Behavioral Genetics Reporting May Cause the Public to Have Unfounded Beliefs

It turns out that media reports about behavioral genetics may actually induce unfounded believes in the public. Scientists have examined 1,500 Americans and have found that reports about human genetics may be misinforming the public more than informing them.

The participants in the latest study first read a news article about research on the influence of a gene on one of the following three traits: breast cancer, political ideology, or the tendency to go into debt. After reading the article, the participants then were asked to estimate the influence of genetics on various biological traits on a space from zero to 100 percent genetic.

In the end, the researchers found that the public tended to generalize the influence of genetics to other behaviors or social orientations of which there was no mention in the news article. This, in particular, highlights the importance of relaying information about new studies properly so as not to misinform the public about genetics.

"Personally, I am in favor of this innovative approach to better understand our world, but I can't argue with the facts: the field is often misunderstood or even disregarded," said Alexandre Morin-Chasse, one of the researchers, in a news release. "Some reduce it to its most deterministic form. The danger, which in my mind is present, is that scientific research findings could be manipulated for ideological puposes by certain social groups-hence the importance of making sure the public understanding the scope and limiations of such research."

The findings are published in the journal BioScience.

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