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 | | From: | Dr. Jai Maharaj | | Subject: | ISRAELI RESEARCHERS FIND 'ALTRUISM GENE' | | Date: | Fri, 21 Jan 2005 08:08:39 GMT |
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 | Israeli researchers find 'altruism gene'
By Judy Siegel-Itzkovich
The Jerusalem Post
Jan. 20, 2005 0:37 - Updated Jan. 20, 2005 23:11
The first gene linked to altruistic behavior has been
identified by Israeli psychologists who believe it boosts
receptors for the neurotransmitter dopamine, which gives
the brain a good feeling.
The discovery of the gene variant on chromosome No. 11 is
reported in the advance on-line edition of the journal
Molecular Psychiatry (nature.com/mp) by Prof. Richard
Ebstein, a psychologist, and colleagues at the Hebrew
University and Herzog Memorial Hospital in Jerusalem. The
"scientific correspondence" will appear in the printed
journal in a month or so.
Ebstein, who headed a team that in the 1990s discovered a
"risk-taking gene," told The Jerusalem Post on Wednesday
that the source of altruism -- in which someone sacrifices
his own interests to benefit others -- has been an
important question in evolutionary theory for many years.
Even Charles Darwin dealt with it, he said. One would not
expect altruism to have an evolutionary benefit because
the altruistic person promotes other people's survival by
taking risks that could endanger his own. Ebstein
discussed the matter with his students in an evolutionary
psychology course and then launched the genetic study.
Higher animals can show altruistic behavior, said
Ebstein, but it is almost always for members of their
family, whom they identify by odors and other signals.
But altruistic behavior is very prominent in human
behavior.
Ebstein and colleagues took blood samples from 354
families with multiple siblings and asked them questions
to rate them on the Selflessness Scale, a measure of
altruistic behavior. Their answers were completely
anonymous, thus they did not benefit from describing
themselves. "Depending on self-reporting could present
some problems, but we are working to confirm our findings
by conducting economic games with reward and punishment
to see if people display altruistic behavior and then to
test them for the gene variant."
He is also considering the possibility of looking for the
gene in groups of people who clearly exhibit altruistic
behavior, such as Yad Sarah, Magen David Adom or Zaka
(Disaster Victims Identification) volunteers.
Ebstein said about two-thirds of the random sample carry
the altruism gene. Interestingly, the risk-taking gene,
which is linked to a tendency for taking drugs, smoking
and other dangerous behavior, is a different -- or
opposite -- variant of the altruism gene. Instead of
promoting dopamine expression, the risk-taking gene
variant reduces it.
"This may mean that people who don't get enough dopamine
in their brains seek out drugs or other such means to get
a 'high,'" Ebstein suggested. "Dopamine probably plays a
key role in pro-social behavior. People with the altruism
gene may do good works because they get more of a thrill
out of their good works."
Ebstein is certain that this is only the first altruism
gene, and that several others exist. "I think genes have
only half of the influence on altruistic behavior, with
the rest involving environmental factors, such as
education."
In this study, said Ebstein, "we did not fine this
altruism gene more common in women than in men," despite
their roles as caregivers and their prominence in
caregiving professions.
Anorexic women score high on the Selflessness Scale.
"They may take altruism to an extreme, eating minimally
to 'sacrifice' food for other people."
Religiously observant people tend to score higher on the
scale, he continued, apparently due to the value put on
altruism and doing good deeds in religious education and
religion itself.
More at:
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull&cid=1106104802012
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The terrorist mission of Jesus stated in the Christian bible:
"Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not so send
peace, but a sword.
"For I am come to set a man at variance against his father, and the
daughter against her mother, and the daughter in law against her mother in
law.
"And a man's foes shall be they of his own household.
- Matthew 10:34-36.
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