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Our Genes, Our Choices
How Genotype and Gene Interactions Affect Behavior
- 2nd Edition - September 4, 2023
- Author: David Goldman
- Language: English
- Paperback ISBN:9 7 8 - 0 - 4 4 3 - 2 2 1 6 1 - 3
- eBook ISBN:9 7 8 - 0 - 4 4 3 - 2 2 1 6 2 - 0
Our Genes, Our Choices: How Genotype and Gene Interactions Affect Behavior, Second Edition explains how the complexity of human behavior, including concepts of free will, derives f… Read more
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Request a sales quoteOur Genes, Our Choices: How Genotype and Gene Interactions Affect Behavior, Second Edition explains how the complexity of human behavior, including concepts of free will, derives from a relatively small number of genes which direct neurodevelopmental sequences. Are people free to make choices or do genes determine behavior? Paradoxically, the answer to both questions is "yes," because of neurogenetic individuality, a new theory with profound implications. Here, author David Goldman uses judicial, political, medical, and ethical examples to illustrate that this lifelong process is guided by individual genotype, molecular and physiologic principles, as well as by randomness and environmental exposures.
Written in an authoritative yet accessible style, the book includes practical descriptions of the function of DNA, discusses the scientific and historical bases of genethics, and introduces the topics of epigenetics and the predictive power of behavioral genetics.
- Updates on the previous edition which was the First Prize winner of the 2013 BMA Medical Book Award for Basic and Clinical Sciences
- Poses and resolves challenges to moral responsibility raised by modern genetics and neuroscience
- Analyzes the neurogenetic origins of human behavior and free will
- Features expanded sections on the neurogenetic basis of free will, polygenic risk scores, and epigenetic influence over behavior, as well as improved figures and updated terminology
Researchers in human genetics, medical genetics, behavioral genetics and neurogenetics. Students; clinicians
- Cover image
- Title page
- Table of Contents
- Copyright
- Disclaimer
- Dedication
- About the author
- Preface
- Chapter 1: Introduction: Thou mayest choose
- Abstract
- References
- Chapter 2: The jinn in the genome
- Abstract
- Fifteen minutes of fame
- Some famous geneticists and why they are famous
- The jinns of knowledge and technology
- Revolutions in culture and evolution of genes
- Genes, brain, and individuality
- The neurogenetics of determinism and freedom
- References
- Chapter 3: 2B or not 2B?
- Abstract
- Anecdata and data
- A common stop codon causing impulsivity and hyperarousal
- Validating an impulsivity gene in a mouse model
- References
- Chapter 4: Stephen Mobley and his X chromosome
- Abstract
- The death of Stephen Mobley
- The Kallikak effect
- Mobley demands a genetic test
- Combining gene and hormone to predict impulsivity
- Carrying kohl to Italy
- The state of DNA in prediction of violence
- References
- Chapter 5: Dial multifactorial for murder: The intersection of genes and culture
- Abstract
- A murder in the lab
- Missing puzzle pieces, an obstacle to reductionism
- Why are some societies more violent?
- Guns or people?
- A fierce people
- Civilizing people
- Violent youth
- References
- Chapter 6: Distorted capacity: The measure of the impaired will
- Abstract
- Conscious and unconscious behavior
- Context appropriate and inappropriate behavior
- Personality types and choices
- The inheritance of impulsivity, and what it means
- Impulsivity differs from person to person and from species to species
- Zero-trial learning
- Impulsivity and aggression in context
- Measuring impulsivity and aggression
- Integrating measures and genes
- Measuring the brain
- The arousal (thymos) of youth
- Animal models of arousal, impulsivity, and aggression
- References
- Chapter 7: Distorted capacity: Neuropsychiatric diseases and the impaired will
- Abstract
- Impulsivity, diminished capacity, and neuropsychiatric disease
- Disorders of impulse control
- References
- Chapter 8: Inheritance of behavior and genes “for” behavior: Gene wars
- Abstract
- The debate on the heritability of behavior
- The genome encodes reaction range
- Choice and reaction range
- Reaction range and free will
- Twin studies and controversies they provoked
- The debate on genes “for” behavior
- People are not monkeys
- The politics of behavioral genetics
- Antipsychiatry: Are psychiatric diagnoses valid?
