Essay On Heritability

Can a Heritable Trait Be Changed? This myth comes from a very common misconception that heritability is determined by genetics, which is false in itself. Heritability explains variation in traits, but does not address how traits are passed down from parent to child. This is an estimate of to what degree genes contribute towards the presence of a trait. A change in heritability can change without any genetic change occurring. Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution gives examples of how traits change as a species evolves. In biology, evolution is the change in the inherited traits of a population from generation to generation. Heritability overall is usually traced back to family members, cultural beliefs, diseases, or traumatic events. The myth is often believable because people associate heritability with an inherited trait, when they are completely different. So it is proven that a heritable trait can in fact be changed. It is a common belief that “heritability” and “inherited” are the same thing, which is not actually the case. People believe that if a trait is heritable you can’t change it, and most don’t even …show more content…
The research shows different ways that traits can be affected and the ways that they can affect the child after it is changed since it came from the parent. There were examples of studies that tested IQ from parents to children and how the scores varied and why they varied. Traits can be greatly influenced my genes as well as slightly changed by environmental factors. In addition to the environment’s ability to change a trait, people also have the ability to change personality traits in themselves with a fair amount of time and effort. All in all, the myth that because a trait is heritable means it can’t be changed is proven to be a myth from the numerous examples stated as well as many other