title: Genetic and environmental influences on human psychological differences.
abstract: Psychological researchers typically distinguish five major domains of individual differences in human behavior: cognitive abilities, personality, social attitudes, psychological interests, and psychopathology (Lubinski, 2000). In this article we: discuss a number of methodological errors commonly found in research on human individual differences; introduce a broad framework for interpreting findings from contemporary behavioral genetic studies; briefly outline the basic quantitative methods used in human behavioral genetic research; review the major criticisms of behavior genetic designs, with particular emphasis on the twin and adoption methods; describe the major or dominant theoretical scheme in each domain; and review behavioral genetic findings in all five domains. We conclude that there is now strong evidence that virtually all individual psychological differences, when reliably measured, are moderately to substantially heritable.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota 55455, USA. bouch001@tc.umn.edu
authors.forename: Thomas J
authors.initials: TJ
authors.lastname: Bouchard
authors.forename: Matt
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: McGue
mesh_terms: D000300:Adoption; D000367:Age Factors; D001290:Attitude; D003071:Cognition / Q000502:physiology; D003627:Data Interpretation, Statistical; D005195:Family Relations; D005260:Female; D005824:Genetics, Behavioral / Q000379:methods; D006801:Humans; D007206:Individuality; D007361:Intelligence Tests / Q000592:standards / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D007858:Learning / Q000502:physiology; D008297:Male; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000235:genetics; D010551:Personality / Q000235:genetics; D012067:Religion; D012727:Sex Characteristics; D012931:Social Environment; D013223:Statistics as Topic / Q000379:methods; D018433:Twin Studies as Topic / Q000379:methods / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D014427:Twins / Q000235:genetics / Q000523:psychology; D014937:Work / Q000523:psychology