Robert Joseph Plomin (born 1948) is an American/British psychologist and geneticist best known for his work in

twin studies Twin studies are studies conducted on identical or fraternal twins. They aim to reveal the importance of environmental and genetic influences for traits, phenotypes, and disorders. Twin research is considered a key tool in behavioral genetics a ...

and

behavior genetics Behavioural genetics, also referred to as behaviour genetics, is a field of scientific research that uses genetic methods to investigate the nature and origins of individual differences in behaviour. While the name "behavioural genetics" ...

. A ''

Review of General Psychology ''Review of General Psychology'' is the quarterly scientific journal of the American Psychological Association Division 1: The Society for General Psychology. The journal publishes cross-disciplinary psychological articles that are conceptual, th ...

'' survey, published in 2002, ranked Plomin as the 71st most cited psychologist of the 20th century. He is the author of several books on

genetics Genetics is the study of genes, genetic variation, and heredity in organisms.Hartl D, Jones E (2005) It is an important branch in biology because heredity is vital to organisms' evolution. Gregor Mendel, a Moravian Augustinian friar wor ...

and

psychology Psychology is the scientific study of mind and behavior. Psychology includes the study of conscious and unconscious phenomena, including feelings and thoughts. It is an academic discipline of immense scope, crossing the boundaries betwe ...

Biography

Plomin was born in Chicago to a family of Polish-German extraction. He graduated high school from DePaul University Academy in Chicago, he then earned a B.A. in psychology from

DePaul University DePaul University is a private university, private, Catholic higher education, Catholic research university in Chicago, Illinois. Founded by the Congregation of the Mission, Vincentians in 1898, the university takes its name from the 17th-centu ...

in 1970 and a Ph.D. in psychology in 1974 from the

University of Texas at Austin The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public research university in Austin, Texas. It was founded in 1883 and is the oldest institution in the University of Texas System. With 40,916 undergraduate students, 11,075 ...

under personality psychologist

Arnold H. Buss Arnold Herbert Buss (August 7, 1924 – June 26, 2021) was a professor emeritus of psychology at the University of Texas at Austin known for his work in aggression, temperament, self-consciousness and shyness. Career Buss received his B.A. from ...

. He then worked at the Institute for Behavioral Genetics at the

University of Colorado Boulder The University of Colorado Boulder (CU Boulder, CU, or Colorado) is a public research university in Boulder, Colorado. Founded in 1876, five months before Colorado became a state, it is the flagship university of the University of Colorado syst ...

. From 1986 until 1994 he worked at

Pennsylvania State University The Pennsylvania State University (Penn State or PSU) is a Public university, public Commonwealth System of Higher Education, state-related Land-grant university, land-grant research university with campuses and facilities throughout Pennsylvan ...

, studying elderly twins reared apart and twins reared together to study aging and since 1994 has been at the

Institute of Psychiatry The Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience (IoPPN) is a research institution dedicated to discovering what causes mental illness and diseases of the brain. In addition, its aim is to help identify new treatments for them and ways ...

(

King's College London King's College London (informally King's or KCL) is a public research university located in London, England. King's was established by royal charter in 1829 under the patronage of King George IV and the Duke of Wellington. In 1836, King's ...

). He has been president of the

Behavior Genetics Association The Behavior Genetics Association (BGA) is a learned society established in 1970 and which promotes research into the connections between heredity and behavior, both human and animal. Its members support education and training in behavior genetic ...

. In 1987 Plomin married

Judith Dunn Judith Frances Dunn, (born 1939) is a British psychologist and academic, who specialises in social developmental psychology. Early life and education Dunn was the daughter of James Pace and Jean Stewart. She studied at New Hall, Cambridge, gra ...

, a British psychologist and academic.

Honors and awards

In 2002, the Behavior Genetics Association awarded him the Dobzhansky Memorial Award for a Lifetime of Outstanding Scholarship in Behavior Genetics. He was awarded the

William James Fellow Award The William James Fellow Award is an award of the Association for Psychological Science which "honors APS Members for their lifetime of significant intellectual contributions to the basic science of psychology". The requirement is that "recipient ...

by the

Association for Psychological Science The Association for Psychological Science (APS), previously the American Psychological Society, is an international non-profit organization whose mission is to promote, protect, and advance the interests of scientifically oriented psychology in ...

in 2004 and the 2011 Lifetime Achievement Award of the

International Society for Intelligence Research The International Society for Intelligence Research (ISIR) is a scientific society for researchers in human intelligence. It was founded by Douglas K. Detterman of Case Western Reserve University in 2000. The society advocates for ongoing suppo ...

. In 2017, Plomin received the APA Award for Distinguished Scientific Contributions. Plomin was ranked among the 100 most eminent psychologists in the history of science. In 2005, he was elected a

Fellow of the British Academy Fellowship of the British Academy (FBA) is an award granted by the British Academy to leading academics for their distinction in the humanities and social sciences. The categories are: # Fellows – scholars resident in the United Kingdom # C ...

(FBA), the United Kingdom's

national academy A national academy is an organizational body, usually operating with state financial support and approval, that co-ordinates scholarly research activities and standards for academic disciplines, most frequently in the sciences but also the humanit ...

for humanities and social sciences. Plomin was appointed

Commander of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

(CBE) in the 2023 New Year Honours for services to scientific research.

