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The limits of applicability of correlation technique in human genetics

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Summary

Three main conclusions emerge from the foregoing discussion.

(1) The technique of correlation can be used to draw attention to the existence of genetic differences or of differences due to environment provided the selection of data is appropriate to the kind of differences we wish to detect.

(2) The belief that a comparison between observed correlations of relatives and correlations based upon purely genetical assumptions provides us with a measure of the influence of nurture is not justified, because of the close relationship between the distribution of gene differences and differences due to environment in populations of viviparous animals which live in families, especially when, as with human populations, the environment of different families may differ greatly.

(3) A balance sheet of nature and nurture, if it has any significance in the light of modern experimental concepts, does not entitle us to set limits to changes which might be produced by regulating the social or physical environment of a human population.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Social Biology in the University of London, UK

    Lancelot Hogben

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  1. Lancelot Hogben
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Hogben, L. The limits of applicability of correlation technique in human genetics. Journ. of Genetics 27, 379–406 (1933). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02981751

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