Genetics and social behavior : a theoretical synthesis / by Benson E. Ginsburg.

  • Ginsburg, Benson E.
Date:
[1949]
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0)

Credit: Genetics and social behavior : a theoretical synthesis / by Benson E. Ginsburg. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    SOCIAL BEHAVIOR merest description of external symptoms, the system ceases to be universal. In the absence of agreement among psychologists regarding the fundamental terms of their science in most of its major areas, the hope of constructing a science of the genetics of behavior here and now using the phenotypes described by psychology, appears some¬ what dim. In the realm of social behavior, the hiatus which intervenes be¬ tween this discipline and genetics seems larger still. Whether one believes with Comte (23) that social phenomena must ultimately be described in biological terms, or whether one holds that social phe¬ nomena are unique and must be described in their own terms, no continuity with genetics is apparent. I hope shortly to demonstrate that the theoretical basis for such a continuity does in fact exist, and that where particular problems have been encountered, the demands of the research have frequently necessitated that the research worker recognize this continuity on a practical if not a theoretical level. Since it is my thesis that the science of genetics provides many of the theoretical principles which serve to integrate it with behavior at both the individual and the social level, I am especially pleased that the first research institution devoted to the study of the genetics of behavior was established by Dr. C. C. Little, a geneticist, and that its Chairman, Dr. Scott, is also a geneticist who pioneered in the renascence of this new-old field. It is a tribute to the far-sightedness and pioneering spirit of Dr. Little and the Jackson Laboratory staff that the Division of Behavior Studies was created to fill a research need which has not yet become generally respectable, just as, 20 years ago, another such research need was filled when the Jackson Laboratory was first established by Dr. Little and dedicated to the application of genetics to problems of normal and abnormal growth. II GENETICS AS A SUBSTRATUM FOR THE STUDY OF BEHAVIOR The science of genetics has progressed so rapidly during the past few decades, that the term genetics has taken on a far broader meaning than that conventionally assigned to it, namely, the analysis of heritable traits by means of breeding experiments and cytological investigations in order to discover their particulate basis in accordance with gene theory, and to locate these genes on the chromosomes. For purposes of the present discussion, two extensions of genetic theory should be described. These extensions can be designated constituting the evolutionary and the physiological dimensions this science. 3