Coming to terms with heritability |
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Authors: | Scott F Stoltenberg |
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Institution: | (1) Department of Psychology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 603 East Daniel Street, Champaign, IL 61820, USA;(2) Present address: Alcohol Research Center, Department of Psychiatry, University of Michigan, 400 E. Eisenhower Parkway, Suite 2A, Ann Arbor, MI 48108, USA |
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Abstract: | The complex mechanisms of heredity are little appreciated by non-specialists, in some measure, because of misunderstandings
that are perpetuated when words used for technical terms have other, more widely understood, folk meanings. When a word has
both technical and folk meanings, it is the responsibility of the specialist to avoid promoting confusion by either using
extremely cautious and precise language when using the term or, in cases when confusion is inevitable, abandoning the term
in favor of one without a widely understood folk meaning. The study of heredity is beset by such confusion, and the term heritability
appears to be at the heart of some of the confusion. In this article, I discuss both the technical and folk meanings of heritability
and examine the bridge between them. By continuing to use the term heritability, we risk promulgating serious misunderstanding
about the workings of heredity, therefore I suggest selectability as an alternative term to avoid such pitfalls.
This revised version was published online in August 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date. |
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Keywords: | heritability heritable heredity hereditary selectability |
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