Quantitative II: Estimating Heritabilility

In this chapter, we will consider several of the major statistical concepts used in behavioral genetics and then provide an overview of the major methods used to estimate them. First, we explain in English the six important concepts in quantitative behavioral genetics: (1) heritability, (2) environmentability, (3) genetic correlation, (4) environmental correlation, (5) gene-environment interaction, and (6) gene-environment correlation. Although these six are described at a conceptual level, it is important to recognize that behavioral geneticists try to quantify each of them—i.e., arrive at an actual number to estimate these six quantities and then judge how important this quantity is for a behavioral phenotype.