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Chapter 6 - Social Agents and Genes

Comments on the Ontogenesis of the “Social Genome”

from Part II - Contemporary Themes

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 October 2012

By
Elena L. Grigorenko  and
Sarah Ward
Edited by
Linda Mayes  and
Michael Lewis
Linda Mayes
Affiliation:
Yale University, Connecticut
Michael Lewis
Affiliation:
Robert Wood Johnson Medical School
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Summary

This chapter exemplifies mechanisms through which social agents appear to impact the genome by upregulating, downregulating, or transforming its structural capacities. Viewing human development by connecting genes and environments with the term 'and' rather than 'versus' begs the task of understanding how that 'and' works. The social genome is formed within the context of its transactions with multiple social agents, which are channeled through society, family, school, and relationships with peers. Collectively these social agents are referred to as culture. Cultural ways of living depend on the climate conditions in which a culture unfolds. One other dimension of culture that is of interest in this conversation is lifestyle. The concept of lifestyle typically includes multiple factors, both genetic and environmental. The chapter concludes by commenting on the emerging picture of how the coaction of the genome and environments results in the manifestation of complex human behaviors.

Keywords

microsystemproximal environmentdistal environmentsmacrosystemchild developmentchild-environment interactions
Type
Chapter
Information
The Cambridge Handbook of Environment in Human Development , pp. 117 - 137
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2012

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