Foundations of Behavior Genetics

You probably learned a lot more about individual differences in grade school than you realize. Grade school was the first place where many of us regularly interacted with a relatively large number of human beings. You were able to observe a rich diversity of individual differences, although you probably were not thinking about it in such terms, at the time. Children of the same age can differ in physical traits, such as height, weight, eye color, hair color, and skin color. They can also differ in behavior traits such as coordination, running speed, strength, and stamina. Children can also differ on psychological traits such as anxiety, aggression, extraversion, and impulsivity. Of course, you also probably noticed that grade school students can differ on their success in the classroom.