Eric Turkheimer

Eric Turkheimer is the Hugh Scott Hamilton Professor of Psychology at the University of Virginia.

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Turkheimer has coined what he calls the "three laws of behaviour genetics":

“”
  • First Law. All human behavioral traits are heritable.
  • Second Law. The effect of being raised in the same family is smaller than the effect of genes.
  • Third Law. A substantial portion of the variation in complex human behavioral traits is not accounted for by the effects of genes or families.[1]

In contrast to other contributors in the field, such as Robert Plomin, he emphasizes the fact that we have in very few cases demonstrated specific causal links between genes and behavior.[2]

Turkheimer is critical of hereditarianism about differences in average IQ scores between one race and another[3], and argues they are best understood as environmental in origin.[4]

References
  1. Turkheimer, Eric. "Three laws of behavior genetics and what they mean." Current Directions in Psychological Science 9.5 (2000): 160-164.
  2. Turkheimer, E. (2016). Weak Genetic Explanation 20 Years Later: Reply to Plomin et al. (2016). Perspectives on Psychological Science, 11(1), 24–28. https://doi.org/10.1177/1745691615617442
  3. https://www.vox.com/the-big-idea/2017/6/15/15797120/race-black-white-iq-response-critics
  4. https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2012-24333-015
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