Like casual sex? Then so does your mom, says study

[Grumpy Cat]

Like casual sex? Then so does your mom, says study

http://i42.tinypic.com/118kryc.jpg

The next time you're about to have a one-night-stand, ask yourself what would your mother do? A new study suggests if she were anything like her promiscuous kid, she'd go for it. Talk about a mood killer.

Researchers at Binghamton University found that the same gene linked to alcoholism and gambling addictions, is also linked to promiscuity. So you could actually inherit your sexual tendencies from your parents. Here's the Science-y explanation:

"What we found was that individuals with a certain variant of the DRD4 gene were more likely to have a history of uncommitted sex, including one-night stands and acts of infidelity," study researcher Justin Garcia, revealed in the journal PloS One. "The motivation seems to stem from a system of pleasure and reward, which is where the release of dopamine comes in...In cases of uncommitted sex, the risks are high, the rewards substantial and the motivation variable — all elements that ensure a dopamine 'rush.'"

In other words, your eye-color and your predilection for bedding randoms could be decided in the womb. So the next time, parents wonder why you won't settle down, you can just blame them. That'll go over well.

Source - http://shine.yahoo.com/channel/sex/like-casual-sex-then-so-does-your-mom-says-study-2418683/

[Debaser11]

So okay. What about intelligence, then? I'm still waiting AP...

[The Journeyman]

I think this is the same gene that can effect food intake. The dopamine neurons are basically involved in the same behaviors: satiation (food, sex), drive, impulsivity, even mania. Any subtle difference in these receptor types can have a profound impact on a person's life.

I'm sure it impacts intelligence. Isn't that why we drink coffee in the morning, to wake up the dopamine neurons?

[Debaser11]

^Interesting thought. But it seems like the races that can't restrain themselves in terms of food or sex have more trouble with the books. I personally think books don't care about black people. Racist books.

[Magister Eckhart]

Researchers at Binghamton University found that the same gene linked to alcoholism and gambling addictions, is also linked to promiscuity. So you could actually inherit your sexual tendencies from your parents. Here's the Science-y explanation:


There's a gene governing vice?

I'm not sure how to feel about this. On some level I think it's really a good thing that science has isolated a vice gene so that we can possibly breed it out of our society, but at the same time I see tremendous potential for people to start using their genetics as an excuse to act like hedonistic animals.

I think I'd probably feel the same way about a gay gene (I'm still convinced that the gay problem can be solved through psychological conditioning).

Apparently, though, genetics does seem to prove that some people are just "bad seeds". The problem is that society today doesn't believe that most of these things are evils.

[Wyn]

but at the same time I see tremendous potential for people to start using their genetics as an excuse to act like hedonistic animals.

I think in many cases we're well beyond that. Britain for example is populated by amoral degenerates. I'm not sure any excuses are needed - it's encouraged.

[Wölfin]

So why am I absolutely nothing like either of my parents in that domain?

[lei.talk]

So why am I absolutely nothing like either of my parents in that domain?


volition (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volition_(psychology)) / free-will (http://www.theapricity.com/forum/showthread.php?p=20062#post20062)

[Wölfin]

I'd like to believe I am a noble and virtuous individual but I know the truth is completely otherwise, no, I think it is more likely both of my parents were heterozygous for this gene and I inherited neither copy.

[Beorn]

Like casual sex? Then so does your mum.

HAHA! I am going to remember this beauty for future use.

[2DREZQ]

There's a gene governing vice?


I think I'd probably feel the same way about a gay gene (I'm still convinced that the gay problem can be solved through psychological conditioning).

Apparently, though, genetics does seem to prove that some people are just "bad seeds".

There is this big switch in your brain, see. It's labeled "OVERRIDE". It isn't easy to move, but it can be done by anyone with some considerable effort.

You know when it has tripped because the red "I can't help myself" alarm indicator stops flashing.

[Debaser11]

There is this big switch in your brain, see. It's labeled "OVERRIDE". It isn't easy to move, but it can be done by anyone with some considerable effort.

You know when it has tripped because the red "I can't help myself" alarm indicator stops flashing.

Ah, see, but you're assuming that everyone has this switch. And then let's say everyone does have this switch, surely it is not the same difficultly level for everyone to flip. For some, it must take more effort. And if not everyone has this switch or if some must work harder to flip the switch, I think it's reasonable to assume that not everyone has the alarm or at the very least some people have a less loud, less urgent alarm.

[Blood Trinity]

Man, thanks so much for posting this. What would I have done without this information? :rolleyes: :D :D

[Brynhild]

There's a gene governing vice?

I'm not sure how to feel about this. On some level I think it's really a good thing that science has isolated a vice gene so that we can possibly breed it out of our society,

We seem to have a suggestion here that we should place our trust in a eugenics program that takes out these bad genes, thereby generalising that humans are really just mindless robots who must place their trust in the establishment, instead of trusting in their own ability to think for themselves.:rolleyes:


but at the same time I see tremendous potential for people to start using their genetics as an excuse to act like hedonistic animals.

And what excuse exactly? That humans have behaved by their most raw and basic of instincts for several millennia now? It's reached the point that everyone must be cubbyholed and categorised in such a way that we're no longer a name or a race so much as we're labels.


I think I'd probably feel the same way about a gay gene (I'm still convinced that the gay problem can be solved through psychological conditioning).

Clockwork Orange style, perhaps? Even by the end of that movie, the character in question still exercised his free will by going back to how he was at the start of it.


Apparently, though, genetics does seem to prove that some people are just "bad seeds". The problem is that society today doesn't believe that most of these things are evils.

There is far too much of this scientific information that wants to mislead people into thinking this way. And this is just the tip of the iceberg. Modern advertising would have us believe that we can't live without a specific household item. The media would hoodwink us into believing that the only noteworthy bit of news has to be something tragic or devastating. Religion is most definitely the source on which to base aspects of life as being good or evil.

I don't buy into any of it. If I want to uphold a hedonistic lifestyle, I wouldn't bat an eyelid and I most certainly wouldn't use any scientific or medical outcome to justify it. Likewise, if I want to abstain from sex, it wouldn't be because any religious body says I must. It's simply because I've applied my own judgement and exercised my free will. At the end of the day, that's what it always boils down to for those of us who want to think and act for ourselves. Any and all such experiments, studies and statistics should be taken with a grain of salt.

[Eldritch]

I'm no expert in genetics, but there seems to be an error in the story: DRD4 is on chromosome 11, GABRA2, which is commonly referred to as the alcoholism gene, is located on chromosome 4.


There's a gene governing vice?


There isn't. Evolution or genetics make no value judgments.

[Odin]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LJhklPJz9U8