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Altruism and genetics.

J P Rushton, D W Fulker, M C Neale

    Acta Geneticae Medicae Et Gemellologiae
    |January 1, 1984
    PubMed
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    Genetic factors significantly influence altruistic tendencies, with approximately 50% of the variance in altruism, empathy, and nurturance attributed to heritability. Environmental factors account for the remaining variance in these prosocial behaviors.

    Area of Science:

    • Behavioral Genetics
    • Psychology
    • Twin Studies

    Background:

    • Altruistic tendencies are complex human behaviors.
    • Understanding the interplay of genetic and environmental influences is crucial for behavioral genetics.
    • Previous research suggests a heritable component to prosocial behaviors.

    Purpose of the Study:

    • To investigate the heritability of altruistic tendencies.
    • To quantify the genetic and environmental contributions to empathy and nurturance.
    • To utilize twin study methodology to disentangle nature and nurture influences on prosocial behavior.

    Main Methods:

    • Administered three validated questionnaires (Self-Report Altruism Scale, Empathy Scale, Nurturance Scale) to 573 adult twin pairs.
    • Analyzed data from monozygotic (MZ) and same-sex dizygotic (DZ) twin pairs.

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  • Employed maximum-likelihood model-fitting to estimate genetic and environmental influences.

    • Main Results:

    • Heritability estimates for altruism, empathy, and nurturance ranged from approximately 50% to 72%.
    • Genetic effects accounted for about 50% of the variance across all scales.
    • Common environmental influences explained virtually 0% of the variance, with specific environmental factors accounting for the remainder.

    Conclusions:

    • Altruistic tendencies, empathy, and nurturance show significant genetic influence.
    • The shared environment plays a minimal role in the development of these prosocial traits.
    • Individual-specific environmental factors and measurement error contribute substantially to the observed variance.