Are we slaves of our genes?

What influences our personality more, our genes or our environment? The eternal question, answered

Many of the debates that rage today regarding psychology can be reduced to: Is our behavior the expression of our genetics (something innate), or does it largely depend on the context in which we live?

This question has been answered, analyzed and nuanced not only from different theoretical currents belonging to science, but even from certain political, economic and philosophical positions.

Slaves of our genes? The evolutionary view

Psychology can be considered a heterodox discipline, and has approached this problem in many different ways. There is a tradition in psychology that emphasizes the biological, and that is based on fields of study such as neuroscience, and there is another that studies the functioning of thought based on symbols, concepts and thought structures. symbols, concepts and thought structures.. However, there is a relatively new approach that stresses the importance of searching for the evolutionary antecedents of the human species in order to understand its behavior. This is evolutionary psychology.

In the same way that some fields of study in psychology have a Biological foundation by investigating alterations in the neuro-endocrine system, the evolutionary psychology is based on the findings of evolutionary biology to hypothesize about our behavior. to hypothesize about our behavior. That is to say: it is also based on the biological substratum, but not understood as something static, but in constant development according to the transformations that occur in the evolution of the species. From the discoveries that have been made about our ancestors and the context in which they lived, hypotheses can be put forward that explain, at least in part, our behavior.

While it is true that these studies are conditioned by the accuracy of our knowledge about our ancestors and the environment in which they lived, evolutionary psychology can offer us interesting explanations of phenomena such as the emergence of language, the strategies and behaviors of our ancestors and the environment in which they lived. the emergence of language, breeding strategies, risk tolerance and many other aspects that are practically timeless and transverse to our species..

In a way, then, we are appealing to the universal in the human beingThe first step is to investigate the way of life of our common ancestors in order to be grounded in our evolutionary precedents. On the other hand, if some differences in the way we act could be genetically determined, it delineates a kind of psychological psychological mismatch between two or more groups of people with other biological characteristics. The latter has caused evolutionary psychology to generate some controversy in some circles.

The context and the manifestation of genes

Indeed, evolutionary psychology can be a tool to legitimize situations of social inequality, by attributing it to genetics and not to a context in which a minority is discriminated against. An explanation of the different ways of life between two nationalities based on ancestral origins may very well respond to the interests of social Darwinismor the domination of the white man over all others. Although the results of scientific studies do not establish moral precepts, they can have their origin in the need to justify or perpetuate injustice: science, as the creation of a political animal, is not neutral, and the conclusions of an experiment can be picked up by spokespersons of racism, machismo or xenophobia.

There is also a confrontation between the promoters of this approach to psychology and part of the international feminist movement, especially circles related to Queer theory. In general, comparative studies between the sexes are a field much studied by these psychologists, who find in the distinction between masculine and feminine a variable that is universal to the human species, regardless of the context.

By focusing on the differences between the two sexes, the differences in the way of life that exist today between men and women are justified to a certain extent. For example, studies showing a tendency of the female sex to seek a partner in someone of higher status, or capable of providing more resources, have been especially controversial. In a way, they question the belief that gender is something socially constructed and determined by the historical moment.

However, it is important to note something: while it is true that these psychologists seem to pay more attention to what is already determined by DNA, it can also be said that DNA is determined by context.. Both our actions and the context in which we develop them significantly condition which genes are manifested, when they are manifested... and even whether our genes will be transmitted or not! The very essence of the evolution of species explained by Darwin is the interaction between the genetic and the changing: the world in which we live, the experiences to which we are exposed. Evolutionary psychology is not about what we are programmed to do, but offers an explanation of our potential.