Subject: The Gene Illusion: Genetic Research in Psychiatry and Psychology
Under the Microscope


Human Nature Review 2003 Volume 3: 416-421 ( 20 September )
URL of this document http://human-nature.com/nibbs/03/jjoseph.html

Book Review

The Gene Illusion: Genetic Research in Psychiatry and Psychology Under the
Microscope
by Jay Joseph
PCCS Books, Ross-on-Wye, 2003

Reviewed by Richard Holdsworth, Egenis, ESRC Centre for Genomics in Society,
University of Exeter, EX4 4RJ, United Kingdom.

Although the debate about the relative weight of genetic and environmental
factors in the ontogeny of human behaviour has been pursued at a number of
different levels, ranging from the molecular to the economic and the
political,
and although Jay Joseph - to judge from his own statements - would be
willing
to engage in it on all of them, the interest and value of his book The gene
illusion lie in its specific character as a detailed methodological critique
of
certain studies in quantitative behavioural genetics.

Joseph considers both research into the normal range of behaviour and
research
into the aetiology of schizophrenia. With respect to the normal range, he
devotes one of his chapters to the method of research that compares
reared-together identical (monozygotic, MZ) and reared-together same-sex
fraternal (dizygotic, DZ) twins (Chapter 3), and another chapter to the
method
that compares data from reared-apart twins with data from reared-together
twins
(Chapter 4). Devoting two chapters to the genetics of schizophrenia gives
Joseph an opportunity to present, in Chapter 6, an overview of twin studies
that have sought to establish and compare pairwise concordance rates in
identical twins and in same-sex fraternals, and then, in Chapter 7, to
develop
a vigorous critique of schizophrenia adoption studies. The issues of
criminality and IQ are dealt with in Chapters 8 and 9 respectively, and
there
is a chapter on molecular genetic research in psychiatry and psychology (9).
There is also a useful critique of the fallacious use of the concept of
heritability in Chapter 5, but - with the exception of one more topic that
needs to be mentioned - the meat of the book is in the major attack on the
methodologies employed in a number of widely cited twin and adoption
studies.
Here the reader will find critical analyses of studies by Heston, Kety,
Loehlin
and Nichols, Scarr and Carter-Saltzmann, Bouchard, Tienari, Gottesman as
well
as other authors.

Joseph's other main theme is history. In Chapter 2, "Twin Research:
Misunderstanding twins from Galton to the 21st century", his thesis is that
the
history of twin research should be understood in the context of the history
of
eugenic ideas and practices. He also considers that modern twin researchers
have been reluctant "to provide details on the more unsavoury aspects of
this
history", by which he means "the origin of twin research as a tool of
eugenics,
'racial hygiene,' and Nazism" (p.2). He devotes attention to the work and
influence in the 1930s of Ernst Rüdin, director of the Kaiser-Wilhelm
Institute
of Psychiatry in Munich, and of Otmar von Verschuer. Joseph states that
Josef
Mengele studied under von Verschuer in Frankfurt. Then a point arises that
requires clarification. Joseph goes on to quote from a contemporary (1937)
American text which mentions that, at that time, von Verschuer was the head
of
"a large group of students of twinning at the Kaiser-Wilhelm Institut für
Anthropologie...". Joseph states that "It is likely that Mengele was one of
these students". The necessary clarification is that the institute referred
to
here was in fact the Kaiser-Wilhelm Institut für Anthropologie, menschliche
Erblehre and Eugenik in Berlin-Dahlem, which von Verschuer headed after he
had
been director of the Institut für Erbbiologie und Rassenhygiene in Frankfurt
am
Main from 1935 to 1942. Further light on this episode has been shed by the
Max
Planck Society's research programme on the "Geschichte der
Kaiser-Wilhelm-Gesellschaft im Nationalsozialismus", and a brief summary of
von
Verschuer's movements and his scientific relations with Mengele is given in
its
press release of 2001.

