HUMAN BEHAVIORAL-GENETICS, SCARR THEORY, AND HER VIEWS ON INTERVENTIONS - A CRITICAL-REVIEW AND COMMENTARY ON THEIR IMPLICATIONS FOR AFRICAN-AMERICAN CHILDREN

Key components of human behavioral genetics and Scarr's work of the pa st 2 decades are critically reviewed based on scholarship in animal ne uropsychology and clinical and educational psychology. Scarr's theory of genotype --> environment effects is not supported by the confluence of information presented. Her opinion that interventions to enhance i ntellectual development are ineffectual for children from abuse- and n eglect-free backgrounds is critically reviewed. Her view that biology makes nonrisk infants invulnerable to lasting, negative effects of day care is also determined to be untenable. Concern about negative impli cations of Scarr's theory for African Americans and views on intervent ions is the impetus for the critique.