Download Ebook Blueprint: How DNA Makes Us Who We Are (The MIT Press), by Robert Plomin
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Blueprint: How DNA Makes Us Who We Are (The MIT Press), by Robert Plomin
Download Ebook Blueprint: How DNA Makes Us Who We Are (The MIT Press), by Robert Plomin
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Review
Plomin is a psychologist and geneticist, and he makes a persuasive case for the primacy of genes over environment in shaping our individual personalities. Genetics is a discipline that has been saying as much for a long time now, but Plomin really emphasises just how great the genetic influence is even in areas we'd hitherto assumed were almost entirely environmental. You don't have to agree with him, but you can't read the book without seeing the world afresh.―The GuardianAs Plomin himself concludes, genetics is much too important to leave to geneticists.―Psychology Today
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About the Author
Robert Plomin is Professor of Behavioural Genetics at the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology, and Neuroscience at King's College London. He previously held positions at the University of Colorado Boulder and Pennsylvania State University. He was elected a Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences and of the British Academy for his twin studies and his groundbreaking work in behavioral genetics. He is the author or coauthor of many books, including G is for Genes: The Impact of Genetics on Education and Achievement (with Kathryn Asbury).
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Product details
Series: The MIT Press
Hardcover: 280 pages
Publisher: The MIT Press (November 13, 2018)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0262039168
ISBN-13: 978-0262039161
Product Dimensions:
6 x 0.9 x 9 inches
Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
Average Customer Review:
3.9 out of 5 stars
25 customer reviews
Amazon Best Sellers Rank:
#60,235 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
Blueprint is a landmark. In this brief book, Robert Plomin distills 50 years of behavioral genetics research, much of which is based on studies he and his collaborators around the world conducted using twins separated at birth.Plomin's main findings are that virtually every trait that we care about is heritable, that what are often thought of as environmental effects are shaped by our genetic propensities, that parenting and schooling have very little effect on our capacities or personality, and that most of the traits that make us who we are result from many genes interacting with each other rather than, say, single genes for intelligence or schizophrenia or extraversion.Near the beginning of the book, Plomin introduces us to "the nature of nurture": a provocative phrase that refers to the fact that we actively shape our environments to fit our personalities rather than passively reflecting whatever environments we happen to be born into. In his words, "psychological environments are not 'out there', imposed on us passively. They are 'in here', experienced by us as we actively perceive, interpret, select, modify, and even create environments correlated with our genetic propensities" (p. 51).Plomin's findings suggest that, contrary to a view common among many academics and journalists, tweaking the environment will not equalize outcomes or interests. In fact, Plomin thinks, the more we equalize opportunities, the more noticeable heritable differences will become.To take one example, many elites spend enormous energy and time fighting over schooling. And of course access to education is important to allow those who are academically inclined to develop their talents. But, Plomin stresses, "genetic differences in children's aptitudes and appetites affect the extent to which they take advantage of educational opportunities" (p. 51). So much so that, according to Plomin, in places like the US and UK, "differences in schools do not make much of a difference in children's achievements" (p. 87).Many have noticed that wealthy and educated parents who fill their homes with books have children that are more likely to do the same. The typical story is that having books in the home or reading to children causes them to enjoy reading and perhaps boosts their IQ. Plomin suggests the reverse is true: "the socioeconomic status of parents is correlated with their children's educational and occupational outcomes. This correlation has been interpreted as if it is caused environmentally. That is, better-educated, wealthier parents are assumed to pass on privilege. Genetics turns the interpretation upside down. Socioeconomic status of parents is a measure of their educational and occupational outcomes, which are both substantially heritable" (p. 95).This does not mean that smart parents will inevitably have smart children, or that people are doomed to be just like their parents. Regression to the mean plus random genetic shuffling imply that it is impossible to predict precisely what children will be like based simply on the characteristics of their parents. Whole genome analysis of embryos will eventually give us a sense of what traits children are likely to have. But just glancing at their parents will not do the trick.The final part of Plomin's book gives an overview of "polygenic scores," a new tool that can help predict the probability of having a trait, or developing a disorder, by using information gleaned from genome wide association studies (GWAS). Polygenic scores, Plomin predicts, will eventually be used by people who are at risk of a disease to alter their environments and behavior in ways that minimize these risks. Still, if Plomin is right, we may be able to do less than many people think to fundamentally transform ourselves. We might have to learn to accept that even if DNA isn't destiny, genetics powerfully sculpts who we are.One criticism of the book is that Plomin occasionally leaves us with a sense that education doesn't matter much. In one sense this is true: it doesn't change our basic capacities or predispositions. But in another sense it is false: a core part of our individual identity is a function of our epistemic and social environment. We think differently than our great grandparents did in part because of the scientific revolution, because of laws and norms that protect or inhibit free speech, and because we either have access to books by Plato and Darwin, or are stuck in a society governed by religious fanatics. Even if education and culture don't change our basic abilities or personality, and what we are exposed to is partly a function of what we *want to* be exposed to, the environment can change a core part of our identity, and has the power to make our lives go better or worse.
This book discusses an important topic and one that should inform our policy decisions. Unfortunately it does not and this topic is generally taboo. The bottom line, supported by massive amounts of evidence by the way, is that the most important systematic influences on who we are and what we become our our genes.I give the author high marks for the courage to write this book and the first part of it was really outstanding. I was a little disappointed in the second part because I don't think the author's evidence support some of his conclusions. As of yet the correlations are not strong enough and there's way too much individual variation. To his credit Plomin admits and even shows in graphs the massive amount of overlap between individuals of different groups, but then he makes statements that seem to ignore what he just demonstrated.For example he says based on DNA alone you could predict that he is tall. His polygenic score for height is in the 90th percentile. And he is tall, however his own scatterplot shows a significant portion of the individuals in the 90th percentile of polygenic scores for height around the normal range. And there are plenty of people even below normal. So what you can predict from his DNA alone is that it is more likely than not that he is tall but not with a great deal of confidence. A significant portion of the people in his percentile are not tall. The same problem runs through much of the second part of his book.I do happen to believe that his general theme is correct and that EVENTUALLY polygenic scores will become much more predictive as the data accumulates. When he talks about how genes are responsible for approximately 50% of psychological traits, and how even a significant part of the so-called environmental effect is driven by genes, and finally how most of the rest of the environmental impacts are not systematic and unknown his analysis is outstanding and has powerful implications. This is important and we need to come to terms with it. We just aren't there yet with the predictive power of polygenic scores. And he way over plays its predictive power at the present time.Despite this flaw, overall I think this is an outstanding work and it's very important. I wish this information was much more widely known and accepted because it has important policy implications. I can't give it five stars but I do highly recommend this book.
Very insightful and readable. I wish he had responded to some critiques of twins studies but otherwise there is more than enough making this book worth a read. Pay attention since this topic will become increasingly important with time.
This book provides brand new information, information that constitutes a summation of research hinted at by the many twin studies and Head Start program analyses in the past: that genetics is the overwhelming determiner of the basic structure of character and personality.The main weakness in the book is that Dr Plomin follows the hallowed: "Tell them what you are going to tell them, then tell it to them, then tell them what you told them." format of presentation. I would have preferred less repetition and more information. The technical component could thus have been kicked up a notch (no, I am not a geneticist).Overall, outstanding new work in genetics is well described.Jan
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