The Limits of Family Influence: Genes, Experience, and BehaviorMost parents believe that their child's personality and intellectual development are a direct result of their child-rearing practices and home environment. This belief is supported by many social scientists who contend that the influences of "nature" and "nurture" are inseparable. Challenging such universally accepted assumptions, The Limits of Family Influence argues that socialization science has placed too heavy an emphasis on the family as the bearer of culture. Similarly, it reveals how the environmental variables most often named in socialization science - such as social class, parental warmth, and one- versus two-parent households - may also be empty of causal influence on child outcomes such as intelligence, personality, and psychopathology. In clear, accessible language, David C. Rowe critiques these basic assumptions and demonstrates how our reliance on them prevents us from fully comprehending personality development and the influence of different experiences. Structured to give evidence for this conclusion and to explore its many implications, the book first examines the theoretical basis of socialization science and then describes in great detail what behavior genetic studies can teach us about environmental influence. The volume opens with an overview of the weaknesses of socialization science, and immediately presents a blueprint for interpreting behavior genetic studies. Demonstrating the minimal effects of the family environment on personality, psychopathology, and human intelligence, the author persuasively argues that the measures we label as environmental, including social class, may actually hide genetic variation. He covers the lack of rearing influence onbehavioral sex differences and finally, moving beyond empirical evidence to speculation, he considers why variation in family environment has so little effect on personality development. Taking a bold step toward a fuller understanding of child development, this text will be valuable for |
Contents
The Primacy of Child Rearing in Socialization Theory | 7 |
Parental Treatment Effects in Socialization Theories | 8 |
Family Primacy? | 13 |
Limitations of Socialization Studies | 19 |
Where Does Environmental Influence Start and Stop? | 22 |
Note | 26 |
References | 27 |
Separating Nature and Nature | 29 |
A Model of Intelligence | 123 |
Notes | 127 |
References | 128 |
Uniting Nature and Nature The Genetics of Environmental Measures | 132 |
The Genetics of Social Class | 133 |
The Genetics of ChildRearing Styles | 148 |
The Genetics of Other Environmental Variables | 153 |
Finding the Thresholds | 161 |
Environmental Components of Variation | 32 |
Genetic Variability | 34 |
Research Designs for Separating Nature and Nurture | 37 |
Environments and Behavior | 52 |
Notes | 54 |
References | 55 |
As the Twig Is Bent? Families and Personality | 57 |
Behavior Genetic Studies of Personality Traits | 62 |
Behavior Genetic Studies of Psychopathology | 74 |
Behavior Genetic Studies of Social Attitudes | 83 |
Behavior Genetic Research on Religious Affiliation | 89 |
Niche Picking | 90 |
Notes | 93 |
Limited Rearing Effects on Intelligence IQ | 97 |
Explanations for Intellectual Growth | 101 |
Behavior Genetic Studies of Rearing Environments and IQ | 105 |
Studies of IQ Speed and Capacity | 114 |
Preliminary Research on Physiology and IQ | 119 |
Possibilities for Future Research | 122 |
References | 164 |
Gender Differences | 168 |
Studies of SexLinked Personality Traits | 169 |
Studies of Differential Treatments | 171 |
The Biological Basis of Sex Differences | 174 |
The Evolutionary Perspective | 179 |
Gender Dimorphisms and Individual Differences | 185 |
Biological Sex Differences and Cultural Transmission | 188 |
Notes | 190 |
Why Families Have Little Influence | 193 |
The Generality of Learning | 194 |
Examining Models of Cultural Transmission | 203 |
Forces Maintaining Genetic Variability | 209 |
The Need for Theories of Coevolution | 218 |
Social and Policy Implications | 222 |
Notes | 224 |
References | 226 |
229 | |
Common terms and phrases
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