Dr. Francis S. Collins
Posted on 03/16/2007 7:15:39 AM PDT by scripter
[Title slightly abbreviated to fit]
Francis S. Collins, one of the world's leading scientists who works at the cutting edge of DNA research, concluded that "there is an inescapable component of heritability to many human behavioral traits." However, he adds, "for virtually none of them, is heredity ever close to predictive."
Dr. Francis S. Collins |
The heritability estimates for personality traits were varied: General Cognitive Ability (50%), Extroversion (54%), Agreeableness (42%), Conscientiousness (49%), Neuroticism (48%), Openness (57%), Aggression (38%) and Traditionalism (54%).
Such estimates of heritability are based upon unbiased, careful analyses of studies conducted with identical twins. The studies lead to the conclusion that heredity is important in many of these personality traits. It is important however, to note that even in such studies with identical twins, that heritability is not to be confused as inevitability.
As Dr. Collins would agree, environment can influence gene expression, and free will determines the response to whatever predispositions might be present.
Dr. Collins succinctly reviewed the research on homosexuality and offers the following:
"An area of particularly strong public interest is the genetic basis of homosexuality. Evidence from twin studies does in fact support the conclusion that heritable factors play a role in male homosexuality. However, the likelihood that the identical twin of a homosexual male will also be gay is about 20% (compared with 2-4 percent of males in the general population), indicating that sexual orientation is genetically influenced but not hardwired by DNA, and that whatever genes are involved represent predispositions, not predeterminations [emphasis added]."
The heritability estimates for homosexuality is substantially lower than General Cognitive Ability, Extroversion, Agreeableness, Conscientiousness, Neuroticism, Openness, Aggression and Traditionalism!
Dr. Collins noted that environment--particularly childhood experiences--as well as the role of free will and choice affect us all in profound ways. As researchers discover increasing levels of molecular detail about inherited factors that underlie our personalities, it's critical that such data be used to illuminate the issues, not provide support to ideologues.
Citing such dangers, Dr. Collins referred to the book written by activist Dean Hamer, who declared the discovery of the "God gene" (this same author also is associated with "discovering the gay gene").
Dr. Collins noted that the "evidence" in Hamer's book "grabbed headlines," but was "wildly overstated."
A reviewer in Scientific American suggested that Hamer's book on the "God gene" should have been titled, "A Gene That Accounts for Less than One Percent of the Variance Found in Scores on Psychological Questionnaires Designed to Measure a Factor Called Self-Transcendence, Which Can Signify Everything from Belonging to the Green Party to Believing in ESP, According to One Unpublished, Unreplicated Study."
Unfortunately, much of the research in areas such as homosexuality has been misrepresented; not only in the media, but also by the scientists themselves through a tendency to overestimate the quantitative contribution of their findings.
Regarding the contributions of genetics to areas such as homosexuality, Dr. Collins concluded, "Yes, we have all been dealt a particular set of cards, and the cards will eventually be revealed. But how we play the hand is up to us."
I agree.
Reference:
Collins, Francis S. (2006). The Language of God, A Scientist Presents Evidence For Belief. New York: Free Press.
It's a perversion that some people succumb to.
The radicals push the bogus gay gene theory and we have GLSEN in the schools telling kids it's okay to be gay and experimentation is a good thing. Today's kids are messed up enough so why push this bogus science on them as if it's a fact? It shouldn't happen. Thus my involvement with the issue.
Just passing through -wish I had some time to spare to stay awhile and assist in fending off the pro homosexual sex leftist cheerleaders LOL
They're called metrosexuals lol(or John Edwards.)
Hey stranger! Good to hear from you.
Indeed. So typical of the radicals pushing the homosexual agenda.
John who? :-)
great, great article
great post, sin is a trap, and the devil is an expert at setting them. No one is above sin, the possibility exists for everyone to go down the wrong path.
Patently false. It especially flies in the face of the evidence presented on this thread and many others.
"sexual orientation is genetically influenced but not hardwired by DNA, and that whatever genes are involved represent predispositions, not predeterminations"Seems like most peeps here just read right past that.....LOL.
No, it has been discussed and agreed upon by most that some people have greater tolerances than others in certain areas. Sexuality being one of them.
Indeed it has. What some people try to imply is the predisposition causes same-sex attraction. It doesn't, and when somebody makes that argument they're telling us they don't know what they're talking about.
Environment is key. It is truly sad that some people infer same-sex attraction from certain traits or gifts. These same traits or gifts are simply what they are, traits and gifts, and imply nothing else.
Sigh.
Thanks for bumping the thread my friend as this is a topic that need to be discussed by all.
Exactly. There is no evidence to prove somebody is homosexual other than somebody making such a claim. Anybody can claim to be a homosexual and the homosexual enablers wouldn't doubt the claim. Yet those same homosexual enablers are the first to doubt claims made by ex-gays, and that demonstrates a double standard by the homosexual enablers.
Was that a Breck commercial song?
"Homersexuallity is a behavior. Anybody not agree with that? " I agree. Homosexuality is based on an act. You can't prove that you are a homosexual beyond stating such. Until you engage in the act."
There are people who have never had sex but who know that if they did engage in sexual acts it would be with the opposite sex. They are heterosexual without the act. Likewise there are people who have never had sex but know that they are attracted to the same sex: some priests, nuns and monks who stay true to their vows of sexual abstinence might be an example.
Most people know before they engage in sexual behavior whether they are gay or straight.
No kidding.
He should contact Salman Rushdie and get some advice on surviving a Fatwah. He's gonna need it.
Research suggests that social and psychological factors are strongly influential. Examples include problems in early family relationships, sexual seduction, and sense of inadequacy with same-sex peers, with resulting disturbance in gender identity. Society can also influence a sexually questioning youth when it encourages gay self-labeling.
The keys to change are desire, persistence, and a willingness to investigate the conscious and unconscious conflicts from which the condition originated. Change comes slowly, usually over several years. Clients learn how to meet their needs for same-sex nurturance and affirmation without eroticizing the relationship. As they grow into their heterosexual potential, men and women typically experience a deeper and fuller sense of themselves as male or female.
If some homosexuals do not wish to change, that is their choice, yet it is profoundly sad that gay-rights activists struggle against the right-to-treatment for other homosexuals who yearn for freedom from their attractions.
A 1992 study in Pediatrics found that 25.9% of 12-year-olds are uncertain if they are gay or straight. The teen years are critical to the question of self-labeling, so the facts must be presented in our schools in a fair and balanced manner.
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