New research from Edinburgh University claims that happiness is partly determined by your genes.
In fact, they claim that
genes may control half the personality traits keeping us happy. The other half is linked to lifestyle, career and relationships
This study was one of those identical twin studies where the researchers compare identical twins. These studies are great favourites with psychologists and are used to highlight traits which each twin (who has his or her own uniquely different social setting) shares – as the twins have different social backgrounds, the commonalities are reckoned to be more to do with their shared genetic make-up.
The Edinburgh researchers looked at the presence of three traits – tendency to worry, sociability and conscientiousness – all three of which have been linked to happiness and well-being in other studies.
“Although happiness is subject to a wide range of external influences we have found there is a heritable component of happiness which can be entirely explained by genetic architecture of personality.”
So, is this a depressing study? No, not at all. It strikes me as very logical that part of who we are is influenced by our genes – we are dealt a hand we have to play. And part is determined by modifiable factors in our lives. This conclusion is supported by those who promote positive psychology techniques. Dr Alex Linley of the Centre for Applied Positive Psychology said –
“What it means is that, rather than a single point, people have a range of possible levels of happiness – and it is perfectly possible to influence this with techniques that are empirically proven to work. “Simple things, like listing your strengths and using them in new ways every day, or keeping a journal where you write down, every night, three things that you are grateful for, have been shown to deliver improvements.”
I agree with him. There’s a lot of mileage in understanding what our range is (the hand we are dealt) and learning how to grow within that range to have the best experience of life we can. In fact, I think this is a more defensible view than the New Age kind of thinking promoted in the likes of the “you can be anything you want to be” brigade.
Doc, this HORRIFIES me. I come from a long line of abusers; people who believe that the world is out to get them and whose first instinct is to dislike and mistrust. I’d hate to think that these people are responsible for half of my outlook on life…
Ok, so, slow down there mrschili. There’s a problem with the way “science” promotes its discoveries. Everything is presented as cut and dried. Facts. Numbers. Very exact sounding statistics. In fact today in the UK, the BBC was highlighting a special day about science inviting listeners to write or phone in and ask any question they liked of guest scientists. The range of questions was vast. What bugged me about it was the arrogance of some of some of the so-called experts. One actually said in response to “Is there no question science cannot answer?” “No there isn’t”. Really? Now there’s someone who is using only a portion of his brain.
So when these people say “half” or even worse “50%” it sounds like they are making very exact and very definite statements. Trouble is though that life contains almost infinite variety and human beings are so incredibly varied that none of us have ever met two identical people. Goodness! Even identical twins are DISTINCTLY different!
In my humble opinion, those who subscribe to a genetic theory of everything (think Dawkins and the “selfish gene”) are pushing something too far.
I do NOT think we born with the detail of our lives mapped out in our genes. In fact as other scientists like Steven Rose have pointed out genes are nothing without having an environment in which to exist and interact.
See, one thing you have that none of your forebears ever had is your unique and special life. Everything you’ve experienced is unique to you. Only you can tell the full mrschili story.
But the question raised is what part do the genes play then? There are aspects of character which we see echoing down the generations, but then so are our cultural influences. How much of your outlook on life can be traced like threads in a tartan shawl down through the generations of different families and cultures that you can discover in your genealogy?
You’re a free person mrschili. You make your own choices every day. Some would argue that who you are emerges from those very choices. But we understand ourselves better when we understand the contexts, influences and threads of our unique existence.
That’s kind of the basis of this whole blog – our freedom to write our own stories, to be the heroes of our own stories is only released by shedding a zombie-like attitude. I strongly believe that none of us need be trapped by either our origins or our environments. But we can’t exist without them either!
Does that make sense to you?
I have a couple of poor souls in my practice who worry all the time, to the point I tell my nurses if worry would make you live longer so-and-so would never die.
Often there is a reason, and over time a doc will usually find out why. I think the trick in life is to convert out liabilites to assets if possible. Certainly mrschili did that, ie she came out of a tough upbringing to bring empathy to the table for her fellow human beings who were dealing with a bad situation.
As far as being what you want to be, I think you are right in that I couldn’t be Tiger Woods if I quit doctoring tomorrow and hit golf balls all day everyday. That just wasn’t what God had in my mind for me, and I have no problem with that.
