Kiaris H. Genes, Polymorphisms, and the Making of Societies: How Genetic Behavioral Traits Influence Human Cultures

Boca Raton, Florida: Universal Publishers, 2012. — 173 p.Our genes determine to a large extent who we are as individuals and why we are different from the other human beings. In this book, Hippokratis Kiaris explores how various genetic polymorphisms in different ethnic populations may affect the development of distinct cultures and eventually historical decisions. It should be read by anybody interested in history, anthropology, behavior, psychology or genetics. The reader will find clues linking together these scientific disciplines and how such genetically determined behavioral traits may play an undervalued, as yet, role in shaping historical outcomes. The book initially describes some basic concepts on genetics and proceeds with an outline of human evolution, the journey of early humans Out-of-Africa, and the colonization of Earth by different human populations that eventually resulted in the development of different cultures. Then, by focusing on the two major prototype cultural lines, the Eastern and the Western, the author discusses differences in the corresponding civilizations in view of specific genetic polymorphisms that affect behavior and differ in frequencies between people of Asian and European origin. Finally, in view of the contemporary increasing tendency for cultural globalization, the book attempts to predict future trends on cultures and behavioral patterns.Genes, Polymorphisms and Genetic Heterogeneity
Biological Anthropology and the Distribution of Human Populations as We Know Them Today
The Rise of Personal Genomics
Greeks versus Chinese: The Prototype Behaviors
Population versus Individual Traits
Exploratory Activity and Novelty Seekin
Serotonin Transporter and the Emergence of Collectivism
COMT, Altruism and the Evolution of the Warrior versus Worrier Strategies
Leaders and Followers
Eastern versus Westerner Traits are"En Bloc"
On the Fluctuations and Oscillations of Behavioral Trends
Trends
Isaac Asimov’s Psychohistory: On the Prediction of Historical Decisions
Epilogue