Genes are Everything
Almost all traits run in families. But why? People have literally debated the question for thousands of years. Is the cause nature/heredity/genes, nurture/upbringing/parenting, or some mixture of the two?
…As I recount in my forthcoming book, twin and adoption researchers studied human health, intelligence, happiness, success, character, values, appreciation, and more. Their answers are beyond surprising. With a few important exceptions, they learned that nature handily wins its ancient cage match with nurture, especially in the long-run. Traits run in families primarily due to heredity, not upbringing. The mighty effects that people ascribe to parenting are largely imaginary.
This is Bryan Caplan at EconLog.
I’ve always heard that to live a long, healthy life you first need to master the ability to pick your parents.
I think Bryan is right, but this is hard for people to accept.
I can’t decide whether to be depressed over this or not. If genes are everything, then there is not much we can do about it. Right?
Not quite right, Madeline. You can a lot of control over what happens to you. But your basic endowment is controlled by Mother Nature.
Why should people be upset over the idea that genes control our behavior? Don’t we all accept the idea that genes control the behavior of every other beast in the animal kingdom?
Ditto Stephen.