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Originally Posted by StirCrazy
Genetics is a small part of behavior, while it may predispose a persons tendency to wards a specific pattern it is mostly environmental stimulus that will shape a person's behavioral pattern. so parents, surroundings, friends, on and on.
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With all due respect, when did you finish your Ph.D in psychology Steve?
There are numerous theories on the origins of behaviour (and personality), and perhaps most popular among them at this time is biological or genetic theory. Also reasonably popular are cognition theory, social learning theory, and of course behaviourist theory, and they all have something to offer to this discussion.
This topic is highly relevant to numerous disciplines. A general trend in the sciences lately is convergence, in a way. Physics and chemistry are now significantly incorporated into biology, and psychology and biology, as we've seen, are coming together in a relatively new field called evolutionary psychology, which is also closely related to comparative psychology, and both, coincidentally, are fields the U of Lethbridge is strong in (versus, say, Calgary, which emphasizes applied psychology to a significant degree). The U of L is home to the
Canadian Centre for Behavioural Neuroscience as well.
I don't have the figures handy but as I recall current estimates say that between 50% and 60% of our behaviour is the product of genetics. Of course there are significant interactions between genetics and environment.
I'll dig around some more and try to find out more about the relationship between genetics and "greed". I'm still waiting to hear back from the professor of mine on the issue. However, to say something is not influenced by genetics at all would be quite absurd.