Dr. Robert Plomin is one of the world’s most influential behavioral geneticists. A professor at King’s College London and author of Blueprint: How DNA Makes Us Who We Are, his work has helped shape our modern understanding of how genes influence intelligence, personality, mental health, and development.
In this episode, Dr. Plomin joins Kian to unpack decades of research on nature vs. nurture - and what this data tells us.
Together they explore:
Why parenting has far less long-term influence than most people think
The rise of polygenic scores and what they actually predict
How even identical twins turn out differently—and why that matters
What adoption and twin studies reveal about the true source of family resemblance
The role of randomness in development
How to parent without guilt, fear, or the illusion of control
Why understanding genetics is ultimately a tool for empathy and agency
Dr. Plomin doesn’t argue that environment doesn’t matter, only that it works in ways we’ve long misunderstood. This conversation is a challenge to old assumptions, and an invitation to see ourselves and others with greater clarity.
