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Archiver > DNA-R1B1C7 > 2007-11 > 1196436713


From: "Josh Magee" <>
Subject: Re: [DNA-R1B1C7] On Behalf of Something like ethnic specifics
Date: Fri, 30 Nov 2007 10:31:53 -0500


I agree that this is a potentially interesting route, but also must be
considered with caution when interpreting the results. 'Predominant
attributes' don't necessarily stem from shared genetic causes within
an ethnic group, they may alternatively be due to shared environmental
causes. For example, in much of the 1800's I would bet that tests of
R1b1c7 (hypothetical tests of course) in the United States would show
that this ethnic group demonstrated lower rates of becoming lawyers
than many other U.S. ethnic groups. However, a closer examination
would reveal that this group was made up of many immigrants with
little U.S. education, low income, etc....environmental factors that
we know would lessen one's chance of becoming a lawyer. So it
wouldn't be like there was something in the genes that was causing the
ethnic group to appear this way, but rather the fact that many people
with similar genes ended up with environmental surroundings that
poorly prepare one for becomin a lawyer. Theoretically, if you put a
bunch of R1b1c7's in a different environment, it may be that the rates
of lawyers would be equal or higher than another group.

The ethnic specificity investigation becomes more dangerous when
people start to apply it to areas like intelligence without fully
considering the influences that I discussed above.

Note that I'm not dismissing the importance of genetic contributions,
because there is no doubt that they contribute to many behaviors (and
there is good research to back this up), but instead I'm trying to
highlight that it is very tricky to figure out what is genetic and
what is environmental at this point, especially with genealogical DNA
tests.

Best,
Josh

> Researchers conduct ethnic specific surveys, e.g.
> Percentage of dentists who are Jewish, of doctors who are Irish,
> sport champions who are Afro-Americans, etc.
> also characteristics and physical attributes.
> Ethnic groups are usually very varied in origin
> but nevertheless certain predominant attributes are often noticed.
>
> R1b1c7 members are probably of much less varied origins than most
> ethnic groups.
> The chances are that some characteristic attributes of statistical
> significance do exist.
>
> Why not test for them?

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