Researcher ORCID Identifier

0000-0002-4230-5393

Document Type

Article

Program

Psychology (Pitzer)

Publication Date

2017

Keywords

Epigenetics, Developmental systems, Nature-nurture concept

Abstract

Epigenetics remains an exciting subdiscipline of biology, generating discoveries and insights about development. Because epigenetic phenomena can draw attention to the dynamic, interactional, and probabilistic nature of phenotype development, epigenetics research could hasten the demise of both nature-nurture debates and reductionist, genetically determinist perspectives on phenotype development. However, new data alone will not inevitably transform conceptualizations of phenotype origins, because it remains possible to assimilate epigenetic phenomena into traditional conceptual frameworks; epigenetic discoveries could even strengthen biologically determinist conclusions if traditional conceptualizations are retained. Although epigenetics will not force conceptual transformation, epigenetics research encourages the dismissal of the nature-nurture dichotomy by emphasizing mechanisms underlying phenotype development, thereby fostering clearer conceptions of how phenotypes emerge from interactions between biological and nonbiological components of developing systems. The developmental systems perspective, which acknowledges the vital roles of contexts in development, offers benefits not provided by reductionist perspectives, making it an appropriate conceptual framework for developmental science.

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