Drawing on research from the field of Social Psychology (Primacy, Anchoring, and Self-fulfilling Prophecy effects), we introduce the Nurtured Genetics Hypothesis along with its psychosocial implications. The hypothesis states: selectively exposing an individual to a particular environment, on the basis of polygenic scores may have a greater influence on the expression of their behavioral traits than their initial genetic predisposition for those traits. More specifically, children (and/or parents) presented with their own (or their child’s) genetic predispositions are likely to form genetic expectancies (i.e., behavioral expectations derived from polygenic scores). We hypothesize that children and parents may not adequately update their genetic expectancies when faced with subsequent environmental information due to primacy and anchoring effects. Subsequently, children (or parents) will likely seek to confirm or refute their anchored genetic expectancies, and in doing so, they will be exposed to environmental conditions that could either validate or invalidate the initial polygenic score estimates through genetic expectancies, but not actual genetics. Earlier exposure to genetic information is hypothesized to lead to stronger nurtured genetic effects, which raises greater concern for prenatal and preimplantation genetic testing. Concern about nurtured genetics effects from a nationally representative sample (N = 1424) of the U.S. public will be presented along with the hypothesis.
