Alexander von Eye

Section VII. Epigenetics

Editors’ Introduction

19. Social regulation of human gene expression - Steve W. Cole

20. Human Social Genomics - Steve W. Cole

21. Behavioral epigenetics - David S. Moore

22. Dynamic heredity - Douglas Wahlsten

Section VIII. Implications for programs and policies

Editors’ Introduction

23. The Bell Curve at 30: A Closer Look at the Within- and Between-Group IQ Genetic Evidence - Jay Joseph and Ken Richardson

24. Using the Science of Learning and Development to Transform Educational Practice - Linda Darling-Hammond, Lisa Flook, Channa Cook-Harvey, Brigid Barron, and David Osher

25. The Future of the Science of Learning and Development: Whole-child development, learning, and thriving in an era of collective adversity, disruptive change, and increasing inequality - Pamela Cantor and David Osher

26. Rejecting Genetic Reductionism and Embracing Relationism and the Complexity of Dynamic Systems - Richard M. Lerner and Gary Greenberg

Biography

Richard M. Lerner is the Bergstrom Chair in Applied Developmental Science and the Director of the Institute for Applied Research in Youth Development in the Eliot Pearson Department of Child Study and Human Development at Tufts University.

Gary Greenberg is Professor Emeritus of Psychology at Wichita State University and Co-founder (with Ethel Tobach) of the International Society for Comparative Psychology; he has been a comparative psychologist for his entire career.

"Genetics enjoy a high profile today in the minds of the intelligentsia and lay public alike. Fresh genetic results are often announced in newspapers with fanfare and draw immediate attention. No doubt they are “sexy,” and, undeniably, we are in part products of our inheritance – our nature. However, only in part, and the ultimate story genetic reductionism tells always turns out to be more nuanced and complex than originally touted. Vigilant academics who follow the literature have come to understand that precious few heralded genetic findings survive follow-up scrutiny or replication. Where’s the pushback? Well, here. In The Heredity Hoax, Richard Lerner and Gary Greenberg crystallize conceptual and methodological shortcomings of genetic reductionism in their own words as they expose problematic implications of genetic reductionist ideas for policy, programs, and social justice. Moreover, they skillfully marshal the words of proponents and critics to buttress their contentions. But, you ask, what perspective is left to supplant or, at least, supplement the genetic project? Lerner and Greenberg do not leave you in the lurch, but are persuasive that relational developmental systems – the coaction of nature and nurture – offer a more rational, productive, and optimistic framework for understanding human development. Want to be an intelligent consumer of the scientific literature in this grand debate of the 21st century? The Heredity Hoax is where to start."
- Marc H. Bornstein, President Emeritus, Society for Research in Child Development; Editor, Parenting: Science and Practice

"In this magnificent and timely volume Richard Lerner and Gary Greenberg have brought together a collection of chapters by the world’s leading authorities that address the fatal misconceptions of classical genetic accounts of human development. Just as quantum theory has upended our classical view of the physical world, the various chapters in this volume systematically challenge and replace the determinist view of genetic heritability with a dynamic Relational Developmental Systems metatheoretical framework that revolutionizes our understanding of human development and its potential. This reframing of the dynamic nature of the relations between genetics and development has profound and potentially positive implications for our approaches to education, parenting and broader issues of social justice."

- Larry Nucci, Professor, Graduate School of Education, University of California Berkeley

"The Heredity Hoax is an important collection that battles genetic determinism on multiple fronts. Curated by two field leaders who have devoted their careers to this fight, this collection dismantles fallacies of simplistic reductionism in ethology, evolutionary biology, behavior genetics, and sociobiology. Not content with critique, Professors Lerner and Greenberg bring together perspectives to build a real and rigorous alternative framework that analyzes behavior as an emergent property of dynamic, relational, bio-social systems of organismal development. Connecting this new paradigm to policy frameworks, they show how bio-social science can take part in the optimistic cultivation of human flourishing and greater equality. This guide will be essential reading for newcomers to this field as well as experienced experts."

- Aaron Panofsky, Professor, UCLA Institute for Society and Genetics, Public Policy, and Sociology; Director, Institute for Society and Genetics

"For a long time, most people have believed that human behavior such as one's intelligence, attitude, personality, and even fate, is influenced by genetic factors. However, Richard M. Lerner and Gary Greenberg discuss otherwise through the book which comes as a sharp criticism to dismantle genetic theories in human behavior and offers an alternative with the Rational Developmental Systems (RDS) approach. The RDS approach discusses the prediction of changes in human behavior while also presenting a practical guide to the application of RDS in policy systems, programs, and interventions in the social environment. Chapter 1 begins with the belief that genes determine all aspects including human behavior from intelligence, to morality. However, they show that this belief is incorrect, as it is based on weak methodology, over-generalization, and lack of context. In Chapter 2, Greenberg shows the history and concept of how beliefs about genes have survived in academia despite criticism. According to him, the study of genetics has failed but is widely accepted or called ‘bad science’. In addition, Greenberg invites to change the perspective from the genetic approach to the RDS approach because it offers many scientific options so that change and development can be facilitated with various types of appropriate interventions. In conclusion, the book discusses the factors that can influence human behavior, not only genetic factors, but also environmental, social, and life experiences. The book not only critiques but also provides a newer and more complete approach to understanding human behavior change in various contexts."

-Agung Subakti Nuzulullail, Master of Nursing, Faculty of Medicine, Pubic Health, and Nursing, Universitas Gadjah Mada, Indonesia