Beliefs About Genes and Environment as Causes of Behavior

Investigators:   Eleanor Singer, Toni Antonucci, Margit Burmeister, Trivellore Raghunathan, Mick P. Couper

Scientific information about human genetics is accumulating at an accelerating rate, but information about public knowledge, beliefs, and attitudes with respect to these developments is not. And yet such information is crucial for formulating prudent and humane social and ethical policies in these areas. The aim of this proposal is to add to the limited store of knowledge available about public values and attitudes relevant to various aspects of genetic technology. The proposal has two specific aims. The major aim is to investigate experimentally the determinants of people's beliefs about the relative contribution of heredity and environment to differences in such behavioral characteristics as aggression, shyness, and alcoholism. A second aim of the proposal is to investigate trends in knowledge about and attitudes toward genetic testing and genetic technology by replicating questions previously asked in two earlier studies. Given the rapid changes and developments in the field of genetics, and their increasing availability to the public via the mass media, we expect to see changes in attitudes as well. The vehicle for the study will be the 2004 General Social Survey (GSS), a national face-to-face survey of the adult household population of the U.S. The proposed study of beliefs about genetic and environmental influences on behavior will systematically vary (a) the social desirability of the condition or characteristic asked about as well as (b) the race/ethnicity and (c) the gender of the person manifesting the characteristic in order to determine how each of these affects the judgments made. In addition, we will assess the significance for such judgments of the rater's own sociodemographic characteristics (e.g. race, ethnicity, age, education, marital status, and religion), as well as such aspects of the rater's personality as locus of control, optimism-pessimism, and the need for self-esteem. By including four questions about genetic testing among those we add to the survey, we will be able to investigate beliefs about genetic and environmental influences on behavior.

Funding Period: 03/05/2003 to 05/31/2006

PSC Research Themes:

Lifestyles, Health Risk Behaviors (Health, Disability, and Mortality)
Bio-genetics (Group Disparities)
Values, Attitudes, Beliefs (Ideational Factors)


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