PonerologyNews.com

The other day, I was discussing with someone the recent story about George Zimmerman’s girlfriend accusing him of pointing a gun at her. We both agreed that the interesting part of the story wasn’t so much that Zimmerman was in trouble, but that Zimmerman – a man who has quite a lot of very recent baggage, not much seemingly going for him, and, having only been served with divorce papers days ago, is married – even has a girlfriend. We both wondered why a woman would want to be his girlfriend at the moment in the first place.

Apparently, Saturday Night Live did too, as they led off this weekend’s episode with a sketch in which this very question is asked.

Now, I am not claiming that George Zimmerman is a psychopath or has any other specific conscience-reducing disorder. I really have no ability to make a judgment on that. However, the conversation about his romantic situation did lead me to explain to my conversation partner that those that are psychopaths or do have certain related disorders are notorious for their ability to attract many romantic and sexual relationships. I mentioned some of the fascinating research, which I cover in my foundational page about psychopathy, about just how successful some of history’s most ruthless killers have been in spreading their genes.

Well, as so often happens after a deep discussion about an intriguing topic, it wasn’t more than a couple of days before a new, highly relevant story emerged in the news. (more…)

In our in-depth piece about James Fallon’s life and work, we discussed warrior genes – genes which, when represented in certain variants, are associated with violence – as well as the version of the Monoamine Oxidase A (MAOA) gene which, because it was the first such gene discovered, is frequently referred to as “the Warrior Gene.” It seems the warrior gene idea is gaining some traction in public discussion.

One reason for this traction is the National Geographic channel’s documentary “Born to Rage,” which features musician Henry Rollins and focuses on this topic.

I recently came across another related resource regarding warrior genes. (more…)