Eric Turkheimer
@ent3c.bsky.social
Behavior genetics, clinical psychology, Mets. Occasional politics.
Substack (free): https://ericturkheimer.substack.com/
Book Is Out! Understanding the Nature-Nurture Debate
https://shorturl.at/Ce2hf
Electronic Version: https://shorturl.at/Fq2jv
Substack (free): https://ericturkheimer.substack.com/
Book Is Out! Understanding the Nature-Nurture Debate
https://shorturl.at/Ce2hf
Electronic Version: https://shorturl.at/Fq2jv
New, brief theoretical piece out in World Psychiatry: The Causal Structure of Mental Illness and Why It Matters. Not about genetics, I pursue one of my longest standing concerns, about relations between classification and reduction. Link is to whole issue; my piece starts on Page 3.
www.wpanet.org
January 15, 2026 at 1:25 PM
New, brief theoretical piece out in World Psychiatry: The Causal Structure of Mental Illness and Why It Matters. Not about genetics, I pursue one of my longest standing concerns, about relations between classification and reduction. Link is to whole issue; my piece starts on Page 3.
The awful mess at UVa continues.... Only bright spot is the incoming governor, so there is hope things will improve.
surprise, the inside candidate hand-picked from the business school by the right wing board is a scammer who cooked his CV and systematically misrepresented credentials to impress idiots and politicals who know nothing about academic work
How UVA’s presidential search missed what took us an hour to find
Inside Higher Ed frames the controversy surrounding Scott C. Beardsley's appointment as the University of Virginia's president.
augustafreepress.com
January 11, 2026 at 9:20 PM
The awful mess at UVa continues.... Only bright spot is the incoming governor, so there is hope things will improve.
Nice review of my book, Understanding the Nature-Nurture debate, by Ingo Brigandt in the Quarterly Review of Biology. (Firewalled).
Understanding the Nature-Nurture Debate. Understanding Life. By Eric Turkheimer. Cambridge and New York: Cambridge University Press. $19.99 (paper). xxii + 188 p.; ill.; index. ISBN: 9781108958165. 20...
www.journals.uchicago.edu
January 9, 2026 at 3:18 PM
Nice review of my book, Understanding the Nature-Nurture debate, by Ingo Brigandt in the Quarterly Review of Biology. (Firewalled).
I can’t believe we’re still get one of these.
December 17, 2025 at 11:45 PM
I can’t believe we’re still get one of these.
I posted a long reply to Freddie deBoer's comment on my piece about intelligence with Dan Willingham @dtwuva.bsky.social. substack.com/profile/1707...
Eric Turkheimer (@ericturkheimer2)
Not sure if this is intended as a comment on my piece with @Daniel Willingham: https://www.aft.org/ae/winter2025-2026/turkheimer_willingham But I will go ahead and respond to it as if it is. Speaking ...
substack.com
December 11, 2025 at 3:42 PM
I posted a long reply to Freddie deBoer's comment on my piece about intelligence with Dan Willingham @dtwuva.bsky.social. substack.com/profile/1707...
So happy to have co-authored this piece about IQ and education with my great colleague, the cognitive scientist and education expert Daniel Willingham @dtwuva.bsky.social. Our goal is to take intelligence seriously without lapsing into essentialism.
Ask the Cognitive Scientist: What Do IQ Scores Mean?
www.aft.org
December 10, 2025 at 3:19 PM
So happy to have co-authored this piece about IQ and education with my great colleague, the cognitive scientist and education expert Daniel Willingham @dtwuva.bsky.social. Our goal is to take intelligence seriously without lapsing into essentialism.
Blog post: Within family prediction of psychopathology:
Bad prediction is bad prediction. ericturkheimer.substack.com/p/within-fam...
Bad prediction is bad prediction. ericturkheimer.substack.com/p/within-fam...
ericturkheimer.substack.com
December 9, 2025 at 9:28 PM
Blog post: Within family prediction of psychopathology:
Bad prediction is bad prediction. ericturkheimer.substack.com/p/within-fam...
