Peter C. Whybrow Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior, UCLA

Evolution, the Human Sciences and Liberty

Special MPS Meeting, USFQ Campus Galapagos Islands, June, 2013 .

THE ENTREPRENEUR Adaptive response to evolving opportunity…

GRAPHIC: THE ECONOMIST DECEMBER 13, 2003

CREATIVE INTELLIGENT CURIOUS RESTLESS IMAGINATIVE INNOVATIVE AMBITIOUS RESOURCEFUL DRIVEN PERSISTENT PASSIONATE IMPULSIVE RISK TAKER GAMBLER The temperament of the entrepreneur? Defining a phenotype…

ROSEMARY AND PETER GRANT

DAPHNE MAJOR

“DARWIN’S FINCHES” --- FROM A COMMON SOUTH AMERICAN ANCESTRY

The brain is a transducer… Fundamentally behavior is the expression of biological drive in interaction with environmental circumstance… Through natural selection that interaction in turn shapes biology and subsequently modifies behavior in an ever evolving cycle… This evolution trends toward an extended order of adaptive equilibrium….

AS FRIEDRICH HAYEK DESCRIBED IN THE SENSORY ORDER, 1952

SO WHO ARE WE……?

Graph credit – Dr. William Stanton

ENLIGHTENMENT INDUSTRIALIZATION FOSSIL FUELS

THE AGE OF MAN

SCARCITY

ABUNDANCE

Homo ergaster African branch of Homo erectus

Neanderthal

Homo sapiens

AS MEMBERS OF THE HOMINID LINE…..

….WE ARE THE JOHNNY-COME-LATELY

After Naish, Schaubelt and Kieser: Landesmuseum, Darmstadt, Germany. (2005)

FROM MACLEAN: THE TRIUNE BRAIN

SURVIVAL INSTINCTS &

MAINTENANCE

INSTINCTUAL BEHAVIORS ARE SHAPED BY ENVIRONMENTAL CIRCUMSTANCE & EXPERIENCE

CHOICE & SOCIAL BEHAVIORS

OUR BEHAVIOR IS BEST UNDERSTOOD THROUGH THE LENS OF EVOLUTION

THE TRIUNE BRAIN

CHOICE & ACTION PERCEPTION

AFTER FUSTER: CORTEX AND MIND

THE BRAIN IS A TRANSDUCER: HABIT AND MEMORY ARE KEY

MATURES IN 2-3 DECADES

Limbic structures

…IT IS THROUGH HABIT AND MEMORY THAT WE IMAGINE THE FUTURE AND GIVE MEANING TO CHOICE

RISK assessment

ACTION taken

REWARD

PUNISHMENT

Perception of OPPORTUNITY

PLEASURE

FEAR

POSITIVE FEEDBACK LOOP

NEGATIVE FEEDBACK LOOP

MEMORY

MEMORY

OPPORTUNITY, RISK AND THE PERCEPTION-ACTION CYCLE

Neurobiology of Entrepreneurial Behavior…

Entrepreneur…

The Oxford Shorter English Dictionary

1. The director of a musical institution.

2. A person who organizes entertainment.

3. An individual who undertakes or controls a business or enterprise and who bears the risk of profit or loss. 4. A contractor who acts as an intermediary.

John Law (1671-1729)

Richard Cantillon (1780s-1734)

Born to a Scottish family of wealthy bankers 1671 1880s Born in Ireland of wealthy landowners Father dies 1688 Duel over Elizabeth Villiers…kills Wilson 1694 Imprisoned…escapes to Amsterdam 1703 Moves to France, Citizenship Returns to Scotland. Seeks National Bank 1707 Failure. Moves to France 1711 In Spain working for Great Britain Appointed Controller of Finance 1715 Returns to Paris, Banking successful career lending money Bank General formed . Paper credit 1716 Becomes involved with John Law and the Mississippi Company founded the Mississippi company Mississippi Bubble….collapse 1720 Rides the bubble- makes fortune Dismissed …flees France Impoverished. Lives as a gambler Pursued by those who lost money in the scheme. Dies in Venice 1729 1730 Writes essay on Economic Theory 1734 Dies mysteriously in a London fire

JOHN LAW (1671-1729) RICHARD CANTILLON (1688s -1734)

CREATIVE INTELLIGENT CURIOUS RESTLESS IMAGINATIVE INNOVATIVE AMBITIOUS RESOURCEFUL DRIVEN PERSISTENT PASSIONATE IMPULSIVE RISK TAKER GAMBLER

