首页
外语
计算机
考研
公务员
职业资格
财经
工程
司法
医学
专升本
自考
实用职业技能
登录
外语
Anthropologists, psychologists and others have begun seeking the roots of ambition in family, culture, gender, genes and more. T
Anthropologists, psychologists and others have begun seeking the roots of ambition in family, culture, gender, genes and more. T
admin
2013-11-29
63
问题
Anthropologists, psychologists and others have begun seeking the roots of ambition in family, culture, gender, genes and more. They have by no means thrown the curtain all the way back, but they have begun to part it.
If humans are an ambitious species, it’s clear we’re not the only one. Many animals are known to signal their ambitious tendencies almost from birth. Even before wolf pups are weaned, they begin sorting themselves out into alphas and all the others. The alphas are quicker, more curious, greedier for space, milk, Mom--and they stay that way for life. Alpha wolves wander widely, breed annually and may live to a geriatric 10 or 11 years old. Lower-ranking wolves enjoy none of these benefits--staying close to home, breeding rarely and usually dying before they’re four.
Humans often report the same kind of temperamental determinism. Families are full of stories of the inexhaustible infant who grew up to be an entrepreneur, the phlegmatic child who never really showed much go. But if it’s genes that run the show, what explains identical twins--precise genetic templates of each other who ought to be temperamentally identical but often exhibit profound differences in the octane of their ambition?
Ongoing studies of identical twins have measured achievement motivation--lab language for ambition--in identical siblings separated at birth, and found that each twin’s profile overlaps 30% to 50% of the other’s. In genetic terms, that’s an awful lot--"a benchmark for heritability", says geneticist Dean Hamer of the U.S. National Cancer Institute. But that still leaves a great deal that can be determined by experiences in infancy, subsequent upbringing and countless other imponderables.
Some of those variables may be found by studying the function of the brain. At Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri, researchers have been conducting brain imaging to investigate a trait they call persistence--the ability to stay focused on a task until it’s completed just so--which they consider one of the critical engines driving ambition.
The researchers recruited a sample group of students and gave each a questionnaire designed to measure persistence level. Then they presented the students with a task--identifying sets of pictures as either pleasant or unpleasant and taken either indoors or outdoors--while conducting magnetic resonance imaging of their brains. The nature of the task was unimportant, but how strongly the subjects felt about performing it well--and where in the brain that feeling was processed--could say a lot. In general, the researchers found that students who scored highest in persistence had the greatest activity in the limbic region, the area of the brain related to emotions and habits. "The correlation was .8 [or 80%]," says professor of psychiatry Robert Cloninger, one of the investigators. "That’s as good as you can get."
It’s impossible to say whether innate differences in the brain were driving the ambitious behavior or whether learned behavior was causing the limbic to light up. But a number of researchers believe it’s possible for the nonambitious to jump-start their drive, provided the right jolt comes along. "Energy level may be genetic," says psychologist Simonton, "but a lot of times it’s just finding the right thing to be ambitious about." Simonton and others often cite the case of Franklin D. Roosevelt, who might not have been the same President he became--or even become president at all--had his disabling polio not taught him valuable lessons about patience and tenacity.
In terms of the roots of ambition, the concluding paragraph puts much emphasis on ______ .
选项
A、temperamental determinism
B、innate differences
C、environmental factors
D、disease and misfortune
答案
C
解析
转载请注明原文地址:https://kaotiyun.com/show/2UhO777K
0
考博英语
相关试题推荐
AllthegettingandgivingispossiblethroughanorganizationcalledFreecycle,agrassrootsmovementofpeoplewhogiveawayt
Evenplantscanrunafever,especiallywhentheyareunderattackbyinsectsordisease.But【71】humans,plantscanhavetheirt
Sustainabledevelopmentisappliedtojustabouteverythingfromenergytocleanwaterandeconomicgrowth,andasaresultith
Aboutadecadeago,then-RepublicanHouseleaderNewtGingrichraisedabigstirwhenheimpliedthatamother’sdrowningofher
Mykneeswereshaking.I【41】afraid【42】withthem,【43】I【44】myselfoutonthepathtofollowthem.Amara’shusband【45】comingbacka
AbortionThewordalonecausescivilconversationtofleetheroom.Thisislargelybecausethepro-choiceandpro-lifepositio
Canexercisebeabadthing?Suddendeathduringorsoonalterstrenuousexertiononthesquashcourtoronthearmytraininggr
Itgoeswithoutsaying,then,thatlanguageisalsoapoliticalinstrument,means,andproofofpower.Itisthemostvividand
Oneofthemajordifferencesbetweenmanandhisclosestlivingrelativeis,ofcourse,thatthechimpanzeehasnotdevelopedth
Thesiteofthebattlebroughtbacktohimmemoriesofthe______yearsoftheWorldWarTwo
随机试题
团结协作要求从业人员之间要友爱亲善。
A.猪带绦虫B.蛲虫C.黑热病原虫D.阴道毛滴虫E.血吸虫以节肢动物为媒介感染的是
下列各项,其致病最易导致疼痛的是()
患者,女,20岁。要求金瓷冠修复。检查:左下6近中面树脂充填物,边缘密合,无松动无叩痛,其余无明显异常情况。关于牙体预备要求正确的是
(2009年)直径相同两圆管,已知流量比为2:1,则雷诺数之比为()。
编制施工机械台班使用定额时,需要进行的工作包括()。
幼儿使用多种结构材料(如积木、积塑、沙石、水、泥巴、雪、金属材料等),通过想象和实际的创造行为,构造建筑物或建筑形象的游戏活动,我们称之为()。
如果你被录用为此次的政法干警,你会怎样处理好和同事的关系?
A.Km增大,Vmax不变B.Km减小,Vmax降低C.两者均是D.两者均非反竞争性抑制作用的动力学变化特征是
Ascorchingsun,anendlessseaofsandandawaterless,forbiddinglylonelyland—thatistheimagemostpeoplehaveofdeserts.
最新回复
(
0
)