- References
- Chapter 9: The scientific and historic basis of genethics
- Abstract
- Standards of science and evidence
- Ethics of research: Trust, but verify
- Genes, jobs, and groups
- The Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act
- Gene therapy
- Group consent and individual consent
- Beyond a pretense of autonomy
- References
- Chapter 10: The world is double helical: DNA, RNA, and proteins, in a few easy pieces
- Abstract
- DNA recipes
- Polymorphism
- Protein polymorphism
- DNA polymorphism
- Measured ancestry
- References
- Chapter 11: The stochastic brain: From DNA blueprint to behavior
- Abstract
- Self-assembly
- Cell assembly
- Interactomes
- Stochasticity
- Cascades, chaos, and great attractors
- Brain assembly
- Fire together, wire together
- Fractal neurons
- Stochasticity in higher order brain structure
- The stochastic basis of individual and group intelligence
- Rules guiding the chaos of brain evolution and development
- Sense of self
- References
- Chapter 12: Reintroducing genes and behavior
- Abstract
- Behavioral prediction, a science imperfect
- Commercialization of behavioral prediction
- The future of genetic behavioral prediction
- A gene causing anemia
- A gene causing self-mutilation
- A gene causing cognitive deficiency
- References
- Chapter 13: Warriors and worriers
- Abstract
- A common genetic variant “for” warriors and worriers
- Executive cognitive function
- Cognitive flexibility and free will
- Perseveration
- Worriers and warriors
- References
- Chapter 14: How many genes does it take to make a behavior?
- Abstract
- Single genes
- Polygenic and epistatic models of behavior
- Bayesian reasoning—How to use prior probability
- Behavior and the single gene
- References
- Chapter 15: The genesis and genetics of sexual behavior
- Abstract
- Gender and sex
- Biological determinants of gender
- We are love machines
- Sneaker males
- Slaves to sex: The difficulty of turning off the sex drive
- How people modulate and harness their sex drives
- Taboos
- Homosexuality and the “gay gene”
- Elliot Gershon and the in-depth family paradigm
- Discovery of the “gay gene”
- Is homosexuality inherited from one’s mother?
- Genes for homosexuality
- References
- Chapter 16: Gene-by-environment interaction
- Abstract
- Variations on the theme of gene-by-environment interaction
- Ancient environment × genome interaction
- Nature × nurture
- What is gene-by-environment interaction?
- Genes that modulate stress resilience
- Intermediate phenotype and endophenotype
- Interactions leading to psychiatric disease
- Animal models of gene-by-stress interaction
- Love, in monkeys?
- References
- Chapter 17: The epigenetic revolution: The imprint of the environment on the genome
- Abstract
- Measuring environmental contingency
- An imprint of experience in the DNA
- Types of epigenetic imprint
- Wiping the epigenetic slate clean…
- …But not quite clean
- Measuring epigenetic variation
- First look at the epigenetic “depth” of the human genome
- References
- Chapter 18: Time out for free will
- Abstract
- Temporary and longer lasting impairments of choice
- Social implementations of the science of choice
- Ideology in genomics: The example of race and ancestry
- References
- Chapter 19: The top-down neurogenesis of free will
- Abstract
- Conscious automata
- A brief manual of parenting
- Free will and the conundrum of behavioral causality
- Exorcizing genetic behavioral determinism
- Neurogenetically influenced behavioral archetypes
- References
- Chapter 20: Neurogenetic origins of free will
- Abstract
- Reference
- Index
- No. of pages: 326
- Language: English
- Edition: 2
- Published: September 4, 2023
- Imprint: Academic Press
- Paperback ISBN: 9780443221613
- eBook ISBN: 9780443221620
DG
David Goldman
David Goldman received his B.S. from Yale University in 1974, graduating in only three years, and his M.D. degree from the University of Texas Medical Branch in 1978. He joined the intramural program of the National Institutes of Health in 1979, and is currently Clinical Director and Chief of the Laboratory of Neurogenetics of the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism. Throughout his career, he has identified genetic factors responsible for inherited differences in behavior, his laboratory pioneering in functional genomics – how differences in DNA sequence translate into behavioral differences from molecule to intermediate brain processes to behavior. He is recipient of many awards for his research and is one of the most highly cited scientists in biological psychiatry. His laboratory is currently exploring the genetics of substance use disorders and related health problems.
Affiliations and expertise
Clinical Director and Chief of the Laboratory of Neurogenetics, Office of the Clinical Director, Laboratory of Neurogenetics, NIAAA, Bethesda, MD, USARead Our Genes, Our Choices on ScienceDirect