Full text
http://human-nature.com/nibbs/03/jjoseph.html

THE GENE ILLUSION: Genetic Research in Psychiatry and Psychology Under the
Microscope
By Jay Joseph, Psy.D.
Paperback - 348 pages (January 2003)
PCCS Books Ltd; ISBN: 1898059470
AMAZON - US
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1898059470/darwinanddarwini/
AMAZON - UK
http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/1898059470/humannaturecom/

What are the forces shaping who we are, how we live, and how we act? Are we
shaped primarily by our environment, or by our genes? These very old
questions
form the basis of the so-called "nature-nurture debate." Increasingly, we
are
told that research has confirmed the importance of genetic factors
influencing
physical and psychiatric disorders, personality, intelligence, sexual
orientation, criminality, and so on. Jay Joseph's timely, challenging book
provides a much-needed critical appraisal of the evidence cited in support
of
genetic theories. Far from establishing the importance of genes, he shows
that
family, twin and adoption studies are plagued by researcher bias, unsound
methodology, and a reliance on unsupported theoretical assumptions.

Furthermore, he demonstrates how this research has been used to support the
interests of those attempting to bolster conservative social and political
agendas. Much of the scientific evidence cited as supporting these ideas has
been produced by the fields of behavior genetics and psychiatric genetics.
It
has been delivered to the public in numerous magazine and newspaper
articles,
as well as by the authors of several popular books. In particular, studies
of
twins (both reared together and reared apart) have been cited as providing
conclusive evidence supporting the importance of genetic influences on
psychological trait differences. The reared-apart twin studies by
researchers
at the University of Minnesota have been the subject of much attention,
including stories of individual pairs of reared-apart identical twins who,
it
is claimed, displayed remarkable similarities upon being reunited. Family
and
adoption studies are also cited in support of the importance of genetic
factors.

Schizophrenia is the most studied, and at the same time the most
feared and misunderstood, of all psychiatric diagnoses. Two chapters are
devoted to problems with genetic research in this area. One of these
chapters
reviews the schizophrenia adoption studies, which include the well-known and
frequently cited Danish-American and Finnish investigations. Another chapter
looks into the alleged genetic basis of criminal behavior - an idea more
popular today than at any time in the past 50 years. Additional chapters
look
into other areas of current interest in genetics, such as IQ, heritability,
and molecular genetic research. Regarding the latter, in Chapter 10 Joseph
concludes that it is unlikely that genes for the major psychiatric disorders
will be found.

In contrast to the bleak view of humans and their future laid out by those
claiming that heredity is of overriding importance, there exists a radically
different perspective. Human suffering is not caused by peoples' genes.
Rather, it is caused by well-known and well-documented psychologically
traumatic events and environments. This book is essential reading for
anyone seeking an alternative to the increasingly popular, yet mistaken
view that "genes are destiny." Potential buyers and readers include
psychiatrists, psychologists and other mental health professionals,
geneticists, political decision makers, and others in the general
audience interested in the issues raised in this book.

Table of Contents

Chapter 1) Introduction Chapter 2) Twin Research: Misunderstanding Twins
from
Galton to the 21st Century Chapter 3) The Twin Method: An Environmentally
Confounded Research Method Chapter 4) A Critique of Studies of Twins Reared
Apart Chapter 5) The Heritability Concept: A Measure of Inheritance or
Inherently Misleading? Chapter 6) The Genetics of Schizophrenia I: Overview
Chapter 7) The Genetics of Schizophrenia II: Adoption Studies Chapter 8) Is
Criminal Behavior in the Genes? A Critical Review of Twin and Adoption
Studies of Criminal and Antisocial Behavior Chapter 9) Genetics and IQ
Chapter 10) Molecular Genetic Studies in Psychiatry and Psychology: An
Exercise in Futility? Chapter 11) Where Do We Go From Here?

CONTACT INFORMATION

Publisher: PCCS Books, Llangarron, Ross-on-Wye, Herefordshire, HR9 6PT,
United
Kingdom. E-mail: enquiries@....
Website: http://www.pccs-books.co.uk. Telephone: +44 (0) 1989 77 07 07

Author: Jay Joseph, Psy.D., P.O. Box 5653, Berkeley, CA, 94705-5653, USA.
E-mail: jayjoseph2@.... Telephone: (510) 295-7100.
Jay Joseph, Psy.D., is a clinical psychologist living in Berkeley, CA, and
practicing in Hayward, CA. Since 1998, his articles on genetic research in
psychiatry and psychology have appeared in journals such as Developmental
Review, The American Journal of Psychology, Genetic, Social, and General
Psychology Monographs, Politics and the Life Sciences, The Journal of Mind
and
Behavior, Psychiatric Quarterly, New Ideas in Psychology, and Ethical Human
Sciences and Services. He is currently an Associate Editor of Ethical Human
Sciences and Services, and an Assessing Editor of The Journal of Mind and
Behavior. The Gene Illusion is his first book.