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Blueprint (Plomin book)

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Blueprint: How DNA Makes Us Who We Are
First edition (UK)
AuthorRobert Plomin
LanguageEnglish
SubjectBehavioural genetics
GenreNonfiction
Published2018
PublisherAllen Lane (UK)
The MIT Press (US)
Pages280
ISBN978-0-262-03916-1
OCLC1029797905

Blueprint: How DNA Makes Us Who We Are is a book by behavioral geneticist Robert Plomin, first published in 2018 by the MIT Press and Allen Lane. The book argues that genetic factors, and specifically variations in individuals' DNA, have a large effect on human psychological traits, accounting for approximately half of all variation in such traits. The book also claims that genes play a more important role in people's personalities than does the environment.[1] In Blueprint, Plomin argues that environmental effects on human psychological differences, although they exist, are "...mostly random – unsystematic and unstable – which means that we cannot do much about them."[2]

Reviews

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Science journalist Matt Ridley praised Blueprint as "a hugely important book."[3] Behavior geneticist Kathryn Paige Harden criticized the book for overstating the importance of genes for the development of human traits, writing, "Insisting that DNA matters is scientifically accurate; insisting that it is the only thing that matters is scientifically outlandish."[4] Steven Mithen gave the book a mixed review in the Guardian, in which he wrote, "I am happy to bow to Plomin as a psychologist and a geneticist, but I found his sociology rather lacking, in fact quite baffling."[5] Nathaniel Comfort criticized the book for promoting genetic determinism and "play[ing] fast and loose with the concept of heritability". He concluded that "Ultimately, if unintentionally, Blueprint is a road map for regressive social policy."[6] Journalist David Goodhart reviewed the book more positively, calling it "an important and challenging book that reveals to the general reader what has quietly become a new scientific consensus: psychological traits, including intelligence, are significantly influenced by our genes."[7] Geneticist Barbara Jennings reviewed the book positively, suggesting that those who have criticized it for being "a manifesto for genetic determinism" are "misreading [...] the book".[8]

References

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