ABSTRACT
Genes may be responsible for certain behavioural predispositions, but they do not themselves produce behaviour. The behavioural expression of genes occurs indirectly. Genes guide the construction of the brain and it is the brain that is responsible for the initiation, performance and maintenance of behaviour and other psychological processes. The brain takes over where genes leave off. At the same time, the brain is not a wholly genetically-engineered organ. Genes determine the basic architecture of the brain and are responsible for a certain amount of hardwiring. But it would be impossible for the brain to come pre-programmed to deal with all of the contingencies and challenges that will arise in an individual’s lifetime. The brain is adaptive and every experience causes a biological change within it. Consequently, the brain that you possess now is physically very different from the one you had when you were born. It is the essential plasticity of the brain that is the basis for the biosocial nature of behaviour.