Research

Plomin has shown the importance of '' non-shared environment'', a term that he coined to refer to the idiosyncratic environmental factors that reduce the similarity of individuals raised in the same family environment. In addition, he has shown that many environmental measures in psychology show genetic influence and that genetic factors can

mediate Mediate may refer to: * "Mediate" (song), by INXS * Domenic Mediate (born 1982), professional soccer player *Rocco Mediate (born 1962), professional golfer *A common misspelling of the website Mediaite Mediaite is a news website focusing on pol ...

associations between environmental measures and developmental outcomes. Plomin currently conducts the

Twins Early Development Study The Twins Early Development Study (TEDS) is an ongoing longitudinal twin study based at King's College London. The main goal of TEDS is to use behavioural genetic methods to find out how nature ( genes) and nurture (environments) can explain why ...

of all twins born in England from 1994 to 1996, focusing on developmental delays in early childhood, their association with behavioural problems and educational attainment.Ghosh, Pallab (8 August 2000)
Genius of genes.
''

BBC News BBC News is an operational business division of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) responsible for the gathering and broadcasting of news and current affairs in the UK and around the world. The department is the world's largest broadca ...

'' In 1994 he was one of 52 signatories on "

Mainstream Science on Intelligence "Mainstream Science on Intelligence" was a public statement issued by a group of researchers of topics associated with intelligence testing. It was published originally in ''The Wall Street Journal'' on December 13, 1994, as a response to criticis ...

", an editorial written by

Linda Gottfredson Linda Susanne Gottfredson (née Howarth; born 1947) is an American psychologist and writer. She is professor emeritus of educational psychology at the University of Delaware and co-director of the Delaware-Johns Hopkins Project for the Study of I ...

and published in the ''

Wall Street Journal ''The Wall Street Journal'' is an American business-focused, international daily newspaper based in New York City, with international editions also available in Chinese and Japanese. The ''Journal'', along with its Asian editions, is published ...

'', which declared the consensus of the signing scholars on issues related to intelligence research following the publication of the book ''

The Bell Curve ''The Bell Curve: Intelligence and Class Structure in American Life'' is a 1994 book by psychologist Richard J. Herrnstein and political scientist Charles Murray, in which the authors argue that human intelligence is substantially influenced by b ...

''.Gottfredson, Linda (December 13, 1994).

. ''

'', p A18.

Bibliography

*''Behavioral Genetics: A Primer'', together with

John C. DeFries John C. DeFries (born November 26, 1934) is one of the world's leading behavior geneticists. His achievements include being President of the Behavior Genetics Association (1982–1983) and cofounder of the journal ''Behavior Genetics'', as well ...

Gerald E. McClearn Gerald "Jerry" McClearn (July 28, 1927 – January 5, 2017) was an American behavior geneticist and professor emeritus of health and human development and biobehavioral health at the Pennsylvania State University. Education McClearn received his ...

, WH Freeman & Co, 1989, *''Separate Lives: Why Siblings Are So Different'', together with Judy Dunn, Basic Books, 1992, *''Behavioral Genetics in the Postgenomic Era'', together with John C. DeFries,

Peter McGuffin Peter McGuffin (born 4 February 1949) is a psychiatrist and geneticist from Belfast, Northern Ireland. Early life Peter McGuffin was born in Belfast, Northern Ireland on 4 February 1949, the eldest of 3 children of Martha Melba (née Burniso ...

, Ian W. Craig, American Psychological Association, 2002, *''The Relationship Code: Deciphering Genetic and Social Influences on Adolescent Development (Adolescent Lives)'', together with David Reiss, Jenae M. Neiderhiser, E. Mavis Hetherington, Harvard University Press, 2003, *''Nature, Nurture, and the Transition to Early Adolescence'', together with John C. DeFries, Stephen A. Petrill, John K. Hewitt, Oxford University Press, 2003, *''Nature And Nurture: An Introduction To Human Behavioral Genetics'', Wadsworth Publishing, 2004, *''Nature and Nurture during Infancy and Early Childhood'', together with John C. DeFries,

David Fulker David William Fulker (8 March 1937 – 9 July 1998) was a British behavioural geneticist at the University of Colorado's Institute for Behavioral Genetics. Among positions of esteem, he was elected president of the Behavior Genetics Associatio ...

, Cambridge University Press, 2006, *''Behavioral Genetics'', together with John C. DeFries, Peter McGuffin, Gerald E. McClearn, Worth Publishers; 5th edition, 2008, *''Behavioral Genetics'', together with John C. DeFries, Valerie S Knopik, Jenae M. Neiderhiser, Worth Publishers; 6th edition, 2012, *'' G Is for Genes'', together with Kathryn Ashbury,

Wiley Blackwell Wiley-Blackwell is an international scientific, technical, medical, and scholarly publishing business of John Wiley & Sons. It was formed by the merger of John Wiley & Sons Global Scientific, Technical, and Medical business with Blackwell Publish ...

; 2013, *''Behavioral Genetics'', together with John C. DeFries, Valerie S Knopik, Jenae M. Neiderhiser, Worth Publishers; 7th edition, 2016, *'' Blueprint: How DNA Makes Us Who We Are'', Penguin Books Ltd., 2018,

References

External links

*
Robert Plomin Interview
with

David Lubinski David J. Lubinski is an American psychology professor known for his work in applied research, psychometrics, and individual differences. His work (with Camilla Benbow) has focussed on exceptionally able children: the nature of exceptional abil ...

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Plomin, Robert 1948 births Living people Academics of King's College London 21st-century American psychologists Behavior geneticists DePaul University alumni Fellows of King's College London Fellows of the British Academy Intelligence researchers Pennsylvania State University faculty Race and intelligence controversy University of Texas at Austin College of Liberal Arts alumni University of Colorado faculty Personality psychologists People from Chicago Commanders of the Order of the British Empire American emigrants to England Naturalised citizens of the United Kingdom 20th-century American psychologists