Behavioural genetics (behavioral genetics) is the field of biology that studies the role of genetics in animal behaviour. The field is an overlap of genetics, ethology and psychology (particularly evolutionary psychology). Biology is the science of life (from the Greek words bios = life and logos = reasoned account). ... Genetics (from the Greek genno γεννώ= give birth) is the science of genes, heredity, and the variation of organisms. ... Phyla Porifera (sponges) Ctenophora (comb jellies) Cnidaria Placozoa Bilateria Acoelomorpha Orthonectida Rhombozoa ? Myxozoa Superphylum Deuterostomia     Chordata (vertebrates, etc. ... Behavior (U.S.) or behaviour (U.K.) refers to the actions or reactions of an object or organism, usually in relation to the environment. ... Genetics (from the Greek genno γεννώ= give birth) is the science of genes, heredity, and the variation of organisms. ... Ethology is the scientific study of animal behaviour (particularly of social animals such as primates and canids), and is a branch of zoology. ... Psychology (ancient Greek: psyche = soul and logos = word) is the study of mind, thought, and behaviour. ... Evolutionary psychology or (EP) proposes that human and primate cognition and behavior could be better understood by examining them in light of human and primate evolutionary history. ...

Behavioural geneticists particularly study the heritability of behavioural traits. Heritability, as used professionally in genetics, has a very precise definition. ...

In 1869, Francis Galton published the first empirical work in behavioural genetics, Hereditary Genius. Here, Galton intended to demonstrate that “a man's natural abilities are derived by inheritance, under exactly the same limitations as are the form and physical features of the whole organic world.” Like most seminal work, he overstated his conclusions. His was a family study and resemblance among familial relatives can be a function of both shared genes and shared environments. Contemporary behavioural genetics studies special populations—in human research, twins and adoptees and in animal research, specially bred strains and lines—to separate genetic from environmental effects. Francis Galton Sir Francis Galton FRS (February 16, 1822 - January 17, 1911) was an English explorer, statistician, anthropologist, creator of modern eugenics (he coined the term), and investigator of the human mind. ...

The initial impetus behind behavioural genetic research was to demonstrate that there were indeed genetic influences on behaviour. In psychology, this phase lasted for the first half of the 20th century largely because of the overwhelming influence of behaviourism in the field. Later behavioural genetic research focused on quantitative methods, and today there is a large emphasis on applying molecular genetic techniques to isolate individual genes that influence behaviour. Currently, the largest branch of behavioural genetics is psychiatric genetics which studies phenotypes such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and alcoholism. Behaviorism (or behaviourism) is an approach to psychology based on the proposition that behavior is interesting and worthy of scientific research. ...

References

• Carey, G. (2003) Human Genetics for the Social Sciences. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications. [1] (http://psych.colorado.edu/hgss)

External links

• US Human Genome Project on Behavioral Genetics (http://www.ornl.gov/sci/techresources/Human_Genome/elsi/behavior.shtml)