Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Peter C. Whybrow
Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior, UCLA
Evolution, the Human Sciences and Liberty Special MPS Meeting, USFQ Campus Galapagos Islands, June, 2013 . GRAPHIC: THE ECONOMIST DECEMBER 13, 2003
DAPHNE MAJOR
The brain is a transducer Fundamentally behavior is the expression of biological drive in interaction with environmental circumstance Through natural selection that interaction in turn shapes biology and subsequently modifies behavior in an ever evolving cycle This evolution trends toward an extended order of adaptive equilibrium.
Homo ergaster
African branch of Homo erectus
PERCEPTION
IT IS THROUGH HABIT AND MEMORY THAT WE IMAGINE THE FUTURE AND GIVE MEANING TO CHOICE
MEMORY
REWARD
Perception of OPPORTUNITY
RISK assessment
MEMORY
FEAR
NEGATIVE FEEDBACK LOOP
Entrepreneur
1. The director of a musical institution. 2. A person who organizes entertainment.
John Law (1671-1729)
3. An individual who undertakes or controls a business or enterprise and who bears the risk of profit or loss. 4. A contractor who acts as an intermediary.
The Oxford Shorter English Dictionary
JOHN LAW (1671-1729) Born to a Scottish family of wealthy bankers 1671 1880s Father dies 1688 Duel over Elizabeth Villierskills Wilson Imprisonedescapes to Amsterdam Returns to Scotland. Seeks National Bank Failure. Moves to France Appointed Controller of Finance 1694 1703 1707 1711 1715
In Spain working for Great Britain Returns to Paris, Banking successful career lending money Becomes involved with John Law and the the Mississippi company Rides the bubble- makes fortune
Bank General formed . Paper credit Mississippi Company founded Mississippi Bubble.collapse Dismissed flees France Impoverished. Lives as a gambler
1716
1720
Pursued by those who lost money in the scheme. 1729 1730 1734
Dies in Venice
MEMORY
PLEASURE
MYOPIC VISION
REWARD
Perception of OPPORTUNITY
RISK assessment
MEMORY
FEAR
MEMORY
PLEASURE
MYOPIC VISION
REWARD
Perception of OPPORTUNITY
RISK assessment
MEMORY
FEAR
The American Temperament: A Mania for Prosperity About the same time that Darwin was wandering about in the Beagle, De Tocqueville was investigating Prisons in the US
It is odd to watch with what feverish ardor the Americans pursue prosperity. Millions of men are all marching together toward the same point on the horizon; their languages, religions, and mores are different, but they have one common aim. They have been told that fortune is to be found somewhere toward the west, and they hasten to seek it
Democracy in America, 1835.
Alexis de Tocqueville: ADAM SMITHS ENGINES OF ECONOMIC GROWTH--SELF-INTEREST, CURIOSITY AND PERSONAL AMBITION--ARE ESPECIALLY WELL REPRESENTED IN AMERICAS MIGRANT POPULATION
(1805-1859)
Self-love
ENGINE
Social Sentiment
IMPARTIAL SPECTATOR Sympathy & empathic awareness The need to be loved by others Peer recognition and social acceptance The man we naturally love the most is he who joins..to his own..selfish feelings the most exquisite sensibility of others LARGELY LEARNED BEHAVIORS, CULTURALLY DEPENDENT
BRAKES
INDIVIDUAL FREEDOM Self-interest Gods incomprehensible remedy Curiosity & love of novelty keeps in motion the industry of mankind Social ambition (competition) the distinction of ranks INSTINCTUAL, REWARD-DRIVEN BEHAVIORS
Amygdala
THE NOREPINEPHRINE SUPERHIGHWAY MAINTAINS THE ALERT STATE THE DOPAMINE (REWARD) PATHWAY MONITORS NOVEL STIMULI THE SEROTONIN SYSTEM IS THE MODERATOR
CURIOSITY.EXPLORATIONNOVELTY.RISK
CELL NUCLEUS
Dopamine D4 receptor gene (DRD4), on chromosome 11, encodes one of 5 known protein receptors that mediate the post-synaptic actions of dopamine. DRD4 displays high variability in the human population. The main source of this variability is a 48 base-pair region that can be repeated 2 to 11 times. The variable region occurs within the third cytoplasmic loop by which the receptor couples to the cells G-protein binding system that drives intracellular adenyly cyclase inhibition. The distribution of DRD4 mRNA in the brain (in contrast to the motor actions of D1 and D2) suggests that DRD4 has a role in modulating cognitive and emotional behavior.
