need to add title here

Is there a "morality gene"?

November 18, 2012 4:30 PM

Yale psychology professor Paul Bloom tells Lesley Stahl about a population of humans who have less empathy and are more likely to be violent. Can you guess who they are?

Born good? Babies help unlock the origins of morality
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by reberhar November 25, 2012 8:01 PM EST
I watched this article and was surprised that these people with advanced degrees thought that babies knew so very little about what was going on around them.

I am high functioning Autistic. People tell me I have an astounding memory. I once shared a remembered event with my late mother. She exclaimed, "You can't remember that, you were only 3 months old at the time." Yet the details, including the unique perspective of a baby looking up, cound only have been gained by it being a genuine memory. No one could have possibly told me the details I related and recall.

I recall many many very early memories, and even impressions from before birth, but what often frustrated me most was that people assumed I did not understand them and was not aware. I felt belittled and invalidated, far beyond being humored.

In bringing up my own children I have always tried to err on the side of assuming they understood. I did not want them to suffer the emotional pain I did because of this assumption on others' parts.

On seeing this article my respect for Psychology lowered yet another step. There is so much they are only guessing at at the best of times. It was quite obvious, that something I knew to be certain from my own experience was something they were only beginning to touch upon, and in a very flawed way too I might add.

I will grant you that Autism makes me a very different individual. I don't think however that there is anything different about my experience from others', but that I remember it. Before age 2 Autistic people are very much like anyone else.
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by James-At-WhitesWillWin November 23, 2012 5:31 AM EST
We already know very well that different races have varying personality traits that are mostly determined by our genes and much less so by environment. See J. Phillipe Rushton's site on the uwo.ca site, offering many recent scientific studies and other articles. Or look at the TopLinks page of my site on wordpress. Who has "morality genes" and who lacks them? That question is largely answerable.
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by lmaher22 November 19, 2012 2:44 PM EST
I wouldn't go as far to say--- as one physicist did--- that all social science is junk science but I would acknowledge the easy way one can be drawn to concrete conclusions by using evidence of human actions. In response to the younger kids appearing 'greedier' that the older; could it be that the older were not growing more altruistic as they were aware they were being watched? What would the older brats do if they thought no one was judging?
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by RichardSutton November 19, 2012 9:10 AM EST
It seems like rather than a species level response, it may be a bred-in response based upon actual ancient contact with the "others" -- in this case, Neanderthals. A study of close primates would be very revealing, I think, as they do come into regular contact with others in the form of other species of primates.
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by RichardSutton November 19, 2012 8:59 AM EST
Ms. Stahl; Your segment with Paul Bloom's research with babies struck a chord with my own work. My latest book, a novella-length story that deals with the ancient origins of racism/fear of the others, was released in eBook form back in September. I believe we are "hard-wired" so to speak, to fear the others who don't look the same for example, as it exhibits a link to our earliest contacts. Thousands of years ago, the paleo-anthropologists are now saying, the evolution of modern man included quite a bit of contact between our various sub-species such as Neandertahals in Europe. We were taught that it was a straight, linear process, but the fossil/artifact records now show otherwise. My book deals with the folklore record, which also is IMHO, informed through the history of early contact. If you'd like a pleasure read, TROLL is available on Amazon and B&N. I can give you a coupon code for a free eBook, if you prefer.
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by jeffnwm November 19, 2012 8:50 AM EST
I would like to see a similar testing of primates to see if such results occur in them as well
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