Thinking about genetics, esp. the family determinism that is sold to the gullible as bogus tribal memberships, I naturally turned to my own family. I have three sets of "grandparents", my mother's parents, my father's parents, and the parents of my uncles who are all Hatfields, brothers married to my mother's sisters. Remarkably, my cousins on that side have a blip in their genetic code that interferes with the proper development of their phalanges: fingers and toes. Among them are too many toes (easy to remove one), missing thumbs (docs moved her big toe up to be a thumb), and a club foot (the hardest one to fix). This glitch goes back to Anne Boleyn, an ill-fated wife of Henry VIII. In paintings her sixth finger was sometimes hidden in her skirt.
So I went to genetic websites looking for fingers and found a far different and more serious Hatfield mutation that carries susceptibility to rage.
I know of no victims related to me and don't carry those genes myself -- just know about the TV program deriving from the history of Hatfields. One of the uncles-in-law never married and was institutionalized for what was understood to be "paranoid schizophrenia." He is erased from family history. My mother's opinion was that it came from his mother's side, Ruth, who was a sweetly cherished woman unlike the career Pinkerton women and not a Hatfield either.
This is more immediate version of the idea of "bad seed" that curses some people. Bob Scriver was accused of that, through the MacFie side. His art obsessions, hot temper, narcissism were the markers. Late in life he met a cousin his age who was almost exactly like him, even played the cornet just like him, but was not a sculptor or even a Westerner. The idea of being marked by genes haunted him and got confused with racism, but he had it backwards. His mother thought marrying an "Indian" would make "low" children more probable, but it would have been more protective to marry an indigenous person with an entirely different genetic code. On the other hand, maybe Blackfeet were formidable warriors because they carried this mythical warrior gene. The ironic reality was that his first wife carried susceptibility to cancer that killed her, her daughter, and her mother.
We think of genes in terms of one-gene/one-trait but the truth is that it takes a whole sequence of interacting of genes coded for certain proteins, cultures rewarding certain traits, and individual histories that accumulate trauma, deprivation, frustration, and failure. When these small things interact to create a syndrome in a lot of people, there are riots in the streets. Emotional characteristics seem more susceptible than physical bodies.
From the very beginning of the premise that "genes" give rise to humans of various kinds, and much bolstered by the thoughta of livestock raisers who specialize in certain types achieved by breeding and management, some people have wanted a simple guide to who is naughty and who is nice. Evidently they can't figure standards and judgements of their own. Below is one formulation referring to psychology that is quite popular, though sometimes it's a "Tetrad" when people want to add sadism, the enjoyment of giving pain and suffering.
The following formulations are from Wikipedia which depends on the thought of crowds who may or may not have expert training, but definitely have opinions.
"In psychology, the dark triad refers to the personality traits of narcissism, Machiavellianism, and psychopathy. They are called "dark" because of their malevolent qualities.Research on the dark triad is used in applied psychology, especially within the fields of law enforcement, clinical psychology, and business management. People scoring high on these traits are more likely to commit crimes, cause social distress and create severe problems for an organization, especially if they are in leadership positions." In short, they are stigmatized in cultures who don't like these traits and even justify incarceration or force. Some feel that our culture in the US is very much self-centered, "gamey," and preoccupied with crime.
- Narcissism is characterized by grandiosity, pride, egotism, and a lack of empathy.
- Machiavellianism is characterized by manipulation and exploitation of others, an absence of morality, unemotional callousness, and a higher level of self interest.
- Psychopathy is characterized by continuous antisocial behavior, impulsivity, selfishness, callous and unemotional traits and remorselessness.
"Several researchers have suggested expanding the dark triad to contain a fourth dark trait. Everyday sadism, defined as the enjoyment of cruelty, is the most common addition. While sadism is highly correlated with the dark triad, researchers have shown that sadism predicts anti-social behavior beyond the dark triad. Borderline personality disorder and status-driven risk-taking have also been proposed as additions." Except for cruelty, these are, well, "borderline" -- usually meaning uncontrollable by authorities. Status-driven risk-taking can be admired, made into celebrity.
"The vulnerable dark triad (VDT) comprises three related and similar constructs: vulnerable narcissism, factor 2 psychopathy, and borderline personality disorder. A study found that these three constructs are significantly related to one another and manifest similar nomological networks. Although the VDT members are related to negative emotionality and antagonistic interpersonal styles, they are also related to introversion and disinhibition. The study does note however that its findings are based largely on the self-reports of parents of white undergrad students rather than information gleaned from clinical evaluation." There's the giveaway: these terms were developed as behavior the parents of white college students would consider bad. There is very little relevance to other types of humans who never go near psychologists anyway.
"Comorbidity, the coexistence of two or more psychopathological conditions, represents a persistent challenge to the representation of mental disorders as discrete categories, historically implied by diagnostic systems." In plain English, this is not tinkertoys, but rather undefined qualities that were classified a long time ago when we knew a lot less and the culture was different anyway.
Among the artifacts we rarely see anymore are "pot lifters", various levers and tongs or hooks for getting a hot pot off an open fire, not just a stove. These psych categories are "pot lifting" explanations and categories that should be considered temporary until we have something better. In the meantime, they are only helpful for keeping track of what we're talking about. Troublesome people are hot pots.
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