In the ancient migrations, the risk taking gene (the dopamine receptor 4-7 allele) is associated with the distance traveled THE DR4-7 REPEAT IS ASSOCIATED WITH RISK-TAKING
THE ANCIENT MIGRATIONS AND THE RISK-TAKING DOPAMINE RECEPTOR ALLELE (DR4-7)
DRD4 DIVERSITY: SIMPLIFIED MODEL FOR EXON 3, 48-BASE PAIR REPEAT SEQUENCE
2-ALLELE
1-4
1-4-7
3-ALLELE
1-2-3-4 1-2-3-4
MOST COMMON
4-ALLELE
1-2-3-4
1-2-3-2-3-4
1-2-3-4 1-2-3-2-3-4
1-2-6-5-2-5-4
7-ALLELE
ADAPTIVE ADVANTAGE
1-3-2-3-4
5-ALLELE
ADAPTED FROM DING ET AL, PNAS VOL 99, 309-314, 2002
In many studies the DR4-7 allele has also been associated with the ADHD phenotype
In 2004 3 million children in the US were taking stimulants for ADHD. 95% of the stimulants prescribed in the world are prescribed in the US
BUT WHATS THE CONTEMPORARY CULTURAL NICHE FOR THOSE WHO ARE.
Identical twin studies (9220 individuals) demonstrate that sensation seeking is highly heritable, 45%-60%, in both men and women. (Stoel et al. Behavior Genetics, 36, 229-237, 2006) In a study of 94 young men (Harvard) the DRD4-7 allele was highly correlated with financial risk taking, accounting for some 20% of the variance. (Dreber et al. Evolution and Human
Behavior, 30, 85-92, 2009)
In a sophisticated choice study of escalating financial risk (140 subjects) the presence of the DRD4-7 allele correlated with those individuals who take increased risk under ambiguous and speculative circumstances, frequently heavily discounting future rewards. (Carpenter el al, Journal of Risk and Uncertainty
42,233-26, 2011)
SENSATION SEEKING.THE NEED FOR VARIED, NOVEL, AND COMPLEX EXPERIENCES
Pay off credit cards % cash in savings $ Needed only cash withdrawal
DR4-4
DR4-7
VmOFC
Amygdala
+
NON-ADDICTED
Amygdala VmOFC
+
ADDICTED
COURTESY OF EDYTH LONDON PHD, LABORATORY OF MOLECULAR NEUROIMAGING, SEMEL INSTITUTE, UCLA
HOUSING BUBBLE
BANKING CRISIS
DOT.COM BUBBLE
One genetic study of 60 seasoned Wall Street stock traders, against age matched controls, showed no difference between the groups in the prevalence of the DRD4-7 allele. Moderation wins the day. (Sapra et al, PLoS ONE, Jan 2012)
WORKING MEMORY
NOVEL IDEAS
The optimism, curiosity, drive and vigorous ambition of the migrant provide a foundation for entrepreneurial activity. But that optimism must be focused and adaptive to todays challenge. The successful entrepreneur is not a gambler but a passionate, disciplined expert who sheds old certainties for new opportunities in science, the arts, business, social issues and, yes, even in the political realm.
PERCEPTION
FOXP2 GENE
(Forkhead box P2)
Emotion is a pre-verbal system of communication that human beings share with the primates and other animals.
Charles Darwin. The Expression of Emotion in Man and Animals in Man and Animals, 1872
In Conclusion. Entrepreneurial activity needs the oddballs, the misfits, and the risk-takers . But what gave humans the edge and still does is not the the iconoclast working alone but the capacity to collaborate in building adaptive strategy within large social groups. Key to that collaboration is language. Evidence suggests that it was the retuning of FOX P2 some 50,000-100,000 years ago that made the critical difference in enhancing our ability to communicate and to adapt to evolving opportunity. .