Culture and biology in human communication: Toward a multi‐causal model

Abstract

Because the relative influence of genetic and environmental components varies depending on the specific genes and environments under consideration and their specific interactions, debates over the relative importance of nature vs. nurture are misguided. Analysis of the concept of heritability indicates the failure of these statistical formulations to answer the “gene vs. environment”; question. Recent efforts to identify genetically based biological causes as the primary sources of individual variations in communication fall prey to these failures. In place of a “communibiological”; paradigm for communication, a multi‐causal model is suggested in order to attend to the complex and variable interactions among the many factors contributing to communication behaviors, including genes, gene products, physiological and environmental inputs, developmental processes, established biological structures, cognitive processes and inputs, cultural processes, social structural inputs, and codes.

Keywords:

• heritability
• genetics
• communication paradigms
• communication apprehension
• sociobiology