Intelligence 32 (2004) 425 427

Book review
The Gene Illusion: Genetic research in psychiatry and psychology under the microscope
Jay Joseph; PCCS Books, Ross-on-Wye, UK, 2003, 342 pages, ISBN 1-898059-47-0

The Gene Illusion is a methodological critique of quantitative behavior genetics and its core methods,
twin, and adoption studies. It includes a historical review of twin research from 1870 to the present
(Chapter 2), followed by a critical discussion of environmental confounds in studies of twins reared
together (Chapter 3), twins reared apart (Chapter 4), and the heritability concept (Chapter 5). About a
third of the book is devoted to the genetics of schizophrenia (Chapters 6 and 7). The remaining 60 pages
address genetic studies of criminal behavior (Chapter 8), IQ (Chapter 9), and molecular genetics
(Chapter 10), before Joseph sums up his position in Chapter 11.
The books major claims can be summarized as follows: (a) The classical twin method was the
creation of racial hygienists and eugenicists; (b) studies of twins reared together are invalid because the
equal environments assumption (EEA) is not met; (c) studies of twins reared-apart are invalid because
the unequal environments assumption is not met; (d) heritability as a concept is inherently misleading,
has no practical purpose, and is nearly equivalent to no information at all; (e) adoption studies (of
schizophrenia and, arguably, such studies in general) are flawed by selective placement, unsound
methodology, and bias; in the case of schizophrenia, Joseph concludes that the results from family, twin
and adoption studies do not support the position that genes influence the appearance of a set of behaviors
given the name schizophrenia (p. 230); and (f) molecular genetic research in psychiatry will prove
to be a gigantic waste of time, energy, and money. The same can be said for the search for behavioral and
IQ genes (p. 302).
These venturesome statements are provocative, yet should not make readers want to dismiss the
author and book too easily. Over large parts of the book, Josepha practicing clinical psychologist
presents a well-written and forceful critique of methodological difficulties and challenges in twin and
adoption research. Some of these issues have been voiced before (e.g., Pam, Kemker, Ross, & Golden,
1996) and need to be taken seriously in contemporary genetic research. The historical account of twin
research in the first half of the last century and its disreputable association with eugenics is well
documented and valuable. The discussion of selected shortcomings in particular twin and adoption
studies is informative, even for experts in the field.
The main problem with The Gene Illusion is a predominantly black-and-white portrayal, its reliance
on the adversary principle in contrast to the truth-finding principle (Eysenck & Kamin, 1981), and
the unwarranted (and unquantified) conclusion that the methodological difficulties and challenges in
behavior genetic research render the approach meaningless and invalid. More than 20 years ago,
Eysenck wrote that, in scientific arguments (. . .) there are no sides in the adversary sense; all those
who take part in the argument want to discover truth (as far as that is humanly possible) rather than win
doi:10.1016/j.intell.2004.04.001

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Book review

the argument. Hence, a good critic is the best friend of the scientist who puts forward hypotheses or
reports experiments (p. 157). Unfortunately, The Gene Illusion is full of examples of what Eysenck
would have called the adversary principle. Joseph likes to polarize, most obviously in his final chapter
when he writes: We are being sold an old product in a new packaging. Genetic researchers often call
attention to human differences at the expense of emphasizing how much people have in common. They
also tend to be interested in peoples limits as opposed to their potential for achievement and growth (p.
302; emphasis added). Discussing the necessity of demonstrating the tenability of the EEA, Joseph puts
twin researchers in a Catch-22 situation, claiming that they bear the burden of proof (p. 68), only to
add that twin researchers are hardly impartial testers of a method that is, in many cases, their lifes
work. The methods they use for evaluating data, the data they choose to collect, and the conclusions they
reach, are influenced by their preexisting belief in the twin methods validity (p. 73). Research carried
out by critics of the genetic approach is typically described as careful, considerate, and thorough,
whereas the empirical work of behavior geneticists is termed seriously flawed, biased, and plagued with
glaring weaknesses (p. 46).
The chapter on IQ is short and does not do justice to the plethora of relevant studies that have been
carried out, both within and outside the field of behavior genetics. Instead of discussing the empirical
evidence in adequate detail, Joseph chooses mainly to criticize the Bouchard and McGue (1981) review
in passing and denounce IQ testing in general as a tool of oppression (p. 268).
Interestingly, studies employing IQ tests are fine when it comes to making the point that genetic
researchers selectively neglect results that do not fit their agenda. In Chapter 4, Joseph refers to Sims
(1931), who obtained scores for the Otis Self-Administering Test of Mental Ability in a sample 203
unrelated pairs of children matched on the basis of age, school attended, and home background,
resulting in a correlation of .29. The presentation of this study is followed by a quote from Kamin
(1974, p. 81): This sophisticated and elegant study has simply disappeared from contemporary
reference lists, suggesting that genetic researchers do not acknowledge the importance of shared
environmental influences on intelligence in childhood. Just the opposite is true: A moderate shared
environmental component of about .30 for children aged 1216 years (as in the Sims study) is
exactly what is reported in summaries of IQ twin data in childhood (McGue, Bouchard, Iacono, &
Lykken, 1993).
Little is said about the fields advances, some of which are mentioned below, and none of which are
referred to by Joseph. Among recent efforts to refine genetic and environmental research are studies of
Gene  Environment interaction (e.g., Caspi et al., 2002), attempts to create and use registers to
minimize ascertainment bias (Twin Researchs special issue in 2002, Issue 5), the use of extended twin
designs (Boomsma, Busjahn, & Peltonen, 2002), the joint analysis of twin, family, and adoption data
(e.g., Loehlin, 1992), observational approaches (Borkenau, Riemann, Angleitner, & Spinath, 2001),
large population twin samples studied longitudinally from early childhood (Trouton, Spinath, & Plomin,
2002), attempts to study family environment and individual specific environmental influences (Reiss,
Neiderhiser, Hetherington, & Plomin, 2000), and environmental risk (E-Risk; e.g., Caspi, Taylor,
Moffitt, & Plomin, 2000) using genetically informative designs.
Modern behavior genetics has become an interdisciplinary field, in which researchers interested in
genetic and environmental influences work together towards a better understanding of individual
differences in human behavior. Exchange between researchers and critics and the consideration of
justified criticism will further advance the field. Adherence to the adversary principle, denunciation, or a
priori dismissiveness will not.

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References
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80, 655 668.
Bouchard, T. J. Jr., & McGue, M. (1981). Familial studies of intelligence: A review. Science, 212, 1055 1059.
Caspi, A., McClay, J., Moffitt, T. E., Mill, J., Martin, J., Craig, I., Taylor, A., & Poulton, R. (2002). Evidence that the cycle of
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Pam, A., Kemker, S. S., Ross, C. A., & Golden, R. (1996). The equal environments assumpion in MZ-DZ comparisons: An
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genetic investigation of language, cognition and behavior problems in childhood. Twin Research, 5, 444 448.

F.M. Spinath
Department of Psychology,
University of Bielefeld,
PO Box 10 01 03, 33501,
Bielefeld, Germany
E-mail adress: fspin@uni-bielefeld.de
22 April 2004