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Cultural evolution may influence heritability by shaping assortative mating

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 September 2022

Tian Chen Zeng  and
Joseph Henrich
Tian Chen Zeng
Affiliation:
Department of Human Evolutionary Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA. tianchen_zeng@g.harvard.edu joseph.henrich@gmail.com
Joseph Henrich
Affiliation:
Department of Human Evolutionary Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA. tianchen_zeng@g.harvard.edu joseph.henrich@gmail.com
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Abstract

Uchiyama et al. productively discuss how culture can influence genetic heritability and, by modifying environmental conditions, limit the generalizability of genome-wide association studies (GWASs). Here, we supplement their account by highlighting how recent changes in culture and institutions in industrialized, westernized societies – such as increased female workforce participation – may have increased assortative mating. This alters the distribution of genotypes themselves, increasing heritability and phenotypic variance, and may be detectable using the latest methods.

Type
Open Peer Commentary
Information
Behavioral and Brain Sciences , Volume 45 , 2022 , e181
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Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2022. Published by Cambridge University Press

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