ArticleCurrent directions in psychological science2015
The Fourth Law of Behavior Genetics.
Article in Current directions in psychological science, 2015. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 103 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
103 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Overcoming attenuation bias in regressions using polygenic indices.Nature communications · 2023Pooled it
- Does crime trigger genetic risk for type 2 diabetes in young adults? A G x E interaction study using national data.Social science & medicine (1982) · 2022Pooled it
- Systematic Review and Meta-analysis of Genetically Informed Research: Associations Between Parent Anxiety and Offspring Internalizing Problems.Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry · 2021Pooled it
- Executive functions as a transdiagnostic endophenotype in developmental psychopathology.Molecular psychiatry · 2026Review
- Genetic Predisposition and Infidelity: From Molecular Variation to Relationship Behavior-A Narrative Review.International journal of molecular sciences · 2026Review
- Strengths-based resilience: the biopsychosocial factors that differentiate 12-year mental well-being trajectories following adverse childhood experiences.Psychological medicine · 2026Article
- Stability of Music Engagement Across Childhood, Adolescence, and Established Adulthood: A Longitudinal Twin and Adoption Study.Developmental science · 2026Article
- Pushing your luck: on chance, serendipity, and athlete development.Sports medicine - open · 2025Article
- Genotypic and socioeconomic risks for depressive symptoms in two U.S. cohorts spanning early to older adulthood.Journal of psychopathology and clinical science · 2025Article
- Lessons in adjusting for genetic confounding in population research on education and health.SSM - population health · 2025Article
- Seasonal timing and interindividual differences in shiftwork adaptation.NPJ digital medicine · 2025Article
- Genetic and environmental contributions to adult attachment styles: Evidence from the Minnesota Twin Registry.Journal of personality and social psychology · 2025Article
- Lifetime estrogen exposure and domain-specific cognitive performance: results from the IGNITE study.Frontiers in aging neuroscience · 2025Article
- Article
- Dopamine in Sports: A Narrative Review on the Genetic and Epigenetic Factors Shaping Personality and Athletic Performance.International journal of molecular sciences · 2024Review
- Interactions of the CSF3R polymorphism and early stress on future orientation: evidence for the differential model of stress-related growth.Epidemiology and psychiatric sciences · 2024Article
- Genetic fingerprinting with heritable phenotypes of the resting-state brain network topology.Communications biology · 2024Article
- Exploring the Fetal Origins Hypothesis Using Genetic Data.Social forces; a scientific medium of social study and interpretation · 2024Article
- Transposons in the Williams-Beuren Syndrome Critical Region are Associated with Social Behavior in Assistance Dogs.Behavior genetics · 2024Article
- Infrastructuring Educational Genomics: Associations, Architectures, and Apparatuses.Postdigital science and education · 2024Article
43 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
5 authors.
Funding
Abstract
Behavior genetics is the study of the relationship between genetic variation and psychological traits. Turkheimer (2000) proposed "Three Laws of Behavior Genetics" based on empirical regularities observed in studies of twins and other kinships. On the basis of molecular studies that have measured DNA variation directly, we propose a Fourth Law of Behavior Genetics: "A typical human behavioral trait is associated with very many genetic variants, each of which accounts for a very small percentage of the behavioral variability." This law explains several consistent patterns in the results of gene discovery studies, including the failure of candidate gene studies to robustly replicate, the need for genome-wide association studies (and why such studies have a much stronger replication record), and the crucial importance of extremely large samples in these endeavors. We review the evidence in favor of the Fourth Law and discuss its implications for the design and interpretation of gene-behavior research.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.