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'Ruthlessness gene' discovered - Dictatorial behaviour may be partly genetic, study suggests.
Nature News ^ | 4 April 2008 | Michael Hopkin

Posted on 04/05/2008 8:27:42 PM PDT by neverdem


Could a gene be partly responsible for the behaviour of some of the worlds most infamous dictators?

Selfish dictators may owe their behaviour partly to their genes, according to a study that claims to have found a genetic link to ruthlessness. The study might help to explain the money-grabbing tendencies of those with a Machiavellian streak — from national dictators down to 'little Hitlers' found in workplaces the world over.

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'. The exercise allows players to behave selflessly, or like money-grabbing dictators such as former Zaire President Mobutu, who plundered the mineral wealth of his country to become one of the world's richest men while its citizens suffered in poverty.

The researchers don't know the mechanism by which the gene influences behaviour. It may mean that for some, the old adage that "it is better to give than to receive" simply isn't true, says team leader Richard Ebstein. The reward centres in those brains may derive less pleasure from altruistic acts, he suggests, perhaps causing them to behave more selfishly.

Prosocial hormone

Ebstein and his colleagues decided to look at AVPR1a because it is known to produce receptors in the brain that detect vasopressin, a hormone involved in altruism and 'prosocial' behaviour. Studies of prairie voles have previously shown that this hormone is important for binding together these rodents' tight-knit social groups.

Ebstein's team wondered whether differences in how this receptor is expressed in the human brain may make different people more or less likely to behave generously.

To find out, they tested DNA samples from more than 200 student volunteers, before asking the students to play the dictator game (volunteers were not told the name of the game, lest it influence their behaviour). Students were divided into two groups: 'dictators' and 'receivers' (called 'A' and 'B' to the participants). Each dictator was told that they would receive 50 shekels (worth about US$14), but were free to share as much or as little of this with a receiver, whom they would never have to meet. The receiver's fortunes thus depended entirely on the dictator's generosity.

About 18% of all dictators kept all of the money, Ebstein and his colleagues report in the journal Genes, Brain and Behavior 1. About one-third split the money down the middle, and a generous 6% gave the whole lot away.

Long and short

There was no connection between the participants' gender and their behaviour, the team reports. But there was a link to the length of the AVPR1a gene: people were more likely to behave selfishly the shorter their version of this gene.

It isn't clear how the length of AVPR1a affects vasopressin receptors: it is thought that rather than controlling the number of receptors, it may control where in the brain the receptors are distributed. Ebstein suggests the vasopressin receptors in the brains of people with short AVPR1a may be distributed in such a way to make them less likely to feel rewarded by the act of giving.

Though the mechanism is unclear, Ebstein says, he is fairly sure that selfish, greedy dictatorship has a genetic component. It would be easier to confirm this if history's infamous dictators conveniently had living identical twins, he says, so we could see if they were just as ruthless as each other.

Keen players

Researchers should nevertheless be careful about using the relatively blunt tool of the Dictator Game to draw conclusions about human generosity, says Nicholas Bardsley at the University of Southampton, UK, who studies such games.

His research suggests that players who routinely give money away as Dictators are also perfectly happy to steal money off other players in games that involve taking rather than giving. This suggests that the apparently more altruistic players in Ebstein's game may in fact be motivated by a desire simply to engage fully with the game, perhaps just because they feel that that is what's expected of them.

If that is true, then apparently ruthless dictators may be motivated not by out-and-out greed but by a simple lack of social skills, which leaves them unable to sense what's expected of them.

That certainly fits with the image of a naïve yet arrogant dictator with no sense of the inappropriateness of his actions and attitudes. Such figures have cropped up with surprising regularity throughout history, all the way from the emperors of Rome, through to Napoleon Bonaparte, Benito Mussolini, Saddam Hussein or Robert Mugabe, now tenaciously clinging to power in the face of uncertain electoral results.

References Knafo, A. et al. Genes Brain Behav. 7, 266–275 (2008).


TOPICS: Culture/Society; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: altruism; behavior; dictatorgame; dictators; genes; genetics; godsgravesglyphs; health; narcissism; ruthlessness; sociopaths; vasopressinreceptor
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To: SunkenCiv

That might explain Kim Jong Il.

21 posted on 04/05/2008 10:07:14 PM PDT by rdl6989
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To: neverdem
It would be easier to confirm this if history's infamous dictators conveniently had living identical twins, he says, so we could see if they were just as ruthless as each other.

Although they're both dead, the Kray twins come to mind.

22 posted on 04/05/2008 10:15:16 PM PDT by snarks_when_bored
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To: snarks_when_bored

Kray Research, gangster superbrains.

