Abstract: Modeling the genetic basis of psychiatric diseases in rodents is challenging because of their uniquely human manifestations. Instead, we have focused on behavioral tendencies in humans such as risk taking, subjective drug effects and delay discounting. We have shown that these traits are genetically correlated with psychiatric diseases, establishing their clinical relevance. We have also studied the genetic basis of similar traits in inbred and outbred mice and rats. Despite important species differences, we have shown that these traits are influenced by similar individual genes and constellations of genes. This approach allows us to elucidate the molecular genetic basis of behavioral tendencies in rodents that are relevant to human psychiatric diseases.