While reading Pinker's article I found the section where he talked about the different types of twins and their similarities and differences to be interesting. It is amazing to find two people that share common genes yet have never met before to be so much a like. Sparking my interest I began to stumble through the internet and found an article discussing a possible "happiness" gene.
Although the article talked about how the genes inherited to us by our parents help to influence our personality traits it is possible to defy the happy genes given to us to train ourselves to be happier, if we weren't fortunate enough to get those genes from our parents. Learning that it was possible to practice pushing the limits of our genes I reflected on my past to see this could come to a reality for myself.
In addition to making people happy, or happier, happiness can also make you smarter, and happy people tend to live longer. I believe to experience that with my family. Whenever we all get together around the holidays or vacations everyone is smiling, laughing, loud, and just plain enjoying themselves. It seems that the pursuit of happiness has blessed the elders in my family with especially long life spans. Still being fortunate to have three grandparents alive today, one at 84 two at 86 going strong, as well has having a joyful great-grandmother around until a few years ago when she was 99. While genes may not be everything, it is interesting to see how each of us turns out in correspondence with the others in our family, and to see how we can practice and alter the odds of our genes at times.
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Genetics is quite the interesting field, indeed! I, too, have read about the pursuit of the 'happiness' gene and some of the controversy surrounding it. Some feel that separating those who have such desirable genes from those without will create a rift in our societal structure. Nevertheless, if genetic engineering comes about (and I have few doubts that it will), we may be able to at least predispose our progeny to the fleeting notion of happiness, even if the gene is not the panacea that it seems.
ReplyDeleteI find all of this very interesting, as well...the whole idea of genetics influencing our psychological predisposition is intriguing. It really puts a new spin on the whole argument between those who are believers in nature and those who are believers in nurture, and it also gives the middleman something new to think about. Will they begin to use this new idea in a way that will change modern psychology and counseling services, such as lookig at your parents psychological histories in order to determine whether or not you're at any higher risk for mood disorders, just like doctors ask for your parents health history in order to determine the liklihood of any certain disease you might be predisposed to. It's certainly something to keep in mind...
ReplyDeleteThis is also very interesting to me because I blogged on the "criminality" gene, which almost seems to be directly related to this notion as well. In the different articles that I read, they revealed that depleted levels of serotonin can cause aggressive or impulsive behavior. On the opposite end of the spectrum, higher levels produced the opposite affect, which seems to be relevant in this situation. If any truth permeates through this notion, it would account for the fact that people with higher levels of serotonin (the predisposition to happiness in your terms) would seemily live longer because they would avoid becoming engulfed in a reality that consists of impulsion, agression, and violence; they have the power to dominate their emotions rather than being conquered by them. It's a very interesting subject!
ReplyDeleteI think I saw some show on discovery channel that talked about parents being able to choose their baby's features. Green eyes instead of brown, girl instead of boy, stuff like that. It even said you could give your baby 100% of the genes of either the mother or father! Clone babies!?!?! ETHICS!!!! It sounded cool. Maybe if this flies we could activate all our babies' happy genes for life. Or get rid of the criminal gene all together. The world would be a different place without hardened criminals like Martha Stewart running around.
ReplyDeleteWhat do we do with the studies of relative 'happiness' in different countries? (We're low; 'socialist'--or at least regulated ones--are high. A lot of war and violence (duh!) pulls it down.)
ReplyDeleteYears of psych studies on the 'protean' personality--ones that can survive death camps and destruction? Boy Howdy, is this a good topic.