The United States is a nation of migratory peoples:
Paleo-Indians who ventured from Siberia tens of thou-
sands of years ago, Europeans who explored and settled
the “new” world in the sixteenth and seventeenth cen-
turies, millions of immigrants who have arrived from
other parts of the world ever since.
Alexis de Tocqueville, a French writer who visited theUnited States in 1831, was struck by the “restless curios-
ity” of Americans as they “travel up and down the vast
territories” of their nation. A “feverish ardor” similarly
characterized their pursuit of wealth: “They have been
told that fortune is to be found somewhere toward the
Do you take risks?
(^1) The “risk-taking” gene is a variant of the D4 gene that influences the
release of dopamine, a neurotransmitter. It is also associated with
hyperactivity and ADD.
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west, and they hasten to find it.” Americans approached
life “like a game of chance.”
Does a uniquely American character exist and is it
inspired by a migratory impulse? Some scientists think so,
and their explanation is rooted in a gene that influences
the release of chemicals in the brain that promotes risk
taking.^1 A 2009 psychology study at Harvard found that
college students with this gene bet larger sums when
gambling than those without it.