heredity

heredity
The passing down by genetic transmission of the characteristics of plants or animals from one generation to the next (‘like begetting like’). The idea of biologically transmitted similarities is an old one. However, ideas as to the means of this transmission and its malleability by environmental influences have changed. Present-day ideas are grounded in research on genetics (a term first coined in 1905 for the science of heredity) that has its origins in Mendel's classic studies cross-breeding peas. This and other research provided the missing link in Charles Darwin's theory of natural selection by specifying the mechanism through which species variation and similarity could occur.

The impact of such ideas on the study of human behaviour was considerable. Francis Galton, a cousin of Darwin, explored the role of heredity in accounting for individual differences in personality and [The entire page is 311 words long]

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