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10/05/2007: "Genetics determines behavior"

Evidence that some people are born to play fair, while others can’t help being cads, has come from a study of twins.

For the first time it has been shown that genes exert influence on people’s behaviour in the idealised setting of a game, revealing that identical twins are more likely to behave the same way, whether fairly or unfairly, as non-identical siblings.

Traditionally, social scientists have been hesitant to acknowledge a role for genes in explaining economic behaviour. But a study indicates that there is a genetic component to people’s perception of what is fair and what is unfair.

[ This is no surprise to anyone who reads, or reads history. Only our dummy populist culture would deny it. ]

http://www.pnas.org/cgi/content/full/104/40/15631?hits=10&FIRSTINDEX=0&FULLTEXT=Bjorn+Wallace&SEARCHID=1&gca=pnas%3B104%2F40%2F15631&