What is the Reciprocal Gene Environment Model?

The  reciprocal gene-environment model is a theory that the way that genes are expressed, or how their DNA is read, changes with an individual’s environment. 

The outcome of this change in gene expression can be seen as a reciprocal relationship between the individual and their environment.

This article will go over what you need to know about this theory and provide links to some resources on the topic if you are interested.

What is the Reciprocal Gene Environment Model? 

1. Gene-environment correlation –

 The gene environment correlation is a theory that the way that genes are expressed, or how their DNA is read, changes with an individual’s environment.

The outcome of this change in gene expression can be seen as a reciprocal relationship between the individual and their environment.

 This means that if the individual’s surroundings change, then it will affect the environment and vice versa.

This theory comes from research done on behavior genetics and focuses on how an individual’s genes are expressed by looking at their environments. One way they look at this is through what they call a “gene-environment correlation”.

2. Gene environment interaction –

Another way of looking at the reciprocal gene-environment model is through a “gene environment interaction”. 

This is when there is a correlation between an individual’s genes and their environment. For example, if someone was to study race and intelligence in their research, they would find that there are different variations in different races.

 In this case, the genetic differences would be the genes and the racial differences would be the environments.

3. Gene environment interaction implies causation –

Even though it might seem like there is a reciprocal effect between an individual’s environment and their genes, it doesn’t mean that one causes the other. 

“Gene-environment interactions do not imply causation”. 

For example, the correlation between a person’s height and weight is what causes them to be shorter or taller than average.

 This doesn’t mean that their size causes their environment, but that they are related through their genes.

4. Reciprocal gene-environment interaction implies interaction –

Even though it is clear that there is a reciprocal effect between an individual’s genes and environment, this doesn’t mean that both responses are correlated.

 It only means that one happens because of the other. 

For example, in reading there may be two different ways to read a word…a phonological process and a visual process. 

If the two processes are not correlated, then it doesn’t mean that one causes the other. It only means that one interacts with the other to get a result.

5. Gene and environment aren’t static –

The reciprocal gene-environment model isn’t static because the environment and the genes are always changing.

 “The gene-environment interaction does not imply that behavior is determined.”

 This means that it might seem like there is a causal effect between an individual’s genes and their environment, but this doesn’t mean that one causes the other.

 This is because over time there are always changes to both of them that make it impossible for any one thing to be directly correlated with one another.

6. Gene expression –

A common way of looking at how an individual’s genome is expressed in their environment is through what they call a “gene expression”. 

This is when a certain part of a gene is turned on or off so that it can either work properly or not at all. For example, the “gene for eye color” only has an effect if it is turned on by the environment.

7. Gene expression can cause both physiological and behavioral changes –

The reciprocal gene-environment model proves through research that shows how changes in an individual’s genes can make them behave differently without having any effect on their physiology.

 This shows how changing your environment can make you act differently without needing to change your body to do so.

 An example of this would be learning a new language where you have to learn new words or different pronunciations that will make you behave differently.

8. Genes can affect both physiological and behavioral changes –

In this model, it is clear that both changes in an individual’s behavior and changes in their physiology are caused by the same thing, but they are not directly correlated.

 For example, the increase in heart rate will cause the individual to become anxious because of the stress of their heart rate increasing, but this doesn’t mean that this will cause them to lose weight or have better cholesterol levels just because they are nervous.

 This is because these physiological responses can be caused by a change in their genes. An example of this would be an increase in cortisol for someone who has been exposed to a stressful situation.