Path: utzoo!mnetor!uunet!husc6!cmcl2!brl-adm!umd5!uvaarpa!mcnc!ecsvax!hes
From: hes@ecsvax.UUCP (Henry Schaffer)
Newsgroups: sci.bio
Subject: Re: Rape a reproductive advantage?
Message-ID: <4424@ecsvax.UUCP>
Date: 15 Jan 88 13:59:16 GMT
References: <517@gtx.com> <248@nancy.UUCP> <2043@navajo.UUCP>
Distribution: na
Organization: NC State Univ.
Lines: 20
Summary: showing heritability isn't easy

In article <2043@navajo.UUCP>, baxter@navajo.UUCP (Ray Baxter) writes:
>... 
> I would like to see one shred of data which shows that human rape is
> not heritable.  It is fine for you to say that it is a social problem,
> but you certainly do not know that is not a genetic problem.

  It isn't all that easy to demonstrate the degree of heritability of a
quantitative behavioral trait.  Cf. the problems in trying to study the
heritability of IQ in humans.  The combination of long generation time,
small family size, inability to specify a breeding scheme, and the
difficulty of measuring the trait being studied, all make it very difficult
(at best).  To demonstrate heritability all you have to do is to get an
estimate that differes significantly from 0.  However, to show that the
behavior is "not heritable" (which I interpret as meaning that the
heritability is 0) you have to measure the heritability accurately enough
to show that the value is 0, and not merely some small value, say 5%.  Even
in an experimental animal or plant population it is difficult (takes much
recsources, effort, ...) it estimate a heritability with a std. error of
much less than 5%.
--henry schaffer  n c state univ