Bad prediction is bad prediction. ericturkheimer.substack.com/p/within-fam...
I had my right hip replaced Wednesday. Very successful. On Day one I felt great, I was announcing I'd be back at work on Monday. Then the nerve block wore off swelling and stiffness set in... oh well, it's par for the course. A quick reflection: 1/
December 5, 2025 at 4:00 PM
I had my right hip replaced Wednesday. Very successful. On Day one I felt great, I was announcing I'd be back at work on Monday. Then the nerve block wore off swelling and stiffness set in... oh well, it's par for the course. A quick reflection: 1/
Reposted by Eric Turkheimer
Pick your fucking baby?!? JFC! They’re not fucking puppies.
December 4, 2025 at 5:23 PM
Pick your fucking baby?!? JFC! They’re not fucking puppies.
Blog post: A Missing Heritability Update. Three legs and other problems. I follow up on the recent excellent post on the subject by @sashagusevposts.bsky.social. ericturkheimer.substack.com/p/missing-he...
Missing Heritability Revisited
Following up on Sasha
ericturkheimer.substack.com
November 25, 2025 at 3:04 PM
Blog post: A Missing Heritability Update. Three legs and other problems. I follow up on the recent excellent post on the subject by @sashagusevposts.bsky.social. ericturkheimer.substack.com/p/missing-he...
Amazing, depressing article about RFK Jr by Michael Scherer in The Atlantic. This graf at the end stayed with me. Our national policy is now based on the difference between 17 and 21 outcomes out of populations of 22000. As usual, hard to know if it is stupidity or dishonesty.
November 24, 2025 at 2:20 PM
Amazing, depressing article about RFK Jr by Michael Scherer in The Atlantic. This graf at the end stayed with me. Our national policy is now based on the difference between 17 and 21 outcomes out of populations of 22000. As usual, hard to know if it is stupidity or dishonesty.
Did you know that Paul Meehl was Saul Bellow's analyst? From Louis Menand in The New Yorker (h/t Jane Mendle)
November 22, 2025 at 6:36 PM
Did you know that Paul Meehl was Saul Bellow's analyst? From Louis Menand in The New Yorker (h/t Jane Mendle)
With Paige Harden @kph3k.bsky.social we consider the greatness and bigotry of James Watson. Watson was not just a great scientist who turned out to be a bigot in his personal life. His bigotry was rooted in misunderstanding of the very science he created. Free link when I get one.
The Paradox of James Watson
The discovery of DNA was evidence of how deeply interconnected humans are, but the late scientist saw only difference.
www.theatlantic.com
November 10, 2025 at 6:36 PM
With Paige Harden @kph3k.bsky.social we consider the greatness and bigotry of James Watson. Watson was not just a great scientist who turned out to be a bigot in his personal life. His bigotry was rooted in misunderstanding of the very science he created. Free link when I get one.
I'm in France for a week, and thought it would be fun to restart an old blog I used to keep about our time here, dating from our search for an apartment. Bon appetit.
Le Volant Basque
Hi, this is my old Paris blog, that I have had since 2008, when we were first shopping for an apartment here. I haven't written anything he...
ruedouessant.blogspot.com
November 1, 2025 at 4:56 PM
I'm in France for a week, and thought it would be fun to restart an old blog I used to keep about our time here, dating from our search for an apartment. Bon appetit.
An offer I may not follow up on...
October 28, 2025 at 11:00 PM
An offer I may not follow up on...
Got an email about my reply to Jay Joseph's review of my book. I didn't know it was out. Reply is titled, "Taking Correlations Seriously." I will link to my personal copy of my reply, and put a link to Jay's review in a reply to this post. Not sure how firewalled it is.
