benefiting from exposure to environmental support or enrichment (for example, nurturance), including just the absence of adversity. Were this the case, it would seem more appropriate to speak of ‘plasticity genes' rather than ‘vulnerability genes' and of highly plastic or malleable individuals rather than the so-called vulnerable ones. Boyce and Ellis,10 although not directly concerned with G × E effects, which is the focus of this paper, also have argued that individuals vary in their susceptibility to environmental influences, what they refer to as ‘biological sensitivity to context.' However, there is no presumption in their work that such malleability is a function of genotype, as they intriguingly entertain the prospect that experience can shape plasticity.
