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Genes, cognition, and social behavior: Next steps for foundations and researchers

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 January 2016

Arthur Lupia
Arthur Lupia*
Affiliation:
Hal R. Varian Collegiate Professor of Political Science, Institute for Social Research, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48104. lupia@umich.edu
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Extract

Editor's note This well circulated but heretofore unpublished report is the summary statement of an interdisciplinary meeting of scholars convened by the National Science Foundation in Arlington, Virginia on June 28, 2010. The workshop, which was funded by the NSF's Political Science Program (Social, Behavioral & Economic Sciences Grant #1037831), was convened to answer two compelling questions: Are studies of social behavior that build from discoveries about genes and/or cognition of greater social and scientific value than studies of the same topics that ignore such factors? And, how can fundable research on genes, cognition, and politics generate transformative scientific practices, infrastructure, and findings of high social value? Assembled for the workshop were a group of scholars representing diverse yet increasingly connected research areas, including genetics, cognitive science and neuroscience, decision making and risk analysis, economics, political science, and sociology. The resulting report outlines the substantial challenges facing interdisciplinary research but also describes the considerable contributions to knowledge that could result from sustained collaborations between biologists, geneticists, and brain scientists on the one hand and social scientists on the other. Following this main report are three white papers by Jeremy Freese. Elizabeth Hammock, and Rose McDermott, which address importmant considerations related to the discussion. For a download of the full report, see http://www.isr.umich.edu.cps/workshop.Welcome.html.

Type
NSF Workshop Report
Information
Politics and the Life Sciences , Volume 30 , Issue 2 , Fall 2011 , pp. 65 - 87
Copyright
Copyright © Association for Politics and the Life Sciences 

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