Behavior Genetics & NRO

Over at The Corner at National Review Online John Derbyshire has been getting into a debate with his colleagues over Judith Rich Harris' work, and her two books The Nurture Assumption and No Two Alike. I find it amusing when scientific controversy comes crashing into the punditocracy, though I think it is also a good thing. To frame the issue properly, there is consistent evidence that the majority of non-genetic variation in personality is due to non-shared (i.e., non-home) environment. Judith Rich Harris proposes that peer groups account for this non-shared environment, though this is more a hypothesis than a definitive conclusion derived from the research. With that in mind, here is the debate in rough chronological order.... Update: Final, final, final response from John (he promises). Derb expresses skepticism about fathers in response to a Rich Lowry column, The Father Effect. Jonah defends bourgeois values. Derb responds with the ...