Are we humans simply remodelled apes? Chimps with a tweak? Is the difference between our genomes so minuscule it justifies the argument that our cognition and behaviour must also differ from chimps by barely a whisker? If “chimps are us” should we grant them human rights? Or is this one of the biggest fallacies in the study of evolution? NOT A CHIMP argues that these similarities have been grossly over-exaggerated - we should keep chimps at arm’s length. Are humans cognitively unique after all?
Sunday, 7 June 2009
Knife Gangs And The "Warrior Gene".
In the penultimate chapter of "Not A Chimp" I discuss the likely role of genetic variants of four key neurotransmitter and neurohormone chemicals in the brain in underpinning the range of temperaments and personality types we see in human society. They are the four legs, as I see it, to a comprehensive "bio-social" theory of human society. One of those substances, called monoamine oxidase (MAO), is involved in the regulation of two key neurotransmitters - dopamine and serotonin - and abnormalities in MAO have long been linked to violence and aggression. Now a team of American scientists lead by Kevin Beaver, a biosocial criminologist of Florida State University, has suggested that carriers of the low activity "short repeat" variant of the MAOA gene are more likely than others to join gangs and sport weapons. In fact, the presence of this gene variant in young males actually predicts gang membership. And within gangs, carriers of this short repeat were "markedly more likely to behave violently and use weapons". Previous research has shown that carriers of this short repeat are prone to violence, especially where alcohol and provocation are involved, while, in New Zealand, a large longitudinal study of children maltreated when young showed that carriers of the short repeat variant of MAOA were more likely to develop into violent, anti-social individuals later in life, whereas carriers of the alternative "long repeat" variant were much more likely to be able to endure the vicissitudes - the slings and arrows of life - without going seriously off the rails. Not for nothing has this short variant been dubbed "the warrior gene".
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