John K. Hewitt | |
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Born | John Keith Hewitt July 14, 1952 |
Citizenship | United States |
Alma mater | Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, University of London University of Birmingham |
Awards | Dobzhansky Award (2008), James Shields Award (2016) |
Scientific career | |
Fields | Psychology Behavioral genetics |
Institutions | University of Colorado Boulder |
Thesis | The Genetic Control of Activity, Reactivity and Learning in a Population of Wild Rats (rattus Norvegicus). (1978) |
Academic advisors | David Fulker, Lindon Eaves |
John Keith Hewitt (born July 14, 1952) is a British-American behavioral geneticist and professor of psychology and neuroscience at the University of Colorado Boulder and a faculty fellow at the Institute for Behavioral Genetics. [1] He was the Director of the Institute for Behavioral Genetics from 2000 - 2021. He became a naturalized citizen of the United States in 1996.
Hewitt was the editor-in-chief of the journal Behavior Genetics (2001–2025) [2] and president of the Behavior Genetics Association. [3] He received the Dobzhansky Award of the Behavioral Genetics Association in 2008 and the James Shields Award of the International Society for Twin Studies in 2016. [4]
Glayde D. Whitney was an American behavioral geneticist and psychologist. He was professor at Florida State University. Beyond his work into the genetics of sensory system function in mice, in his later life he supported David Duke as well as research into race and intelligence and eugenics.
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Irving Isadore Gottesman was an American professor of psychology who devoted most of his career to the study of the genetics of schizophrenia. He wrote 17 books and more than 290 other publications, mostly on schizophrenia and behavioral genetics, and created the first academic program on behavioral genetics in the United States. He won awards such as the Hofheimer Prize for Research, the highest award from the American Psychiatric Association for psychiatric research. Lastly, Gottesman was a professor in the psychology department at the University of Minnesota, where he received his Ph.D.
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David William Fulker was a British behavioural geneticist at the University of Colorado's Institute for Behavioral Genetics. Among positions of esteem, he was elected president of the Behavior Genetics Association (1982), and was executive editor of the society's journal Behavior Genetics. In honour of this role, the society maintains an annual Fulker Award, for the best paper in the journal each year, and for which the award is "$1000 and a decent bottle of wine".
Behavioural genetics, also referred to as behaviour genetics, is a field of scientific research that uses genetic methods to investigate the nature and origins of individual differences in behaviour. While the name "behavioural genetics" connotes a focus on genetic influences, the field broadly investigates the extent to which genetic and environmental factors influence individual differences, and the development of research designs that can remove the confounding of genes and environment. Behavioural genetics was founded as a scientific discipline by Francis Galton in the late 19th century, only to be discredited through association with eugenics movements before and during World War II. In the latter half of the 20th century, the field saw renewed prominence with research on inheritance of behaviour and mental illness in humans, as well as research on genetically informative model organisms through selective breeding and crosses. In the late 20th and early 21st centuries, technological advances in molecular genetics made it possible to measure and modify the genome directly. This led to major advances in model organism research and in human studies, leading to new scientific discoveries.
Behavior Genetics is a bimonthly peer-reviewed scientific journal published by Springer Science+Business Media. It covers "research in the inheritance of behavior" and is the official journal of the Behavior Genetics Association. The journal was established in 1971 with Steven G. Vandenberg as its founding editor-in-chief. He was succeeded by Jan Bruell (1978–1986). Each year, the editorial board chooses a particularly meritorious paper in the previous year's volume of the journal for the Editors' Choice Award, acknowledged by "$1000 and a good bottle of wine" as well as a citation made in the journal. This award was created in the honor of David Fulker, a past president of the Behavior Genetics Association (1982) and former editor-in-chief (1987–1998). From 2001–2025, John K. Hewitt was editor-in-chief. He was succeeded by Valerie Knopik (2025–present). The abstracts of the annual meetings are printed in the journal.
The International Society for Twin Studies (ISTS) is an international, non-profit scientific organization. The aim of the society is to advance research and knowledge in all fields of science related to twins and/or twin studies, for the benefit of both twins and their families as well as worldwide scientific communities.
The Behavior Genetics Association (BGA) is a learned society established in 1970 and which promotes research into the connections between heredity and behavior, both human and animal. Its members support education and training in behavior genetics; and publish Behavior Genetics, a journal on the topic.
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Gerald "Jerry" McClearn was an American behavior geneticist and professor emeritus of health and human development and biobehavioral health at the Pennsylvania State University.
Avshalom Caspi is an Israeli-American psychologist. He is the Edward M. Arnett Professor of Psychology and Neuroscience in the Trinity College of Arts and Sciences at Duke University and Professor of Personality Development at King's College London's Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience. His research has focused on mental health and human development, much of which was conducted with his wife and longtime research partner, Terrie Moffitt. He is a co-editor of the Annual Review of Developmental Psychology.
In behavioural genetics, DeFries–Fulker (DF) regression, also sometimes called DeFries–Fulker extremes analysis, is a type of multiple regression analysis designed for estimating the magnitude of genetic and environmental effects in twin studies. It is named after John C. DeFries and David Fulker, who first proposed it in 1985. It was originally developed to assess heritability of reading disability in twin studies, but it has since been used to assess the heritability of other cognitive traits, and has also been applied to non-twin methodologies.
Benson Earl Ginsburg was an American behavioral geneticist who taught at the University of Chicago and the University of Connecticut. He was a co-founder of the Behavior Genetics Association.
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