[Unicorn20]

But while twin studies are useful for establishing the extent to which a characteristic is heritable, they do not finger the particular genes at work. One of the researchers, Jan-Emmanuel De Neve, of University College, London, and the London School of Economics, has tried to do just that, by picking a popular suspect—the gene that encodes the serotonin-transporter protein, a molecule that shuffles a brain messenger called serotonin through cell membranes—and examining how variants of that gene affect levels of happiness.

...

Which is interesting. Where the story could become controversial is when the ethnic origins of the volunteers are taken into account. All were Americans, but they were asked to classify themselves by race as well. On average, the Asian Americans in the sample had 0.69 long genes, the black Americans had 1.47 and the white Americans had 1.12.

That result sits comfortably with other studies showing that, on average, Asian countries report lower levels of happiness than their GDP per head would suggest. African countries, however, are all over the place, happinesswise. But that is not surprising, either. Africa is the most genetically diverse continent, because that is where humanity evolved (Asians, Europeans, Aboriginal Australians and Amerindians are all descended from a few adventurers who left Africa about 60,000 years ago). Black Americans, mostly the descendants of slaves carried away from a few places in west Africa, cannot possibly be representative of the whole continent.

That some populations have more of the long version of the serotonin-transporter gene has been noticed before, though the association has previously been made at a national, rather than a racial, level. In a paper in the Proceedings of the Royal Society, published in 2009, Joan Chiao and Katherine Blizinsky of Northwestern University, in Illinois, found a positive correlation between higher levels of the short version of the gene and mood disorders (China and Japan have lots of both) and with collectivist political systems. Their hypothesis is that cultures prone to anxiety tend towards systems that emphasise social harmony and away from ones that emphasise individuals’ independence of each other.

This latter study may be a few steps too far along the road to genetic determinism for some people. But there is growing interest in the study of happiness, not just among geneticists but also among economists and policymakers dissatisfied with current ways of measuring humanity’s achievements. Future work in this field will be read avidly in those circles.

Grab some popcorn, ya'll.

I know none of this could be true, but if it was, what would be the implications?

[General Battuta]

This doesn't actually say anything about race

[karajorma]

As a scientist myself, I'm never going to ban someone for posting anything that is actually scientific. IF they use it to justify racist bull****, they might be taking a trip to bansville though.

[Unicorn20]

This doesn't actually say anything about race

Ehhh... heehhh... thanks for running interference there but it does give you a how to on how to guess someone's self reported happiness based on their skin color. But glad the hammer is not falling so swift these days, I may not get banned yet.



Meanwhile in Soviet Russia

[Qent]

After reading that excerpt, it seems so obvious that it's not even worth publishing a paper about. Why wouldn't people from different cultures have developed different happinesses?

[General Battuta]

After reading that excerpt, it seems so obvious that it's not even worth publishing a paper about. Why wouldn't people from different cultures have developed different happinesses?

Because the article presents a biological basis for it

[Unicorn20]

Herp derp? You mean an environmental basis, you psychology PhD?

The article is all about the heritability of happiness and states that sad genes cause collectivist systems, not the other way around.

[General Battuta]

Herp derp? You mean an environmental basis, you psychology PhD?

The article is all about the heritability of happiness and states that sad genes cause collectivist systems, not the other way around.

Yeah uh heritability is pretty biological

[bobbtmann]

This article is saying Asians are predisposed towards communism because they're biologically unhappy.

[Unicorn20]

Oh my. I reflexively take every Batutta post as a cynical retort to what I said.

Qent, the paper explores how parts of culture and personality might be heritable in a racial kind of way. Race doesn't exist though, right, so the results must all be made up. But the results sit well with previous research showing conservatives to be happier, less neurotic, more intelligent, and probably having bigger dicks than liberals, which is what most of my posts aim to prove, although maybe not the dick thing because Obama.

Bob basically sums it up.

[General Battuta]

Okay I've really got to hand it to you on this one, it is a hell of a thread

[Mars]

I have nothing useful to say.

Figured I might as well post here.



In all actuality though, what kind of sample sizes are they looking at here?

[Unicorn20]

As a scientist myself, I'm never going to ban someone for posting anything that is actually scientific. IF they use it to justify racist bull****, they might be taking a trip to bansville though.

Wait what? Can I plaster this place with Rushton studies now?

I have nothing useful to say.

Figured I might as well post here.



In all actuality though, what kind of sample sizes are they looking at here?

No idea. The Economist never, ever cites its sources.

Okay I've really got to hand it to you on this one, it is a hell of a thread

If only you knew my seekrit identity...

[The E]

Hmm. Okay. You do know that using an alt-nick is frowned upon, right? As in, it's a bannable offense? And seeing as you've specifically created it to troll....

[MP-Ryan]

Essentially, the conclusions appear to be thus:
-Serotonin transporters are linked to mood.  Nothing new or groundbreaking there.
-Serotonin transporters have distinguishable gene variants that appear to be common to semi-closed populations (conventionally and incorrectly called races).  If this is new, it shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone in biology but just be confirmation of a phenomenon confirmed for all kinds of other genes already.
-Particular serotonin transporter gene variants are linked to particular types of self-reported mood.  OK, now we're getting somewhere.

...and now the flaws...

1.  I might take more notice if someone has effectively managed to create a standardized, non-relativistic scale for happiness across cultures.
2.  Tying it to self-reported race is actually a better measure of culture than biology.  Tsk tsk.  SNPs, people, we have a godamn map of the things, use it.
3.  Seriously, they're trying to extrapolate shaky correlative links to causative behavioural analysis?  (Allelelic variant = collectivism?)  Srsly?!

What I see (based on what's posted) is that a study found that some alleles of a particular serotonin-related gene appear to correlate reasonably with self-reported mood levels, all of which appear to correlate with genetic and/or cultural populations (which we have no way of knowing since they didn't bother to use the ****ing SNP map).

Mildly interesting, but nowhere near groundbreaking.  As per usual where psychology and genetics mix, someone didn't think their methodology through.  I'm hardly surprised, this is a field in which the likes of Rushton survive, so their work is not typically all that credible.

[karajorma]

As a scientist myself, I'm never going to ban someone for posting anything that is actually scientific. IF they use it to justify racist bull****, they might be taking a trip to bansville though.

Wait what? Can I plaster this place with Rushton studies now?

As MP-Ryan pointed out, that's not scientific. So feel free if you want to banned.

[Bobboau]

Qent, the paper explores how parts of culture and personality might be heritable in a racial kind of way. Race doesn't exist though, right, so the results must all be made up. But the results sit well with previous research showing conservatives to be happier, less neurotic, more intelligent, and probably having bigger dicks than liberals, which is what most of my posts aim to prove, although maybe not the dick thing because Obama.

8.5/10, not bad.

[karajorma]

I do have to love how he got himself banned by someone else anyway.

[The E]

Not that I can ban people.....

But then, I'm just waiting for whoever was piloting that alt-nick.....

[karajorma]

True. I can ban the person who created the alt-nick though.