23 posted on 04/05/2008 10:24:41 PM PDT by dighton
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To: dighton

(grin)


24 posted on 04/05/2008 10:26:23 PM PDT by snarks_when_bored
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To: neverdem
We live in a culture where people want a reason or a name applied....I guess this way libs in feel better about evil and can continue to deny its existance
25 posted on 04/05/2008 10:46:04 PM PDT by Kimmers
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To: neverdem
Is it possible that in part that some genes are information that can be programed or altered by behavior or belief and then passed on? Would it be possible then to deprogram or reprogram them? Has anyone ever looked into this unusual theory?

One reason I have thought this to be possible is because of the strange likeness that so many homosexuals have. I do not believe it inherited because early in my life I never remember running into people who seemed overtly homosexual and do not believe that so many people were, but now I run into so many people who seem overtly homosexual and there are many more people who are. Real often I can tell that they are at first glance or barely getting to know them and then I find out I was right later. This has always struck me as unexplainable. Of course this is only a generality. I haven't really noticed this in other behaviors that I can think of right now.

26 posted on 04/05/2008 11:01:37 PM PDT by Bellflower (A Brand New Day Is Coming!)
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To: Bellflower
"This has always struck me as unexplainable. "

It's in the phemerones.

27 posted on 04/05/2008 11:22:38 PM PDT by matthew fuller (United We Stand- Diversified We Fall)
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To: Bellflower
Check out epigenetics and endocrine disruptors. I posted a number of the threads. They are interesting phenomena just beginning to be understood.
28 posted on 04/05/2008 11:47:31 PM PDT by neverdem (I'm praying for a Divine Intervention.)
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To: neverdem

Isn’t this from last year?

Did you read this one:
http://genetics.plosjournals.org/perlserv/?request=get-document&doi=10.1371/journal.pgen.0010042


29 posted on 04/06/2008 12:20:34 AM PDT by AliVeritas
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To: neverdem

30 posted on 04/06/2008 12:24:51 AM PDT by Daaave (Magically delicious!®)
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To: G Larry

> Your examples and assertions are ridiculous.

...says you.

> If Ted raised his son, then Ted’s behavior would influence his son.

And if Ted had a b@stard son, you’d be happy for him to marry your daughter?

> Dogs don’t have souls

...says you. If there are no dogs in heaven, then when I die I want to go where they went.

> or free will.

You clearly know nothing about dogs.


31 posted on 04/06/2008 12:31:56 AM PDT by DieHard the Hunter (Is mise an ceann-cinnidh. Cha ghéill mi do dhuine. Fàg am bealach.)
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To: neverdem

Total bs. These idiots think there’s a gene for every human trait. Wrong. We are not machines. We have FREE WILL. Whatever our genes, we MAKE CHOICES.
The left refuses to acknowledge that.


32 posted on 04/06/2008 4:15:22 AM PDT by Leftism is Mentally Deranged
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To: neverdem

If one believes creation two and not creation one (I believe in one not two) we all have the murder gene from the brother killer.


33 posted on 04/06/2008 5:32:52 AM PDT by YOUGOTIT (The Greatest Threat to our Security is the US Senate)
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To: DieHard the Hunter
If there are dogs in heaven then they all better be living on the other side of the city.

8^)

I don't want to spend eternity living next door to some pooch that feels the brainless need to bark nonstop day and night.

(I've had enough of that in this life.)

34 posted on 04/06/2008 7:35:53 AM PDT by BenLurkin
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To: neverdem

Thanks for the links. Epigenetics has some really fascinating implications.


35 posted on 04/06/2008 1:55:39 PM PDT by gleeaikin
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To: neverdem

Ruthlessness hereditary?

Chelsea might be the Antichrist...


36 posted on 04/06/2008 1:57:47 PM PDT by PLMerite ("Unarmed, one can only flee from Evil. But Evil isn't overcome by fleeing from it." Jeff Cooper)
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To: neverdem

Oh, great. Now we won’t be able to take action against dictators, terrorists, and mass murderers ‘cause its not their fault - its genetic...


37 posted on 04/07/2008 6:07:53 AM PDT by Little Ray (I'm a Conservative. But I can vote for John McCain. If I have to. I guess.)
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To: neverdem

Thank you. Very interesting.


38 posted on 04/09/2008 1:52:23 AM PDT by Bellflower (A Brand New Day Is Coming!)
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To: neverdem

Genesis Biolabs is offering a mail-in test for the “ruthlessness” gene.

http://www.genesisbiolabs.com

“We are a product not just of our genetics, but of our experiences and our choices. However, one can conceal or misrepresent ones choices and motives, but genetics do not lie. There are numerous situations where knowing if someone has the ruthless or altruistic version of AVPR1a might be useful. Before getting married, or making a business partnership, this genetic test might be appropriate. All of our politicians should probably submit to this test. “

An objective test of whether someone really has only his own interests at heart seems very valuable to me.


39 posted on 07/22/2008 4:18:50 AM PDT by DarwinX
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