Nature vs nurture. Genes vs environment. DNA vs life experience. What makes us who we are? In Episode 17 of the Thinking Tools Podcast, I speak with Dr. Robert Plomin about his 2018 book, “Blueprint: How DNA Makes Us Who We Are.” Dr. Plomin is Professor in Behavioural Genetics at the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King’s College London.
He has published more than 900 papers and is the author of the major textbook in the field as well as a dozen other books. He has received lifetime research achievement awards from all the major societies in the behavioral sciences, as well as being made Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, British Academy, American Academy of Political and Social Science, and Academy of Medical Sciences (UK). In 2021, he received the Grawemeyer Award for Psychology.
After 50 years of research, he has come to the view that inherited DNA differences are the major systematic force that makes us who we are as individuals – our mental health and illness, our personality and our cognitive abilities and disabilities. The environment is important, but it works completely different from the way we thought it worked. The DNA revolution has made it possible to use DNA to predict our psychological problems and promise from birth. These advances in genetic research call for a radical rethink about what makes us who we are, with sweeping, and no doubt controversial, implications for the way we think about parenting, education and the events that shape our lives. This is the theme of his book, Blueprint: How DNA Makes Us Who We Are (Allen Lane, 2018; Penguin Press, 2019).
Chapters:
00:00 Nature vs Nurture – What makes us who we are?
00:30 Robert Plomin’s Credentials
01:35 “Inherited DNA differences are the major systematic force in making us who we are”
02:52 Robert Plomin’s Background Story (in light of behavioral genetics)
07:10 Genotype-Environment Correlation
10:10 The thesis of “Blueprint: How DNA Makes Us Who We Are”?
12:20 On average, inherited DNA differences account for about 50% of psychological differences between people
14:50 The salient environmental differences are mostly chance
17:00 Does genetics affect the weather or where you live?
20:28 Parents matter but they don’t make a difference.
27:03 Schools matter but they don’t make a difference.
40:13 Genetics of Mental Health and Illness - The Abnormal is Normal
54:10 What are polygenic scores? What are single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs)?
01:06:40 Robert Plomin’s Life and Polygenic Scores
01:12:12 How genetics can inform early treatment and prevention of disease
01:19:31 Genetic risk for Alzheimer’s Disease (Apolipoprotein E alleles)
01:23:10 Pharmacogenomics (for treating depression via the serotonin system and ADHD)
01:28:47 Why do so many psychology departments NOT teach genetics?
01:32:00 Thank you for watching! Please like and subscribe!
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