RISK assessment

ACTION taken

REWARD

PUNISHMENT

Perception of OPPORTUNITY

PLEASURE

FEAR

POSITIVE FEEDBACK LOOP

NEGATIVE FEEDBACK LOOP

OPPORTUNITY, RISK AND THE PERCEPTION-ACTION CYCLE

MEMORY

MEMORY

MYOPIC VISION

Cultural Factors of Influence…

RISK assessment

ACTION taken

REWARD

PUNISHMENT

Perception of OPPORTUNITY

PLEASURE

FEAR

POSITIVE FEEDBACK LOOP

NEGATIVE FEEDBACK LOOP

MEMORY

MEMORY

DEBT & CREDIT

MYOPIC VISION

BUT ALSO LAW AND CANTILLON WERE BOTH MIGRANTS….

Cultural Factors of Influence…

Ambition, curiosity and risk-taking….

Entrepreneurship and the Migrant Temperament

It is odd to watch with what feverish ardor the Americans pursue prosperity. Millions of men are all marching together toward the same point on the horizon; their languages, religions, and mores are different, but they have one common aim. They have been told that fortune is to be found somewhere toward the west, and they hasten to seek it… Democracy in America, 1835. Alexis de Tocqueville:

About the same time that Darwin was wandering about in the Beagle, De Tocqueville was investigating Prisons in the US…

(1805-1859)

ADAM SMITH’S ENGINES OF ECONOMIC GROWTH--SELF-INTEREST, CURIOSITY

AND PERSONAL AMBITION--ARE ESPECIALLY WELL REPRESENTED IN AMERICA’S MIGRANT POPULATION

THE MIGRANT

MIND

The American Temperament: A Mania for Prosperity

Only 2% of the world’s people migrate. Most individuals die within 50 miles of where they were born. Thus migrants are self-selected, largely by temperament. In our own time America is the quintessential migrant culture, the largest congregation of migrant people in the world today. Ninety-eight percent of Americans were born elsewhere, or into families that have migrated there within the past 300 years. The other 2% walked there 10-20 thousand years ago. Optimism, self-interest, curiosity and short attention (often described as restlessness or novelty seeking) and a vigorous ambition are the best predictors of an émigré’s adjustment.

AMERICAN MANIA: When More is Not Enough

THE MIGRANT MIND: SOME FACTS

OPTIMISM & DRIVE! 70% of Americans believe that

with luck and the right timing they will

become rich and famous

Self-love Social

Sentiment

A FREE MARKET ECONOMY IS A SELF-REGULATING COMPLEX OPEN SYSTEM

Self-interest “God’s incomprehensible remedy”

Curiosity & love of novelty

“keeps in motion the industry of mankind”

Social ambition (competition) “the distinction of ranks”

INSTINCTUAL, REWARD-DRIVEN

BEHAVIORS

Sympathy & empathic awareness

The need to be loved by others

Peer recognition and social acceptance

“The man we naturally love the most is he who joins..to his own..selfish feelings

the most exquisite sensibility of others”

LARGELY LEARNED BEHAVIORS, CULTURALLY DEPENDENT

ENGINE INDIVIDUAL FREEDOM

BRAKES “IMPARTIAL SPECTATOR”

SMITH’S “INVISIBLE

HAND”

ADAM SMITH’S POSTULATE:

THE NOREPINEPHRINE SUPERHIGHWAY MAINTAINS THE ALERT STATE THE DOPAMINE (REWARD) PATHWAY MONITORS NOVEL STIMULI

THE SEROTONIN SYSTEM IS THE MODERATOR

NEURONAL SUPERHIGHWAYS & THE BRAIN’S REWARD SYSTEM

Amygdala

THE DOPAMINE REWARD PATHWAYS DRIVE THE ENGINES OF THE MARKET (self-interest; curiosity; ambition) THEY ARE EASILY HI-JACKED & PRONE TO ADDICTION

CHICAGO TRIBUNE; APRIL 27, 1997

EUROPEAN MIGRATION 400 YRS AGO

EVOLUTION’S GENETIC FOOTPRINTS

CHICAGO TRIBUNE; APRIL 27, 1997

?

EVOLUTION’S GENETIC FOOTPRINTS

The Ancient Migrations

CURIOUSITY, EXPLORATION & RISK…?