Maybe the saying should be “you can be everything you is,” (a derivation of the old country saying “Be what you is, ’cause if you ain’t what you is you ain’t” or something like that.) I can’t be Tiger Woods, but I can be the best Dr. Bibey I can be if I work at it, and use the gifts God was so generous to give me, humble as they may be.
Dr. B
Doc, that DOES make sense, but you have to understand that, even though I don’t consider myself a worrier, I DO worry about what influence “those people” have on who I am.
I recognize that a LOT of my biology is similar to my forebears. I look like every other MacLeod I’ve ever seen – from my branch of the tree or not. I’m short, squat and strong and I’ve never broken a bone. I do a lot of things that my biological father does; I tend to stand on one foot with the toes of the other foot resting on top; I tend to sleep on my side with my knees drawn up and my hands sandwiched between. I have a habit of gently and absentmindedly scratching my scalp like my biological mother does. I don’t think those things are environmental.
I make conscious choices to NOT do things that my biologicals do. I don’t smoke, I exercise, I choose to assume the best before the worst and I don’t believe that the world is out to get me or that life sucks. What scares me most of all, though, is that my CHOICES won’t be enough to win out over my BIOLOGY.
I desperately want to believe that my parents are ill; that there’s some sort of scientifically measurable deficiency or imbalance that makes them behave the way they do (it would make their abuse of my sister and me so much easier to understand and accept – who would CHOOSE to treat their babies in such ways?!). Will I be aware enough – conscious enough – to see when/if my behavior is mimicking theirs? If they come, will I see small but sinister patterns in my thinking or attitude that will lead me – albeit later in life and perhaps to a lesser degree – to the place where they reside? I just don’t know.
Well said Dr B – as ever, you are right on the button.
Mrschili, I understand exactly where your concern comes from. I don’t know you. I’ve been delighted to get to know you a wee bit through our blogs so far. But my impression is enough to give me some considerable confidence that you WILL be aware enough. You come across as an exceptionally kind, caring, creative person and those characteristics combined with the awareness that comes from the kind of reflectiveness you demonstrate in your posts and comments lead me to the confidence I have your choices will be the winners.
You know something else? OK, I know that our actual genes cannot be changed by willing them, but our genes are only a part of our “biology” and our biology evolves, adapts and changes constantly. So the biology you were born with becomes something different with living. We are not pre-programmed robots and its in making the daily choices that we exhibit and create our uniqueness.
Doc, I hope to everything that is holy that you’re right here – that I will be able, though the force of my spirit and the consequences of my choices, to transcend – maybe even mutate – my genes.
I recognize that, since I left home at 17 (after legally divorcing my parents – I was the first case of minor emancipation in my state that my attorney knew of), I’ve lived in a VERY different environment, both physically (I’ve always chosen to live in places with a lot of natural light and with plants and animals in the house) and emotionally (I do not tolerate abuse of any sort in any of my relationships, and haven’t since I moved out – though I’ve found that the choices that I’ve made haven’t invited abuse in at all). It’s my sincerest hope that these environments have had a positive impact not only on my spiritual and emotional selves, but on my physical self, as well.
the positive impact is happening mrschili – you have a VERY healthy glow!
I have witnessed changes within people that are nothing short of amazing when they believe something to be true. I have seen someone stop an asthma attack in its tracks when he was told he had the power to do so. I have seen a fearful person become courageous when the right humor entered the picture. I have seen a quiet follower jump into a leadership role that he’d never dreamed of before when gently forced into it. I have seen a shy person change into a mesmerizing entertainer. All these occurred because each one of these people believed and trusted in another person who believed in their potential. How much greater can we change when we realize all that power to see ourselves differently and act on it lies within us? Christopher Garner (Will Smith played him in the movie “The Pursuit of Happyness”) was just interviewed by Glenn Beck on CNN. He is writing a book on “Spiritual Genetics.” He said in the interview that your eye color and height may be predestined by genes, but that choices make us who and what we are, and we are not our beginnings but what we decide to be today and tomorrow.
Can a person be born half and half? I’m half a worrywort, and half “go with the flow”. Maybe it is *because* I worry, that I have learned to “let go” and go with the flow, to make lemonade when I can? Sorry for the mixing there, but I think I got the gist across?
Beautifully put spaceagesage, I just love your last sentence. Totally agree, Totally.
KatK I believe we are way more than half and half! I believe we are multiple in our aspects and our qualities