Well first, thanks for listening to the program, I didn't expect that. It involved an investment of 15 minutes of your time. This American Life isn't everyone's cup of tea, I hope you enjoyed it.
Sure; it was actually an hour, and I listened while eating.
But second, the program wasn't at all vague when it described how the personalities displayed by the switched babies were at distinct odds with the other children of the respective families. While not scientific, it's a clear real-world example of personality traits having a heritable component.
I mean that the qualities themselves are vague. "Outgoing" and "shy" mean different things to different people. Something I didn't mention in my first reply is what we hear at the way end of the program: the biological daughter of the preacher admits to having wanted to be a cheerleader but failing to qualify at tryouts. The fact that the blond-haired girl had been a cheerleader is cited at the beginning of the program as a personality difference.
But obviously they both had want-to-be-cheerleader personalities. Only one was successful.
It is also hard to discount their physical difference when considering their personalities:
quote:
"Blondes Paid More than Other Women" from The Telegraph:
Blonde-haired women, who are often stereotyped as carefree and ditsy, earn seven per cent more than women with hair of other colours, researchers claim.
And in addition to their preferential pay packets blondes also marry wealthier men, who earn an average of six per cent more than the husbands of other women.
Perhaps the more outgoing personality and success as a cheerleader were simply the results of receiving more personable treatment than the dark-haired members of the family were used to. I too would probably be more outgoing if people were constantly fighting one another to be around me (actually, I'd probably be a megalomaniac, but anyway).
That's kind of what I was talking about when I said 'vague': the traits aren't very specific and they don't really demonstrate heritability of personality traits.
Of course genetics doesn't "fully account for" personality or behavior. The point is that personality has a heritable component, not that personality is "fully accounted for" by genetics. Your own personal experience should also tell you this is true.
I don't think either explanation
fully accounts for the behavior. Likely accounting for the behavior is an instinctive drive to attract a mate (probably present in many creatures) combined with personally- and culturally-learned ideals, standards, etc.
The flow of genes doesn't tell the whole story. And the change in 'ideals', even though it may effect a change in population characteristics, isn't likely bringing about a change in instinctive desire to attract a mate. Even when the desire appears stronger people may still care just as much as always about attracting a mate but voice their concern more due to increasing difficulty of meeting the 'ideal' standards.
I don't think we are evolving to a population instinctively more accepting/desiring of getting cosmetic surgery. That's the evolution of our culture and it is fueled by an innate desire to attract a mate that probably hasn't changed a whole lot in the last several thousand years.
Jon
Edited by Jon, : No reason given.
Love your enemies!