CELL NUCLEUS

CURIOSITY….EXPLORATION…NOVELTY….RISK

…….THEN REWARD OR PUNISHMENT

DOPAMINE D4 RECEPTOR GENE POLYMORPHISMS

Dopamine D4 receptor gene (DRD4), on chromosome 11, encodes one of 5 known protein receptors that mediate the post-synaptic actions of dopamine. DRD4 displays high variability in the human population. The main source of this variability is a 48 base-pair region that can be repeated 2 to 11 times. The variable region occurs within the third cytoplasmic loop by which the receptor couples to the cell’s G-protein binding system that drives intracellular adenyly cyclase inhibition. The distribution of DRD4 mRNA in the brain (in contrast to the motor actions of D1 and D2) suggests that DRD4 has a role in modulating cognitive and emotional behavior.

DOPAMINE RECEPTORS (CODED ON CHROMOSOME 11) ARE AN EXTENDED FAMILY

….AND SOME MEMBERS ARE MORE SENSITIVE THAN OTHERS.

RISK-TAKERS In “native” Americans

the DR4-7 allele predominates

CHICAGO TRIBUNE; APRIL 27, 1997

In the ancient migrations, the “risk taking” gene (the dopamine receptor 4-7 allele) is associated with the distance traveled

THE DR4-7 REPEAT IS ASSOCIATED WITH

RISK-TAKING

EVOLUTION’S GENETIC FOOTPRINTS

SOURCE: CHANG et al, THE WORLDWIDE DISTRIBUTION OF ALLELE FREQUENCIES AT THE HUMAN DOPAMINE D4 RECEPTOR LOCUS. HUMAN GENETICS (1996) 98, 91-101

THE ANCIENT MIGRATIONS AND THE “RISK-TAKING” DOPAMINE RECEPTOR ALLELE (DR4-7)

1-2-3-4 4-ALLELE

1-4 2-ALLELE 1-4-7

7-ALLELE

3-ALLELE

1-2-6-5-2-5-4

1-2-3-2-3-4

1-3-2-3-4 5-ALLELE

6-ALLELE

1-2-3-4 1-2-3-4 1-2-3-4

1-2-3-4

1-2-3-4 1-2-3-4

1-2-3-4 1-2-3-2-3-4

Multiple mutations & gene conversions

DRD4 DIVERSITY: SIMPLIFIED MODEL FOR EXON 3, 48-BASE PAIR REPEAT SEQUENCE

ADAPTED FROM DING ET AL, PNAS VOL 99, 309-314, 2002

ADAPTIVE ADVANTAGE

MOST COMMON

SOURCE: CHANG et al, THE WORLDWIDE DISTRIBUTION OF ALLELE FREQUENCIES AT THE HUMAN DOPAMINE D4 RECEPTOR LOCUS. HUMAN GENETICS (1996) 98, 91-101

THE “RISK-TAKING” DOPAMINE RECEPTOR ALLELE (DR4-7) MIGRATION & THE “ATTENTION DEFICIT, HYPERACTIVITY DISORDER”

In many studies the DR4-7 allele has also been associated

with the ADHD phenotype

In 2004 3 million children

in the US were taking stimulants for ADHD. 95% of the stimulants prescribed in the world

are prescribed in the US

THE CULTURAL PERMISSION…….AMERICA’S MANIFEST DESTINY WITH THE LOUISIANA PURCHASE (1803) AMERICA’S WESTWARD MIGRATION ACCELERATED

“AMERICAN PROGRESS” BY JOHN GAST, 1872

"Herd Quitter," 1897, Charles Marion Russell.

AND THE ENTRPRENEUR SAW PLENTY OF ACTION…..

BUT WHAT’S THE CONTEMPORARY CULTURAL NICHE FOR THOSE WHO ARE….

.....YOUNG, ENERGETIC, RISK TAKING AND NON-COMPLIANT?

SENSATION SEEKING & FINANCIAL RISK TAKING DOPAMINE D4 RECEPTOR GENE POLYMORPHISMS (ALLELES)

SENSATION SEEKING….THE NEED FOR VARIED, NOVEL, AND COMPLEX EXPERIENCES

Identical twin studies (9220 individuals) demonstrate that sensation seeking is highly heritable, 45%-60%, in both men and women. (Stoel et al. Behavior Genetics, 36, 229-237, 2006) In a study of 94 young men (Harvard) the DRD4-7 allele was highly correlated with financial risk taking, accounting for some 20% of the variance. (Dreber et al. Evolution and Human Behavior, 30, 85-92, 2009) In a sophisticated choice study of escalating financial risk (140 subjects) the presence of the DRD4-7 allele correlated with those individuals who take increased risk under ambiguous and speculative circumstances, frequently heavily discounting future rewards. (Carpenter el al, Journal of Risk and Uncertainty 42,233-26, 2011)

FINANCIAL CHOICES BY DRD4 POLYMORPHISM…..

