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
29
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.
The author indicates in the opening paragraph that in their search for the roots of ambition, scientists ______ .
选项
A、have made a great delay
B、have gained nothing
C、have much disagreement
D、have begun to make some discovery
答案
D
解析
转载请注明原文地址:https://jikaoti.com/ti/NNOYFFFM
0
考博英语
相关试题推荐
AllthegettingandgivingispossiblethroughanorganizationcalledFreecycle,agrassrootsmovementofpeoplewhogiveawayt
Oflate,therehavebeenseveralpostssuggestingthatAmericahasnocultureorthatwhatcultureithasissomehowinferiorto
Themostsurprisingaspectofthemodernman’sgoodconscienceisthatheassertsandjustifiesitintermsofthemostvarieda
Asindividuals,weareinherentlymorebruitedthanacommunity.Althoughwecanconsultbooksandfriendsandcritics,inthee
Manypeoplebelievetheglarefromsnowcausessnowblindness.Yet,darkglassesornottheyfindthemselvessufferingfromhead
Canexercisebeabadthing?Suddendeathduringorsoonalterstrenuousexertiononthesquashcourtoronthearmytraininggr
Everysecond,【56】hectareoftheworld’srainforestisdestroyed.That’sonetotwofootballfields.This【57】rateofdestruct
Itgoeswithoutsaying,then,thatlanguageisalsoapoliticalinstrument,means,andproofofpower.Itisthemostvividand
Traditionally,womenhavelaggedbehindmeninadoptionofInternettechnologies,butastudyreleasedyesterdayfoundthatwome
随机试题
“肺为水之上源”的主要依据是
下列哪个可以根据情况,增加或者减少甲类传染病病种,并予公布
有一种产品组合类型,它尽量向所有的用户或消费者提供所需要的产品,力求某一产品线的产品品种覆盖各个细分市场,按整体市场对不同种类产品的需求增加产品线的数量,而对产品线之间的关联性没有严格限制,它是()。
某固定资产原值为10万元,无残值,使用年限为5年,若采用双倍余额递减法计提折旧,则第二年应提折旧额为( )元。
一个完整的计算机系统是由()组成。
下列财产中只能专属于国家的有()。
下列说法中,符合合同法规定的有()。
教学《爱莲说》时,为了引导学生掌握托物言志的写作手法,教师列举使用该手法的其他诗词来说明。下列诗词不能作为例子使用的是()。
衡量一种社会制度先进与落后的根本标准是看它()。
Therehasbeenadiscussionrecentlyontheissueofcommunicationinanewspaper.Writeanessayofabout200wordstothenewsp
最新回复
(
0
)