Current
practices in reporting on behavioural genetics can mislead the public
“Media reports about behavioural genetics unintentionally induce unfounded beliefs, therefore going against the educational purpose of scientific reporting,” writes the University of Montreal’s Alexandre Morin-Chassé, following his study of 1,500 Americans.
“Among other things, we wanted to know if the public understood (or misunderstood) popular science articles about a new research field, genopolitics, and whether this popularization indeed helped people have an informed opinion on human genetics,” Morin-Chassé explained.
The study participants first had to read a news article about
research on the influence of a gene on one of the following three traits:
breast cancer, political ideology (liberal or conservative), or the tendency to
go into debt.
After reading the article assigned to them, they were then asked to estimate the influence of genetics on various biological (e.g., hair colour, height) or behavioural (e.g., violence, alcoholism) traits on a scale from 0% genetic to 100% genetic. They were told that there were no right or wrong answers. The purpose of the study was simply to examine the interpretation of facts.
After reading the article assigned to them, they were then asked to estimate the influence of genetics on various biological (e.g., hair colour, height) or behavioural (e.g., violence, alcoholism) traits on a scale from 0% genetic to 100% genetic. They were told that there were no right or wrong answers. The purpose of the study was simply to examine the interpretation of facts.
The conclusions were troubling, to say the least. Morin-Chassé
observed that after reading an article published in the British Daily Telegraph in October 2010 about a
"gene responsible for liberal ideas,” the readers tended to generalize the
influence of genetics to other behaviours or social orientations of which there
was no mention in the news article (including sexual orientation and
intelligence).
The same phenomenon was observed among the readers of the other article, originally published in the Scientific American Mind magazine in June 2010, which associated a gene with susceptibility to debt.
The same phenomenon was observed among the readers of the other article, originally published in the Scientific American Mind magazine in June 2010, which associated a gene with susceptibility to debt.
However, public misunderstanding is not the only thing to blame
for this misinterpretation. “Generally, science reporters’ first goal is to
inform the public about scientific developments.
However, this practice is not disinterested; some news is purposely written in a manner intended to catch the public’s attention with startling results in order to increase or to maintain market shares," Morin-Chassé explained.
However, this practice is not disinterested; some news is purposely written in a manner intended to catch the public’s attention with startling results in order to increase or to maintain market shares," Morin-Chassé explained.
Genetic research into behaviour is certainly a minefield. It is
often associated with other more controversial theoretical work, for example,
in sociobiology, which attempts to explain social inequalities using the theory
of evolution and the concept of natural selection. In contrast, current trends
in research are based on empirical analysis of DNA data.
"Personally, I am in favour 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,” Morin-Chassé said.
“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 purposes by certain social groups.
Hence the importance of making sure the public understands the scope and limitations of such research.”
“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 purposes by certain social groups.
Hence the importance of making sure the public understands the scope and limitations of such research.”
Story
Source:
The above story is based on materials provided by Université de Montréal. Note: Materials may be edited for
content and length.
Journal
Reference:
A. Morin-Chasse. Public
(Mis)understanding of News about Behavioral Genetics Research: A Survey
Experiment. BioScience,
2014; 64 (12): 1170 DOI:10.1093/biosci/biu168
Cite
This Page:
Université de Montréal. "Current practices in reporting on
behavioural genetics can mislead the public." Science Daily,
12 December 2014.
<www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/12/141212150231.htm>.
