Most Reported Genetic Associations With General Intelligence Are Probably False Positives

General intelligence (g) and virtually all other behavioral traits are heritable. Associations between g and specific single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in several candidate genes involved in brain function have been reported. We sought to replicate published associations between g and 12 specif...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Psychological science 2012-11, Vol.23 (11), p.1314-1323
Main Authors: Chabris, Christopher F., Hebert, Benjamin M., Benjamin, Daniel J., Beauchamp, Jonathan, Cesarini, David, van der Loos, Matthijs, Johannesson, Magnus, Magnusson, Patrik K. E., Lichtenstein, Paul, Atwood, Craig S., Freese, Jeremy, Hauser, Taissa S., Hauser, Robert M., Christakis, Nicholas, Laibson, David
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Alleles
Behavioral genetics
Biological and medical sciences
Brain
Cognition. Intelligence
Cognitive psychology
Difference
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
Genes
Genetics
Genotype & phenotype
Genotypes
Human genetics
Human heredity
Humans
Individual performance
Individuality
Intellectual and cognitive abilities
Intelligence
Intelligence - genetics
Medical genetics
Molecular genetics
Personality traits
Phenotypic traits
Polymorphism
Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide
Psychology
Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry
Psychology. Psychophysiology
Reproducibility of Results
Social science research
Statistical variance
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Summary:General intelligence (g) and virtually all other behavioral traits are heritable. Associations between g and specific single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in several candidate genes involved in brain function have been reported. We sought to replicate published associations between g and 12 specific genetic variants (in the genes DTNBPI, CTSD, DRD2, ANKKI, CHRM2, SSADH, COMT, BDNF, CHRNA4, DISCI, APOE, and SNAP25) using data sets from three independent, well-characterized longitudinal studies with samples of 5,571, 1,759, and 2,441 individuals. Of 32 independent tests across all three data sets, only I was nominally significant. By contrast, power analyses showed that we should have expected 10 to 15 significant associations, given reasonable assumptions for genotype effect sizes. For positive controls, we confirmed accepted genetic associations for Alzheimer's disease and body mass index, and we used SNP-based calculations of genetic relatedness to replicate previous estimates that about half of the variance in g is accounted for by common genetic variation among individuals. We conclude that the molecular genetics of psychology and social science requires approaches that go beyond the examination of candidate genes.
ISSN:0956-7976
1467-9280
DOI:10.1177/0956797611435528