Wrestling with Behavioral Genetics

Erik Parens is a senior research scholar at the Hastings Center and a visiting professor in the Science, Technology, and Society Program at Sarah Lawrence College. Audrey R. Chapman is a professor of community medicine and Healey Chair in Medical Humanities and Bioethics at the University of Connecticut School of Medicine. Nancy Press is a professor at the School of Nursing and the Department of Public Health at the School of Medicine, Oregon Health and Science University.

• List of ContributorsAcknowledgmentsIntroductionPart I: Basic Scientific Concepts and DebatesChapter 1. Behavior: Its Nature and Nurture, Part 1Chapter 2. Behavior: Its Nature and Nurture, Part 2Chapter 3. Whither Human Behavioral Genetics?Chapter 4. Mobiles: A Gloomy View of Research into Complex Human TraitsChapter 5. Using Genetics to Understand Human Behavior: Promises and RisksPart II: Basic Ethical and Social Concepts and ProblemsChapter 6. Social Construction and Medicalization: Behavioral Genetics in ContextChapter 7. Behavioral Genetics and Explanations of the Link Between Crime, Violence, and RaceChapter 8. Impulsivity, Responsibility, and Criminal LawChapter 9. Behavioral Genetics and EqualityChapter 10. Behavioral Genetics and Moral ResponsibilityChapter 11. Behavioral Genetics and Moral ResponsibilityPart III: Promoting Public Conversation about Behavioral GeneticsChapter 12. Creating Public Conversation about Behavioral GeneticsChapter 13. Laypeople and Behavioral GeneticsChapter 14. Behavioral Genetics and the MediaIndex

This volume presents a fair and honest treatment of the field that is both cautious at times and also optimistic and hopeful. -- James Sage Metapsychology 2006 Informative, provocative, and challenging, this book is a must-read for anyone seeking to understand this emerging field. -- Bonnie Steinbock Social Theory and Practice 2006 What sets this collection apart from others is the way that contributions from a diverse authorship are integrated to form a coherent whole... Doubtless this book will soon become a classic within behavioral genetics, and compulsory reading for the non-specialist seeking to understand the basic scientific, social and ethical issues within the field. -- Jonathan P. Roiser American Journal of Bioethics 2007 Promoting public conversation about behavioral genetics will be increasingly pertinent to creating enlightened, fair, and representative public policy... The 'wrestling' will go on for some time to come. -- John I. Nurnberger, M.D., Ph.D. New England Journal of Medicine 2006 Highly recommended. Choice 2009