Behavioural genetics: An introduction

Behavioural genetics is the study of the hereditary influence on behaviour, and can therefore be regarded as the intersection between behavioural sciences and genetics. As with most other fields of research it is difficult to exactly pinpoint when behavioural genetics started. In fact, one might say that the notion behavioural traits can be inherited may have appeared in human thought as early at 8000 BC, when the domestication of the dog began. The scientific era of behavioural genetics is generally considered to start with Charles Darwin. In his famous book On the Origin of Species by Means of natural Selection, or the Preservation of favoured Races in the Struggle for Life, published in 1859 (and sold out the first day), he devoted an entire chapter on instinctive behavioural patterns. Some years later, in his book The Descent of Man and Selection in Relation to Sex, he clearly stated that the difference between the mind of a human being and the mind of an animal 'is certainly one of degree and not of kind'. Moreover he gave considerable thought that mental powers (and insanity) are heritable aspects.