POLITICSlike a helpless child in real life because he lacks “common
sense”—the ability to make good decisions.
The role of emotions in decision making has not been
studied as extensively as the role of rational thought; how-
ever, it wouldn’t be unreasonable to predict that individuals
who have a strong H&N system would have an advantage
in this area. A high score on an IQ test may be a good pre-
dictor of academic success, but for a happy life, emotional
sophistication may be more important.
THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN GROUP
TRENDS AND INDIVIDUAL CASESScientists usually study large groups of people. They mea-
sure characteristics they are interested in and calculate
average values. Then they compare those averages with
what’s called a control group. A control group might be
ordinary people, healthy people, or the general population.
For example, a scientist might do a population study that
reveals a higher rate of cancer among people who smoke
cigarettes compared to everybody else. She might also do
a genetics study and find out that people who have a gene
that revs up the dopamine system are on average more cre-
ative compared to people who don’t have that gene.
The problem is that when we talk about the averages of
a large group, there are always exceptions, sometimes lots
of exceptions. Many of us can think of heavy smokers who
lived well into their nineties. Similarly, not everyone with a
highly dopaminergic gene is creative.
Many things influence human behaviors: how dozens of
different genes interact with one another, what kind of family