Genetic Glitch May Prevent Kids From Learning From Their Mistakes 500
jamie pointed out an interesting piece being featured in Newsweek that claims a "genetic glitch" may prevent some kids from learning from their mistakes to the same degree as others. "If there is one thing experts on child development agree on, it is that kids learn best when they are allowed to make mistakes and feel the consequences. So Mom and Dad hold back as their toddler tries again and again to cram a round peg into a square hole. [...] But not, it seems, all kids. In about 30 percent, the coils of their DNA carry a glitch, one that leaves their brains with few dopamine receptors, molecules that act as docking ports for one of the neurochemicals that carry our thoughts and emotions. A paucity of dopamine receptors is linked to an inability to avoid self-destructive behavior such as illicit drug use. But the effects spill beyond such extremes. Children with the genetic variant are unable to learn from mistakes. No matter how many tests they blow by partying the night before, the lesson just doesn't sink in."
Illicit? (Score:5, Insightful)
Interesting... (Score:2, Insightful)
But essentially flambait: illicit drug use is not always a self-destructive behavior. Some people find it very fulfilling and regard it as beneficial.
Re:Attention deficit disorder (Score:4, Insightful)
I know that's a joke, but if you find yourself fucking things up in ways that don't make sense to you, you may benefit from seeing a psychiatrist. Sometimes the drugs can turn people's lives around.
I wouldn't have graduated from college without my Adderall.
Re:Interesting... (Score:4, Insightful)
It should read "self-destructive behavior such as substance abuse".
Re:Refusing to learn from mistakes? (Score:3, Insightful)
Using the topic to push a personal political opinion is flamebait. A reply which is exactly the opposite illustrates the irony of the argument, and thus is funny.
The next few people playing off of the original joke with their own variation are hoping to get caught up in a time-honoured slashdot tradition of karma-whoring threads.
Character (Score:0, Insightful)
Why can't people just have particular types of character, it is has served use well for millennia.
Now, they think it is all to do with dopamine receptors, and neuro this and that.
It is a load of mumbo jumbo, designed to sell more drugs, justify research grants, and support a whole string of others in the chain.
Some people just get bored easily, and are easily distracted, perhaps meditation could help improve focus, or some type of activity, though then they will probably get told they are obsessive.
We know substances can have an effect on feelings, and thoughts, but we don't really know how it all works, so these things are really just a smoke screen to try and validate what is just generalised observed behaviour. The problem is the substances can effect others in completely different ways.
It is pure madness not by the individual but by the observer, who seems to have some voyeuristic tendency, let people be who they are, and let society adapt, not the other way around.
enough with the excuses (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Takes all kinds (Score:5, Insightful)
"That's giving up hope. "
Giving up hope is a function of learning from your mistakes, there are situations where it is perfectly rational to give up hope.
They don't address the complexity of 'learning from your mistakes', one man's mistake is another man's genius idea. History is filled with critics that thought someone was mistaken when they ultimately turned out to be right, especially in mathematics.
Re:Attention deficit disorder (Score:5, Insightful)
Give yourself structure. Make yourself a list of things you need to do every day. You could use paper, or be like me and get a $100 Palm Pilot. To me, mine is worth every penny. My list includes showering, walking the dog, getting haircuts, going to job interviews, getting my car inspected, paying my taxes, and pretty much every other thing I need to do.
Other things are make sure your hygiene is good. Shower every day if you can. Get exercise. Ride your bike for half an hour every day, if possible. I've really taken a liking to cycling and it's helped to put my life in the right direction and help my lose lots of weight. Eat an egg for breakfast everyday; it'll make you feel good. Don't eat junk food.
Keeping your body in shape helps you think more clearly, and the running theme is here that providing yourself with structure and goals is the best thing you can do for yourself this side of medication. I swear that giving myself some structure is the only reason I was able to graduate from college on time and the only way I'll succeed in making my career go somewhere and being the husband my wife deserves.
Re:segregation (Score:3, Insightful)
Whether it's a disability or not, I think we should seriously consider segregating the two populations and putting them in different classrooms.
Can it be called "The Gattaca Initiative"?
Re:scientific proof! (Score:2, Insightful)
This must explain conservatives. Keep trying the same failed policies time after time, each iteration expecting a different result. (Not a troll, just statement of fact. Look at the neocons trying to get us into a war over Georgia.) And let us not forget our pending war with Iran.
Son, did you read what I wrote? I said it ain't a troll, don't go modding it as such.
Re:'Illicit'? (Score:2, Insightful)
How do you know that for a fact? Have you talked to the version of yourself that didn't take LSD and MDMA recently?
Re:Takes all kinds (Score:5, Insightful)
Genetics is becoming the new astrology
Mod me redundant, but I feel that deserves to be repeated.
Maybe I don't get it, but the last time I checked, we don't really understand how the brain works. Bits and pieces of its operation, yes, but the big picture? Not even close. How is it, then, that some can claim to have such complex aspects, in this case, learning, figured out on a genetic level? Wouldn't that be like someone who barely knows jack about the immune system claiming to have found a genetic reason as to why some people are allergic to cats?
Holy crap, I read TFA and... (Score:3, Insightful)
I know it's tacky to reply to your own posts, but I wanted to add something here. According to the article:
In about 30 percent, the coils of their DNA carry a glitch...
One of the strongest and most counterintuitive findings in this nascent field is that children with a sweet temperament, which is under strong genetic control, are the least likely to emulate their parents and absorb the lessons they teach, while fussy kids are the most likely to do so.
DNA variants can protect children from bad parenting.
Both views--that everything is genetic and that parents can transform a child like a lump of clay--are as wrong as wrong can be.
