Political power must feel pretty good … especially if you have deep-seated personal insecurities and can conveniently use the notoriety of your office to indulge in a sense of superiority and vanity. Among many, many brain systems that develop slowly during childhood – inflated ego, interpersonal hostility and impulsivity can emerge very early during development. Instantaneous electronic “boner-to-picture-to-internet” hand-held technology just makes it that much easier to get busted once you’ve become a full-grown asshole.
Here’s a small insight into how this unfortunate developmental pathway might unfold … from a small-scale genetic study on variation in an intra-cytoplasmic loop of the Dopamine DRD4 receptor and its relationship to infidelity:
[DRD4] 7R+ individuals exhibit augmented anticipatory desire response to stimuli signaling dopaminergic incentives, such as food, alcohol, tobacco, gambling, and opiates. Although it is as yet speculative, these associations suggest that 7R+ individuals may allocate greater attention to appetitive rewards, contributing to the behavioral differences in promiscuity and infidelity observed here.
Neither the first, nor the last gene-twitter interaction to have gone badly for someone …
More on the DRD4 and social bonding genes
Genes 2 Brains 2 Mind 2 Me 