Understanding the Nature‒Nurture Debate

Eric Turkheimer is a Clinical Psychologist and the Hugh Scott Hamilton Professor of Psychology at the University of Virginia, Charlottesville. Eric studies how interactions between genes and environments shape the development of human behaviour and has explored the scientific and philosophical basis of the nature-nurture debate for thirty-eight years. He is a past president of the Behavior Genetics Association (2012), a winner of the James Shields Award for Twin Research (2009), and a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

'Eric Turkheimer has long been a Socratic figure in the field of behavioral genetics – asking incisive and often uncomfortable questions. He continues this tradition in the present volume which, in particular, challenges the common triumphalist zeitgeist about the degree of progress observed with the 'molecular genetic revolution.' After pondering this volume, which should serve as an antidote to the excessive exuberance of some investigators, readers should have a healthy skepticism, appreciating both the strengths and some important limitations of this challenging field.' Kenneth S. Kendler, M.D., Virginia Commonwealth University

• Foreword; Preface; Acknowledgements; 1. Genesis: why do we care about Nature-Nurture?; 2. The worst legacy of Francis Galton; 3. Statistical science and the invention of heritability; 4. Reports of Galton's death are greatly exaggerated; 5. Thesis, antithesis, synthesis; 6. Plomin's predictions and the human genome project; 7. GWAS unchained, GWAS unwound; 8. Intelligence; 9. IQ, race and genetics; 10. Nature-Nurture and the possibility of human science; Summary of common misunderstandings; References; Figure credits; Index.