A NOTE ON THE SCOPE OF DEVELOPMENTAL BEHAVIOR GENETICS

The behaviour genetic decomposition of individual differences has been presented as being irrelevant to the study of human behavioural ontog eny. This introduces two problems. First, the analysis of systematic d ifferences constitutes the basis for most statistical models used in t he social sciences. If, generally speaking, this type of analysis is u ninformative regarding development, how then can one empirically inves tigate human development? Second, behaviour genetic analyses are the o nly way to arrive at meaningful statements regarding the contributions of heredity and environment to human development. If results thus obt ained are irrelevant, it is impossible to say anything on the subject of heredity, environment, and human ontogeny that is both meaningful a nd informative. It is argued that developmental behaviour genetics sho uld not be viewed as a theory of development, but rather as a method o f testing certain well-defined hypotheses regarding the contributions of genetic and environmental influences to human development.