Commentary: the analysis of variance and the social complexities of genetic causation.

Scientific articles published 30 years earlier can be interesting to revisit for various reasons. Lewontin’s classic article on the analysis of variance in human behavioural genetics warrants continued attention for perhaps the worst of them: the article makes several correct observations that continue to remain under-appreciated in some research and much discussion about the causal role of genes in human outcomes. 1 The lucidity of Lewontin’s arguments has historically proven no match for the allure of overly simple characterizations of outcomes as being x% due to genes and (1 x)% not due to genes. Moreover, Lewontin’s main points speak beyond questions about genetics and could even be said to prefigure the best parts of more recent complaints about regression analysis as a tool for causal inference in observational studies. 3