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A handbook of general experimental psychology.Mechanisms and Laws of Heredity.

A handbook of general experimental psychology.: Mechanisms and Laws of Heredity. If the evidence discussed in the preceding review makes it seem probable that the doctrine of the inheritance of acquired characters gives no secure basis on which to bring about an intimate alliance between zoology and psychology, and if the statistical method developed by Galton and the Pearson school of biometricians, when applied to mixed populations, fails to give us the specific information that Mendel's principles supply, genetics may still have other bearings on the study of human psychology. A comparison of the facts of Mendelian heredity relating to plants and animals with what is known of human heredity leaves no doubt, as far as physical characters are involved, that the same rules apply to both. The extraordinary physical resemblance of identical twins to each other establishes on the soundest basis the fact that heredity plays an all-important role in the inheritance of structural characters. But it is extremely hazardous to carry over this inference to the psychic character of man where there is no certainty as to what extent his behavior is determined by heredity and by environment. Until suitable methods have been applied that are discriminative, conclusions will be largely a question of personal opinion or conviction. It need scarcely be urged again that identical twins under controlled conditions may supply much of the needed information. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved) http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png

A handbook of general experimental psychology.Mechanisms and Laws of Heredity.

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Publisher
Clark University Press
Copyright
Copyright © 1934 American Psychological Association
Pages
109 –154
DOI
10.1037/11374-002
Publisher site
See Chapter on Publisher Site

Abstract

If the evidence discussed in the preceding review makes it seem probable that the doctrine of the inheritance of acquired characters gives no secure basis on which to bring about an intimate alliance between zoology and psychology, and if the statistical method developed by Galton and the Pearson school of biometricians, when applied to mixed populations, fails to give us the specific information that Mendel's principles supply, genetics may still have other bearings on the study of human psychology. A comparison of the facts of Mendelian heredity relating to plants and animals with what is known of human heredity leaves no doubt, as far as physical characters are involved, that the same rules apply to both. The extraordinary physical resemblance of identical twins to each other establishes on the soundest basis the fact that heredity plays an all-important role in the inheritance of structural characters. But it is extremely hazardous to carry over this inference to the psychic character of man where there is no certainty as to what extent his behavior is determined by heredity and by environment. Until suitable methods have been applied that are discriminative, conclusions will be largely a question of personal opinion or conviction. It need scarcely be urged again that identical twins under controlled conditions may supply much of the needed information. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved)

Published: Feb 12, 2007

Keywords: heredity mechanisms; heredity laws; inheritance; experimental psychology

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