I think these finding have serious implications for how we look at religion, and how it can or cannot work effectively to shape people's behaviour from the time they are children to adults. Some people -- at least 30 per cent -- are hard-wired to find it difficult to deal with "sin" without feeling guilt, shame, failure and worthlessness. They will either end with serious psychological and spiritual hang-ups, or will reject religion altogether.
Re:Refusing to learn from mistakes? (Score:2, Insightful)
Those next few people are always followed by some karma whore looking for that Insightful mod for pointing out those next few people.
Re:Takes all kinds (Score:3, Insightful)
That's giving up hope. Learning from your mistakes would be getting turned down by a woman, analyzing what might have led to that outcome, and trying to fix it.
That's assuming that 'negative feedback' comes from a mistake. A lot of things require persistence, doing the same thing until it works.
Meeting women, ironically, is one of those things.
1) Just be yourself.
2) That didn't work.
3) Repeat with another woman until it works.
Anything else is going to fail even more catastrophically.
Some things benefit from stepping back analyzing the approach for error and taking a new approach. Other things benefit from just continuing to hammer away at it, even if it appears not to be working. Wouldn't surprise me if, from and evolutionary point of view... a balance of 70/30 within a population is the most efficient. Most people rethink... a few hammer away... population as a whole does better.
Re:Takes all kinds (Score:3, Insightful)
It looks like we now have Lies, Damn Lies, Statistics, and Genetics. If you don't understand a phenomenon you can easily blame it on genetics, and use The Selfish Gene theory to 'explain' it.
Re:Takes all kinds (Score:5, Insightful)
What I think is interesting is that people have no problem believing that someone's genetics serve as a template for their hair, eye color, height, etc, but are much more skeptical about the role of genetics role behavior. Behavior is a result of the brain (and the rest of the body), which is just as much a physical item as the rest of you.
That's not to say that genetics can explain everything. There are epigenetic and environmental facts at play that are also important. But an individual's genetics are the starting point, so how is it foolish that to believe that understanding genetics can provide insights. Genetics isn't the end all and be all of understanding people, but it's a very important component.
Re:Takes all kinds (Score:3, Insightful)
In fact, they often like to play the game "hard to get" for a reason.
Yes: they're bitches. Nothing against women in general, but if you're not being honest about your intentions for a relationship (including whether to have one at all), you're just being cruel to the person on the other end.
Re:Takes all kinds (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Bart vs the Hamster (Score:5, Insightful)
Don't know the reason behind the abortion stance. Maybe because it's too hard to joke about tastefully.
Thats where South Park comes in.
Re:Refusing to learn from mistakes? (Score:5, Insightful)
The major difference between the US and other "first world" societies is that US politics very rarely includes the concept of "good will towards all". The notion, that "what is good for my neighbor is good for me" simply doesn't fly around here. Electing politicians on merit implies that we'd be electing people to serve the *public* trust, rather than our own individual interests.
Granted, I"m painting things with a broad brush, but that's pretty much the impression I get.
Why is it this way? I honestly don't know. It could have something to do with our frontiersman roots being so recent in our country's past - that we're still one nation of individual people, rather than an individual nation of one people.
Re:Takes all kinds (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Refusing to learn from mistakes? (Score:3, Insightful)
now now if you ran a business you'd be a libertarian too.
Unless you live in a country where the current government is actually able to do it's job (maintaining an environment and a society where you can run your business) well enough for a business owner to not want to get rid most of it, of course...
Re:Refusing to learn from mistakes? (Score:4, Insightful)
When there's a red button and a blue button and they both give electric shocks, maybe the stay-at-homes are the most intelligent of them all. oh yeah and there's a green button but it's in the ceiling and nothing happens when you stretch for it.
Re:Takes all kinds (Score:3, Insightful)
My sister actually 'broke' her left eye briefly -- it wouldn't focus. Too much target shooting (she was in college at the time, shooting competitively, and had been since she was about 12).
Had to do 'exercises' that involved shifting her focus from something close to something far, with her right (dominant) eye closed, if i recall.
I've run in to this myself, too. I've had stretches where I spend too much time focused on my computer monitor, and upon exiting the house I can't really focus more than a few feet in front of me. After a while being outside, I adjust.. but something tells me it's not as full an adjustment as it should be. Possibly the glasses on my face.
A good thing (Score:3, Insightful)
Everyone wants everyone else to set aside their personal feelings and agree with them, but no one wants to do that with their own.
Re:Refusing to learn from mistakes? (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Takes all kinds (Score:3, Insightful)
I'm not saying our advances are entirely bad, but this is certainly a consequence of those changes. You remove the evolutionary pressure to not be a moron and the "moron gene" will start showing up again. I think you are wrong in saying there is a survival benefit to this, since in the cold hard world this behavior would likely get you killed before it it helped. The problem is that there is no hinderance of survival due to that gene because someone is always around to protect you. Look at all of the "OMG think of the children" crap. Toy recalls irritate me more than anything. Many of my generate played with lawndarts and survived, some didn't survive, that is natural selection.
Inability to learn from mistakes IS a disability. In the cases you cite that isn't an inability to learn from mistakes. In fact I suspect it is quite the opposite. Every time that person approaches another woman he probably uses things he learned from the last rejection to avoid rejection. The most smooth talking snakes I have known have been rejected 10x more than accepted. And I quote, "if you ask every woman you see eventually one of them will say yes". That seems alot like learning. Same with people who throw themselves against the odds, repeating the same mistake over and over is not inspiring. Science didn't get where it is by people trying the same thing that didn't work over and over, it got there by people learning to make adjustments with each attempt. You don't just load the rock in the catapult and fire 1000 times hoping to hit your target. You adjust slightly after each failure to bring yourself closer to target.