“We must distinguish between genes that cause physical characteristics, like the color of your eyes or hair, over which you have no control, and what we could call 'behavioral dispositions'. We are responsible for our behavior, no matter what those dispositions are.” MatterEyeCausesColorHairBehaviorResponsibleNo Matter WhatCharacteristicsGenesDisposition Author:Erwin W. Lutzer
“[G]enes make enzymes, and enzymes control the rates of chemical processes. Genes do not make "novelty seeking" or any other complex and overt behavior. Predisposition via a long chain of complex chemical reactions, mediated through a more complex series of life's circumstances, does not equal identification or even causation.” LongDoeProcessCircumstancesEqualBehaviorSeriesComplexesRateSeekingReactionsChainsChemicalsGenesNoveltyIdentificationCausationChemical ReactionsEnzymes Author:Stephen Jay Gould
“A meme (rhymes with dream) is a unit of information (a catchphrase, a concept, a tune, a notion of fashion, philosophy or politics) that leaps from brain to brain. Memes compete with one another for replication, and are passed down through a population much the same way genes pass through a species. Potent memes can change minds, alter behavior, catalyze collective mindshifts and transform cultures. Which is why meme warfare has become the geopolitical battle of our information age. Whoever has the memes has the power.” WayMindPhilosophyDreamAgeCultureBrainFashionInformationBattleBehaviorConceptsSpeciesNotionPopulationTunesCollectivesLeapGenesWarfareUnitsRhymeInformation AgeWhy MeMemesGeopoliticalReplication Author:Kalle Lasn
“Complex organisms cannot be construed as the sum of their genes, nor do genes alone build particular items of anatomy or behavior by themselves. Most genes influence several aspects of anatomy and behavior as they operate through complex interactions with other genes and their products, and with environmental factors both within and outside the developing organism. We fall into a deep error, not just a harmful oversimplification, when we speak of genes "for" particular items of anatomy or behavior.” FallSpeakInfluenceParticularProductsBehaviorAspectErrorsComplexesEnvironmentalFactorsDevelopingGenesInteractionOrganismsItemsAnatomyOversimplificationInteraction With OthersEnvironmental Factors Author:Stephen Jay Gould
“That human behavior is more influenced by things outside of us than inside. The situation is the external environment. The inner environment is genes, moral history, religious training.” HumansReligiousSituationMoralEnvironmentBehaviorTrainingGenesHuman BehaviorExternal Environment Author:Philip Zimbardo
“Suppose that there's a gene that makes you gay if you were bottle-fed but that has some completely different effect if you were breast-fed. So in the days before bottles were invented that gene would not have manifested itself as gay behavior, but now that bottles are common it can do so.” IfsDifferentCan DoCommonEffectsGayBehaviorBreastsFedsBottlesGenes Author:Richard Dawkins
“If we studied human beings which can include human genes, human blood samples, and human behavior, then you can leave the animals out of the labs and you can leave them off your plate.” IfsHumansHuman BeingsAnimalBloodBehaviorGenesPlatesHuman BehaviorLabsSample Author:Neal Barnard
“Genes are important for understanding our behavior. Incredibly important - after all, they code for every protein pertinent to brain function, endocrinology, etc.” ImportantUnderstandingBrainBehaviorFunctionCodeEtcGenesProteinPertinentBrain Function Author:Robert M. Sapolsky
“The distance between a gene and a behavior is of greatest interest to me. The relative contributions of nature and nurture, of nucleotide and nuclear family, are perpetually fascinating to me.” InterestBehaviorDistanceNuclearContributionFascinatingRelativeGenesNurtureNuclear Families Author:John Medina
“Of course, genes can't pull the levers of our behavior directly. But they affect the wiring and workings of the brain, and the brain is the seat of our drives, temperaments and patterns of thought.” CoursesBrainBehaviorPatternsSeatsGenesTemperamentLeversWiringBehavior Patterns Author:Steven Pinker
“Of course genes can’t pull the levers of our behavior directly. But they affect the wiring and workings of the brain, and the brain is the seat of our drives, temperaments and patterns of thought. Each of us is dealt a unique hand of tastes and aptitudes, like curiosity, ambition, empathy, a thirst for novelty or for security, a comfort level with the social or the mechanical or the abstract. Some opportunities we come across click with our constitutions and set us along a path in life.” HandsCoursesOpportunitySocialLevelsBrainPathSecurityComfortTasteBehaviorAmbitionUniqueEmpathyConstitutionCuriosityPatternsAbstractSeatsGenesThirstTemperamentNoveltyClicksAptitudeLeversWiring Author:Steven Pinker