(Carpenter el al, Journal of Risk and Uncertainty 42,233-26, 2011)

% cash in savings

Pay off credit cards

Debit over credit Overdraft protection

Automatic bill pay

$ Needed only cash withdrawal

DR4-4

DR4-7

VmOFC

VmOFC

Amygdala

+

-

+

-

VmOFC

VmOFC

Amygdala

COURTESY OF EDYTH LONDON PHD, LABORATORY OF MOLECULAR NEUROIMAGING, SEMEL INSTITUTE, UCLA

IOWA GAMBLING TASK

NON-ADDICTED

ADDICTED

IN HABITUAL GAMBLERS EXECUTIVE CHOICE IS HIJACKED

Financial Times January 25th, 2008

DOT.COM BUBBLE

HOUSING BUBBLE

BANKING CRISIS

OF RISK AND REWARD: AMERICA’S BUBBLES & BUSTS

BALANCING RISK & RETURN? EXPERIENCE (& PERHAPS GENDER) HELPS…..

It has been suggested that more women would help….. (Coates, J M; Herbert, J. Proceedings National Academy of Sciences 2008) One genetic study of 60 seasoned Wall Street stock traders, against age matched controls, showed no difference between the groups in the prevalence of the DRD4-7 allele. Moderation wins the day. (Sapra et al, PLoS ONE, Jan 2012)

BUT IS THIS ENTRPRENEURSHIP?

NOVEL IDEAS

WORKING MEMORY

HABIT INHIBITION

WITH COGNITIVE CONTROL

THE ENTREPRENEUR AND THE CREATIVE CYCLE

THE TENNENBAUM CENTER FOR THE BIOLOGY OF CREATIVITY

ATTENTION-DEFICIT (DRD4-7 allele) DYSLEXIA ASPERGER’S MANIC-DEPRESSION

HARNESSING MIGRANT TALENT

The optimism, curiosity, drive and vigorous ambition of the migrant provide a foundation for entrepreneurial activity. But that optimism must be focused and adaptive to today’s challenge. The successful entrepreneur is not a gambler but a passionate, disciplined expert who sheds old certainties for new opportunities in science, the arts, business, social issues and, yes, even in the political realm. But that energy and vision must be schooled. Here’s some encouragement: a new series of developmental studies in young children has demonstrated that the Dopamine Receptor D4-7 allele interacts with parent quality to predict “effortful” self-control in four year old children. Thus, rather than being dismissive of the migrant gene as a (ADHD) nuisance, in fact it can remain adaptive, increasing a child’s sensitivity to parental guidance. (Sheese, Posner et al, Child Development Research, ID 863242, 2012)

(23% of Americans are immigrants: 40% of the Fortune 500 founded by immigrants)

CHOICE & ACTION PERCEPTION

AFTER FUSTER: CORTEX AND MIND

THE PERCEPTION-ACTION CYCLE INTEGRATES PASSION & REASON…

MATURES IN 2-3 DECADES

Limbic structures

It is that integration that builds empathic understanding, responsibility and trust

FOXP2 GENE (Forkhead box P2)

EMOTION & ATTACHMENT

“Emotion is a pre-verbal system of communication that human beings share with the primates and other animals.” Charles Darwin. The Expression of Emotion in Man and Animals in Man and Animals, 1872

Entrepreneurial activity needs the oddballs, the misfits, and the risk-takers . But what gave humans the edge and still does is not the the iconoclast working alone but the capacity to collaborate in building adaptive strategy within large social groups. Key to that collaboration is language. Evidence suggests that it was the “retuning” of FOX P2 some 50,000-100,000 years ago that made the critical difference in enhancing our ability to communicate and to adapt to evolving opportunity. .

In Conclusion….

CREATIVE INTELLIGENT CURIOUS RESTLESS IMAGINATIVE INNOVATIVE AMBITIOUS RESOURCEFUL DRIVEN PERSISTENT PASSIONATE IMPULSIVE RISK TAKER GAMBLER

CHARLES DARWIN (1809-1882)