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Missing compared to what? Revisiting heritability, genes and culture

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Feldman, Marcus W., Ramachandran, Sohini·2018·Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences
DOI 10.1098/rstb.2017.0064PMC PMC5812976
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Abstract

Standard models for the determination of phenotypes from genes are grounded in simple assumptions that are inherent in the modern evolutionary synthesis (MES), which was developed in the 1930s, 1940s and 1950s. The MES was framed in the context of Mendelian genetic transmission enhanced by the Fisherian view of the way discretely inherited genes determine continuously quantitative phenotypes. The statistical models that are used to estimate and interpret genetic contributions to human phenotypes—including behavioural traits—are constructed within the framework of the MES. Variance analysis constitutes the main tool and is used under this framework to characterize genetic inheritance, and hence determination of phenotypes. In this essay, we show that cultural inheritance, when incorporated into models for the determination of phenotypes, can sharply reduce estimates of the genetic contribution to these phenotypes. Recognition of the importance of non-genetic transmission of many human traits is becoming ever more necessary to prevent regression to the debates of the 1970s and 1980s concerning policies based on genetic determination of complex human phenotypes. This article is part of the theme issue ‘Bridging cultural gaps: interdisciplinary studies in human cultural evolution’.

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  • Many of the pre-genomic-era limitations on the use of heritability to make inferences about the genetic basis of phenotypic differences among populations continue to apply, in updated form, to polygenic scores.

    “Although estimates of the contributions of specific genetic variants advance modern analyses beyond classical heritability statistics, many of the pre-genomic-era limitations on the use of heritability to make inferences about the genetic basis of phenotypic differences among populations [26–28] continue to apply, in updated form (Fig. 1).”

    From Interpreting polygenic scores, polygenic adaptation, and human phenotypic differences (2019) · cites this paper as [28]

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Cited by

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Authors
Feldman, M. W., & Ramachandran, S.
Affiliations
  • Stanford University (US)
  • Brown University (US)
Corresponding author
Feldman, Marcus W.
ORCID
Venue
Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences
Publisher
The Royal Society
Published
2018-02-12
Volume
373
Issue
1743
Pages
20170064
ISSN
  • 0962-8436 (ISSN-L)
  • 1471-2970
DOI
10.1098/rstb.2017.0064
PMC
PMC5812976
OpenAlex
W2789763834
Cited by
78
References
7
Citations by year
2026: 1 · 2025: 4 · 2024: 19 · 2023: 5 · 2022: 8 · 2021: 2 · 2020: 27 · 2019: 7 · 2018: 5
FWCI
77.99
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
Locations
  • Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B Biological Sciences (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
Funders
John Templeton Foundation (13337)
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Cultural Studies › Language and cultural evolution
  • Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › History and Philosophy of Science › Philosophy and History of Science
  • Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Genetics › Genetic Associations and Epidemiology
Keywords
heritability, cultural transmission, modern evolutionary synthesis, genetic transmission, behavioral characteristics, human phenotypes, analysis of variance, cultural evolution, genetic determinism
MeSH terms
Cultural Evolution, Humans, Models, Genetic, Phenotype, Models, Statistical, Heredity

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