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Henry Harpending
Henry Harpending is
a Professor of the University of Utah. His is a world-known
researcher in the field of anthropogenetics, the author of
many publications on genetics aspects of human kinship, population
subdivision, geographic, ethnic and race differences. Professor
Henry Harpending was a lector of the 2nd
Summer School on Human Ethology (Puschino). He gave lectures
on Evolution at the Human Dopamine D4 Receptor Locus and
Human Race Differences: An Alternate Perspective.
Here are the topics and brief descriptions of his lectures
on the upcoming school:
1. Natural selection on personality
and temperament traits.
I will review theory and data about selection on quantitative
traits. The theory is simple and is a good approximation even
for traits determined by a few mendelian loci. Given
plausible values of heritability and selection intensity the
time scale of significant population change should be on the
order of centuries. A familiar argument in anthropology
in favor of purely social determination of temperament is
to contrast the fierce Vikings of a millenium ago with the
gentle Scandinavians of today. If there has indeed been
such a change, it is as likely to reflect genetic change.
2. The natural history of Ashkenazi IQ.
The Ashkenazi Jewish population has an average IQ of as high
as 115 with a unique pattern of subtest scores: high verbal
and computational ability but, in contrast to northeast Asians,
little elevation of spatial ability. I will propose
a model in which this pattern is a consequence of the social
niche of Ashkenazi ancestors during the middle ages.
The spectrum of Ashkenazi genetic disorders may be consequences
of very strong selection for IQ.
3. Some genetic loci likely to cause population
differences in
temperament and personality.
New molecular and population genetic methods allow inference
about natural selection on genetic markers. For example
the 7R variant of the D4 dopamine receptor has been subject
to strong positive selection in some but not all populations
of humans, and clinical evidence suggests that this gene has
consequences for behavior. I will discuss several genes
that are variable in frequency among populations and that
may be related to temperament and personality, including the
dopamine receptors, the androgen receptor, the serotonin transporter,
and monoamine oxidase A.
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