Do these genes make me look like an asshole?

My friend Eric recently shared a link on his facebook to this article about 'survival of the kindest'.  It's an interesting read, but it's what I call "scientifish" simply because of the way it's written. Although it comes from Berkeley's website, it's still a human interest piece written to be informative to a wide audience, not just people in lab coats with a vernacular specific to a certain field of study. It describes how maybe people aren't born as selfish assholes after all, and that being nice is healthy and good for society at large. Awesome. While vaguely referencing a few studies, the article asserts that a variation of the oxytocin gene receptor (OTCR) could be responsible for empathy and keeping one's cool in stressful situations.  The following line in the article irked me immensely: "One recent study found compelling evidence that many of us are genetically predisposed to be empathetic." And then this really pissed me off. "'The tendency to be more empathetic may be influenced by a single gene,' Rodrigues said."

Ummm... no. Given my very shallow background in genetics, my recognition of connotative diction in journalism and my overall skepticism concerning linking genes to everything from drink of choice to whether or not you'll enjoy a Dickens novel, I immediately called bullshit.


Dear Media: please stop using phrases like "genetically predisposed" and "influenced by a single gene" because it confuses the idiots you are trying to inform.

Empathy? Well what the heck is that anyway? Glad you asked. The word has many different definitions, but what I think fits the best is what William Ickes wrote in 1997. "Empathy is a complex form of psychological inference in which observation, memory, knowledge, and reasoning are combined to yield insights into the thoughts and feelings of others."

So I guess now I can explain my problem. How can genes possibly be responsible for or even remotely influence things like personal observation and individual experience? How can genes play any role in a emotional process that involves memory?

Enraged that the article was linking empathy to genes, I immediately wanted to fight Berkeley. Yes, all of it. So I did the rational thing and poured through medical journals until dawn reading over similar studies and the one in question. Why? I wanted the experiment abstract. I wanted the numbers, I wanted the parameters of the tests, I wanted graphs, I wanted words I wouldn't understand and would have to google. I needed to know which chromosome the OTCR resides on. (The third one, duh.) If you would like that as well, I am more than happy to link you right on over.

I'll break it down for you, nice and easy. (Nerd Alert: If you don't like science or don't care, skip this part.) There are three alleles, or variations, for the OTCR: GG, AG and AA. Individuals with the GG variation are more likely to pick up on emotions in others as shown by the "Reading the Mind in the Eyes" test. (Yes, that's the actual, super scientific name of the test.) Subjects are shown photographs of just the eye region of a face and asked to pick from four adjectives like "worried" "angry" and so forth to best describe the expression. (I personally don't think this is the true definition of empathy, but I'll let it slide. Berkeley apparently thought it was good enough.) To determine reactions to stress, the subjects wore headphones and heard blasts of white noise at random times, then they were told when they would hear it for the last time, allowing stress to potentially build up. Their heart rates were monitored during the process. Again, the GG group stayed calmer while the AA and AG groups got all spazzy. There was also a "self-reporting" aspect where subjects filled out a questionnaire describing their perceived empathy capacity and response to stress, but if I learned anything from House it's that people lie, so I threw that part out. (The findings kept in step though. GG rocks and AG and AA sucked at both.)

In addition to finding out that the GG group kicks ass, the study also suggested that the AG and AA groups were more likely to develop autism. Which is great when we're trying to figure out autism. But the study and the article I have a problem with don't make that the main focus. Both fixate primarily on empathy.

To be fair, the experiment findings, the one published in a peer-reviewed medical journal, do not once imply that the OTCR is an "empathy gene." But I believe the wording of the article from Berkeley's website is misleading to the average reader. It takes the experiment findings out of context and readers can easily misinterpret it. And disseminate it. Imagine a game of intellectual telephone. You take an idea and pass it on, but by the time it gets further down the line, the idea is warped and wrong and well, people actually believe a single gene is responsible for your ability to empathize.

And here's my issue. I fret and fume when the media takes science and bends it just to fit an article. Yes, it's nice to think that humans may programmed to be kind instead of selfish, but you can't just make shit up if it's not there. And I think it's particularly dangerous when anyone uses science incorrectly to support whatever claim they may have. People are already clamoring for a "gay gene" or a "serial killer gene" or even a "left-handed gene". People, STOP looking to blame lifestyle choices on genes! It's a slippery slope that I believe the media is already pushing you down.

I would hate to think there's an empathy gene. What else will we try to link to genetic make up instead of conscious decision? Creativity? Sense of humor? IQ? Addiction? If you give genes credit for these things, it disregards your personal choices. And more dangerous than that, it absolves you of personal responsibility. If your genes are to blame, that means you aren't.

Think about it this way; if someone is a total prick to you, they can now say "oh, it's not my fault, my empathy gene is broken." NO! You're an asshole because you're a heartless disagreeable asshole.

And if you aren't in control of your ability to empathize, your capacity to share in the human experience by relating to others, I ask you this:

What's the point?