Experiment finds link between genes and behaviour

[SocialistPunk]

Jonathan Chambers wrote:

Now, it seems to me that if we are going to be able to explain the enormous disparities between the behaviour of individuals within a given set of social circumstances then we must have recourse to something a little less nebulous than the notion of socially-conditioned learned behaviour.

There is a multitude of evidence that backs up enviromental influence. But a simple explanation could be that no two people have the same social experiences throughout their lives.

Jonathan Chambers wrote:

Incidentally, on the subject of human social behaviour that doesn't need to be learned, I'd argue that a sense of solidarity with our fellow men is pretty much an inbuilt thing that a) has enabled our species to survive several instances of near-extinction and b) isn't something that can easily be taught or learned if it isn't there in the first place. Most of us have that inbuilt sense of solidarity. Those who don't are a problem to society and become psychopaths irrespective of the material conditions of their existence.

I once thought our social ability, if anything, could be seen as hard wired. Now however I doubt even that. I think it would be virtually impossible to prove any human behaviour is hard wired. What experiment could be designed to rule out all environmental influence? Humans experience environmental influence from the womb onwards.As for psychopaths. Not all people who show psychopathic traits go on to develop violent and problematic behaviour. There are levels of psychopathic, for want of a better word, purity. From low level right up to serial killer. The violent psychopath and serial killers do not have a sense of solidarity with others, which would suggest it needs developing. A nurturing environment perhaps? It is known that given the right environment, a person with psychopathic traits will not show problematic behaviour and can live a normal fulfilling life with relationships etc. I recall a documentary I saw on TV a couple of years back. A doctor researching psychopaths found he shared a lot of traits on the scale. He admitted he felt at times it fitted his experiences that seemed to help him in his research, but he still had a close family relationship with a wife and children. The simple answer may be, that we will be unable to explain the complexity of human behaviour because it is exactly that. Complex!So many variables affecting the most socially advanced species on the planet, Genetic, biological as well as environmental, all influencing one another, in a complex web of inseparable relationships.

[steve colborn]

"Most of us have that inbuilt sense of solidarity." I don't think so. Mankind survived in it's earlier forms, not by a sense of, "solidarity", but from being social animals, by necessity. Solidarity is something else entirely. Steve.

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