Turkheimer_Joseph_Reply.pdf
drive.google.com
October 22, 2025 at 2:44 PM
Got an email about my reply to Jay Joseph's review of my book. I didn't know it was out. Reply is titled, "Taking Correlations Seriously." I will link to my personal copy of my reply, and put a link to Jay's review in a reply to this post. Not sure how firewalled it is.
Just watched the Trump s**t video. I know, don't feed the trolls. But remind me-- why am I not allowed to have any negative feelings about people who voted for this guy? Oh right, that makes me an overeducated elite prig.
October 19, 2025 at 11:08 PM
Just watched the Trump s**t video. I know, don't feed the trolls. But remind me-- why am I not allowed to have any negative feelings about people who voted for this guy? Oh right, that makes me an overeducated elite prig.
Here in Central Virginia we have had the rarest of comforts lately-- temperate weather. Have not used either heat or air conditioning since early August.
October 18, 2025 at 11:54 AM
Here in Central Virginia we have had the rarest of comforts lately-- temperate weather. Have not used either heat or air conditioning since early August.
UVA says no to the compact. A little more polite than I might have preferred, but I'll take it. Whew.
October 17, 2025 at 8:47 PM
UVA says no to the compact. A little more polite than I might have preferred, but I'll take it. Whew.
Here is another way to put the paradox. If you ask, "If I had different genes, would my personality be different?" Then the answer is, "Probably, yes." If you ask, "If I had THESE genes, what would my personality be like?", the answer is, "We don't have any idea."
October 17, 2025 at 3:06 PM
Here is another way to put the paradox. If you ask, "If I had different genes, would my personality be different?" Then the answer is, "Probably, yes." If you ask, "If I had THESE genes, what would my personality be like?", the answer is, "We don't have any idea."
Blog post: Why I won the bet: The not so inexorable progress of human science. ericturkheimer.substack.com/p/why-i-won-...
Why I Won The Bet
The not-so-inexorable progress of human science
ericturkheimer.substack.com
October 17, 2025 at 2:14 PM
Blog post: Why I won the bet: The not so inexorable progress of human science. ericturkheimer.substack.com/p/why-i-won-...
Great time last night at the Jefferson Theater: Don Was and the Pan-Detroit ensemble. Played from their album "Groove in the Face of Adversity" and ALSO covered Blues for Allah, in its entirety, on the 50th anniversary of its release. Highly recommended.
Don Was and the Pan-Detroit Ensemble | The Jefferson Theater
www.jeffersontheater.com
October 17, 2025 at 12:28 PM
Great time last night at the Jefferson Theater: Don Was and the Pan-Detroit ensemble. Played from their album "Groove in the Face of Adversity" and ALSO covered Blues for Allah, in its entirety, on the 50th anniversary of its release. Highly recommended.
On the other site: A rare compliment, or at least I think so.
October 14, 2025 at 9:33 PM
On the other site: A rare compliment, or at least I think so.
Blogpost: How my bet with Charles Murray came about. ericturkheimer.substack.com/p/my-bet-wit...
My Bet with Charles Murray
How the bet came about
ericturkheimer.substack.com
October 14, 2025 at 2:28 PM
Blogpost: How my bet with Charles Murray came about. ericturkheimer.substack.com/p/my-bet-wit...
In 2018, Charles Murray challenged me to a bet: "We will understand IQ genetically—I think most of the picture will have been filled in by 2025—there will still be blanks—but we’ll know basically what’s going on." It's now 2025, and I claim a win. I write about it in The Atlantic.
Your Genes Are Simply Not Enough to Explain How Smart You Are
Seven years ago, I took a bet with Charles Murray about whether we’d basically understand the genetics of intelligence by now.
www.theatlantic.com
October 13, 2025 at 1:33 PM
In 2018, Charles Murray challenged me to a bet: "We will understand IQ genetically—I think most of the picture will have been filled in by 2025—there will still be blanks—but we’ll know basically what’s going on." It's now 2025, and I claim a win. I write about it in The Atlantic.