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Genetics of human behaviour

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2018

Joanna Moncrieff
Joanna Moncrieff*
Affiliation:
Section of Epidemiology and General Practice, Institute of Psychiatry, London SE5 8AF
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Abstract

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Ascribing human behaviour to the influence of genetic factors is a reductionist idea that inappropriately applies the explanations of physical science to the human social world. The result is that the designation of some behaviour as deviant is disguised as objective science. The high profile of genetic research means that we must be alert to the potential social consequences of this type of reasoning.

Type
Original papers
Information
Psychiatric Bulletin , Volume 22 , Issue 3 , March 1998 , pp. 158 - 161
Creative Commons
Creative Common License - CCCreative Common License - BY
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC-BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Copyright
Copyright © 1998 The Royal College of Psychiatrists

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