A new study published in Psychological Science suggests that niceness may be programmed into your DNA. Do you have the makeup to be nice, or are your genes all mean?

Researchers from the University of New York at Buffalo and the University of California, Irvine, examined how genes affect the receptors for two hormones associated with “prosocial” behavior. The hormones oxytocin (more widely known for its role in maternal behavior) and vasopressin have previously been shown to have an influence on high moral functions including the inclination to be kind and selfless. Whether or not you have a gene allowing you to receive those hormones may impact how nice a person you are, according to the study.

Lead researcher Dr. Michael Poulin, who looks like he has a good oxytocin flow, has been interested in why people engage in behaviors that benefit others when there is no obvious, self-serving benefit to being nice. He’s also been studying what makes a person care for others when in a stressful or threatening circumstance, such as in moments of grief or in the heat of battle.

Subjects for the study were each asked a series of questions to determine how they felt about charitable acts such as donating blood, what their perspective was on civic duties like reporting crimes, and what their general views were about people being good or evil. Poulin and his team then took saliva samples from 711 of the subjects to see whether or not they had the receptors for oxytocin and vasopressin.

According to Poulin, “study participants who found the world threatening were less likely to help others — unless they had versions of the receptor genes that are generally associated with niceness.”

We can’t exclusively credit those gentler genes for determining who would help an old lady cross the street versus who would kick her in the shins. From what scientists understand, the influence of genetic makeup on personality doesn’t work quite that way. Environmental factors ranging from the way we’re raised to what we eat certainly have an influence on personality, and the researchers emphasize that the connections between DNA and social behavior are complex. The gene doesn’t flip a switch that turns niceness on or off. But in combination with a positive world view, it appears to make an important contribution.

The prospect of being genetically predisposed to kindness raises questions for all personality types. Is genetic makeup responsible for the personalities of people who are too nice, putting other people ahead of themselves to their own detriment? Is it possible they just can’t help themselves? On the flipside, of course, are those who are not so nice at all. Is it possible that the kid who laughed when you smashed your head had a deficit of oxytocin and vasopressin receptor genes — and was not, as you had suspected, just a plain old jerk?



http://living.msn.com/life-inspired/the-daily-dose-blog-post?post=94afcc19-3b0f-4502-bf89-22d5066c71c3&OCID=OTD_0412

interesting research and write up.

Can i buy, OTC?

who knows, they might be working on that.

juicy story, coming right up.

Woman Fired After Donating Kidney to Boss


http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/04/24/tagblogsfindlawcom2012-lawandlife-idUS86263829220120424

lord have mercy, sign of the end times.

If there is a niceness gene it has been bred out of Nigerians.

tpia@:
Woman Fired After Donating Kidney to Boss


http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/04/24/tagblogsfindlawcom2012-lawandlife-idUS86263829220120424

Non Refundable Transaction.

Pity.

Na only oyinbo fit do that kain thing.

bump [img]http://www.50centloseweight.com[/img]

Arggggghhhhhh, we are saying they should give us a thread to let off steam and rave and rant till kingdom come, this smug Tpia is coming here to open a niceness thread and rubbing it in our face that she is nice and quiet and calm and gentle and arrrggghhhhhh.

Somebody berra come and hold me down before I descend on her and beat her nice gene outta her

^woman fired after donating kidney to boss doesnt exactly sound like an advert for niceness abi i need to lay off the coffee.

tpia@:
^woman fired after donating kidney to boss doesnt exactly sound like an advert for niceness abi i need to lay off the coffee.

Whaaat you mean someone else posted another topic within this thread to derail it. Whodunnit, show me that person, such disobedient act needed to be nipped in the bud and reported to the Moderator. We don't condone such iwa pala pala in such serious section as the family section

^^ are you having a problem with me using the report to moderator button?

Kindness does not have to mean s.tupidity, imo.

Neither should it be considered the same.

Is it supposed to be a weakness?

If God were not kind to humans, would any be left on the planet?

They are probably right on this one.