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Related Concept Videos

Heritability01:06

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Heritability is a statistical concept that measures the degree to which genetic differences among individuals contribute to trait variations within a population. It is a fundamental idea in genetics, often prone to misinterpretation. Heritability is expressed as a percentage, reflecting the proportion of variation in a specific trait across a population that can be linked to genetic differences. However, it's important to understand that heritability does not determine how "genetic"...
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Unifying heritability in evolutionary theory.

Pierrick Bourrat1

  • 1Macquarie University, Department of Philosophy, North Ryde, NSW 2109, Australia; The University of Sydney, Department of Philosophy & Charles Perkins Centre, Camperdown, NSW 2006, Australia.

Studies in History and Philosophy of Science
|December 30, 2021
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Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

Heritability is not a single concept, with two main definitions causing confusion. This study unifies these definitions, proposing a new general concept applicable across biology and psychology.

Keywords:
CausationEnvironmentHeritabilityMicrobiomeRegression

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Area of Science:

  • Evolutionary biology
  • Psychology
  • Genetics

Background:

  • Heritability is frequently treated as a unified concept in biology and psychology.
  • Existing definitions of heritability in evolutionary theory, specifically the variance and regression approaches, only partially overlap and lack a unified framework.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To unify the two primary technical definitions of heritability: the variance approach and the regression approach.
  • To propose a general definition of heritability that satisfies desiderata of general applicability and separability of resemblance causes.

Main Methods:

  • The study analyzes the existing variance and regression approaches to heritability.
  • It identifies limitations of these approaches in satisfying general applicability and separability of resemblance causes.
  • A novel general definition of heritability is developed based on intrinsic and extrinsic properties.

Main Results:

  • Neither the variance nor the regression approach to heritability satisfies both general applicability and separability of resemblance causes.
  • A new general definition of heritability, founded on the distinction between intrinsic and extrinsic properties, is proposed.
  • This new definition is shown to satisfy both desiderata.

Conclusions:

  • The concept of heritability requires a unified definition for broader application in biological and psychological sciences.
  • The proposed general definition offers a more robust framework for understanding heritability.
  • The utility of this unified definition is demonstrated in the context of microbiome research.