Human Nature: Part 3 Genetics and Instincts
One way to determine whether humanity is predisposed to be generally good or evil (selfish or altruistic) is to look at scientific studies that have sought for a genetic link to our behavior.
One such recent study looked at the initial instincts of how human would respond to specific situations under pressure in regards to being selfish or co-operative, and discovered...
"
The results were striking: in every single study, faster—that is, more intuitive—decisions were associated with higher levels of cooperation....These results suggest that our first impulse is to cooperate"
but before you get your hopes up, the same study noted that the more time people had to think about things the more selfish they became.
How cooperative you are may depend on how quick you are to respond to a proposition, a new study finds. In a computerized game that involves contributing money to a common pool, people who took longer to think over their options were more likely to be selfish.
Mulling Over a Decision Makes People More Selfish, Study Suggests | Science | AAAS
Scientists Probe Human Nature--and Discover We Are Good, After All - Scientific American
It would sadly appear that our ability to rationalize increases are chances to want to hoard the pot of gold to ourselves, but it is not all bad,
another scientific study using computerized models found that co-operative populations tend to fare better than selfish ones, and that even selfish individuals would have to learn to be somewhat co-operative if they wished to survive.
Evolution doesn't favour the mean or selfish - Technology & Science - CBC News
There are also all sorts of anthropological studies revealing that primitive tribal groups, cherish altruistic and co-operative behavior, and frown upon displays of selfishness, there is even a scientific study that raises the possibility of gene that contributes to our inclination to be naturally altruistic....
The researchers discovered that people with either of two of the variations of the COMT gene (called the Val/Val and Val/Met variations) donated twice as much money to the charity as people with the other variation (called Met/Met), regardless of their gender. In fact, more than 20 percent of the people with the altruistic variations donated all of their money.
to top that off, yet
another study found that our brain activity fires neurons that allow us to experience pleasure when we help someone...
participants were given the chance to help someone else while their brain activity was recorded. Helping others triggered activity in the caudate nucleus and anterior cingulate, portions of the brain that turn on when people receive rewards or experience pleasure. This is a rather remarkable finding: helping others brings the same pleasure we get from the gratification of personal desire.
The Compassionate Instinct | Greater Good
Is Human Nature Fundamentally Selfish or Altruistic? | TIME.com
Is There an Altruism Gene? | Greater Good
so then why are we such bastards???
well in addition to becoming more selfish when we begin to rationalize things in out favour, it would appear that genetic variation is answer.
Just as some people may have a gene that predisposes them to be more altruistic, others may have genetics that predispose them to be more selfish...
a study, published in Brain and Cognition Journal, in which they scanned the brains of people who scored high in Machiavellianism while playing a basic trust game. The researchers found that when a person possessing a high Machiavellian score encountered a person who exhibited signs of fairness, their brains went into overdrive....the increase in brain activity happens because Machiavellians are imagining ways of exploiting the situation for their own benefit.
and it would appear that our ability to be mean is inherently genetic as well...
Like all genetically based behaviours, meanness in any of its manifestations is the product of multiple genes working together to encourage the phenotype personality traits. And because scads of mean DNA snips are floating around in the gene pool, most people would inherit some portion of the encoded malice. ...You’ve got to think it has an evolutionary basis and that it paid off in reproductive success at some point,” Paulhus says. “Some individuals had more opportunities for reproduction because they were aggressive and cruel.”
and although this study fails to identify specific genes, another study seems to have found
a direct link between ruthless behavior and our genetics, explaining why humanities history as been riddled with monstorous dictators.
Researchers at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem found a link between a gene called AVPR1a and ruthless behaviour in an economic exercise called the 'Dictator Game'.
as well as
a gene that makes people predisposed towards rage and high levels of violence...
Scientists believe they’ve identified the genes responsible for high levels of rage and violence – does that make some men evil from birth?
Conclusion:
Once again, our evolution seems to be a mixed bag of imperfection, for all the genetic and anthropological evidence that shows us to be co-operative and altruistic, it appears we have the equal ability to be predisposed to selfishness and cruelty....particularly with the genetic code of certain individuals.
Makes me think of the old saying "
it just takes one bad apple to spoil the bunch" the question I have is, are these people generally rewarded in life for their ruthlessness?
Next up, personalities and financial success.
'Ruthlessness gene' discovered : Nature News
Meanness, alas, is in our genes | Toronto Star
Science Reveals Why Some People are Selfish Jerks