Why People Are Nice: University at Buffalo Professor Michel Poulin's Research Offers Answers

BUFFALO, NY -- New research from the University at Buffalo could explain why people are jerks -- and why some are so sweet.

Michel Poulin, Ph.D., assistant professor of psychology at UB, is the principal author of the study "The Neurogenics of Niceness," published in this month in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science.

His research suggests mom and dad's DNA contributions predispose their children to certain moods.

He and his team observed subjects with versions of receptor genes for two hormones that scientists associate with niceness. Earlier laboratory studies have linked the hormones oxytocin and vasopressin to the way we treat one another, says Poulin. His research applied subjects' behavior to these findings on a larger scale.

"The fact that the genes predicted behavior only in combination with people's experiences and feelings about the world isn't surprising," says Poulin, "because most connections between DNA and social behavior are complex."

So to blame genetics entirely for behavior -- good or bad -- won't cut it.

"If one of your neighbors seems [like a] really generous, caring, or civic-minded kind of person, while another seems more selfish, tight-fisted and not as interested in pitching in, their DNA may help explain why one of them is nicer than the other," he says.

Poulin stops short of saying he found the "nice" gene.

He does add, however, "We have found a gene that makes a contribution. What I find so interesting is the fact that it only makes a contribution in the presence of certain feelings people have about the world around them."

Want a deeper dive into Poulin's research and method? Click to head to Psychological Science.

Earlier on HuffPost:

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Comments

[maverick9808]

02:49 PM on 04/17/2012

I love election year all the repubs are out and rabid~~attack the liberals!!! Well i guess we know what gene pool these people are coming from.

The republican party is shooting themselves in the foot refuting gene science...eventually all the democrats are going to nix the republican gene in favor of the libertarian.

[deerinmw]

06:26 AM on 04/16/2012

Just another version of nature vs nurture. Inate personality plus environment. Back in the day, studies talked about tyrants and tyrant makers. If your father / mother was a tyrant you either became a tyrant as well or more likely you became a tyrant maker. Meaning you didn't stand up for yourself, instill discipline in your children and had problems controlling them and their behaviors - so one or more would then become tyrants as well. So it becomes a multi-generational thing. You grow up to walk all over others or get walked over.

In theory I suppose it makes some sense but its all too simplistic. It doesn't take into account repressed anger, life-long disappointment and inability to cope -OR worse yet, sociopathic and/or psychopathic personalities or those with personality disorders.

[mhsden]

05:20 AM on 04/16/2012

Coming soon to a court room near you ( The DNA Defence )

[Sundae Driver]

05:11 AM on 04/16/2012

This explains Republicans.

[mykirbyroo]

05:27 AM on 04/16/2012

I know. I am a Republican and I believe in Jesus Christ and the power of God the Father. That's why I'm so nice!!!! Democrats, not so much. Very pessimistic people. StevenRussell1 (below this post) is right. Have a great day - it's Monday!!!

[Sundae Driver]

05:29 AM on 04/16/2012

If you believed in Jesus Christ, you'd be a liberal Democrat, not a ra bid Republican.

[Major lackland]

05:38 AM on 04/16/2012

Wait. Some Democrats are nice too. I have a few friends who are Democrats.

[Sundae Driver]

05:39 AM on 04/16/2012

You lack comprehension skills too, I see.

[StevenRussell1]

03:32 AM on 04/16/2012

A big reason people are mean is because they live after the works of the flesh instead of by the fruit of the Spirit.

Crack open your Bibles folks, and read all about it. When you accept Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior of your life, and allow Him to rule and reign on the throne of your heart, and put "Self" outside the circle of your life, it will make all the difference in the world.

I double dog dare you to try it.

[Cantinflas]

09:55 AM on 04/16/2012

Ya know, I've done just that, and as a result I generally vote Democratic.

[teacher2be33]

02:18 AM on 04/16/2012

I think this is a touchy thing......I believe that there could be a gene that contributes but it is also a learned behavior as well. For example I know someone who had a dad so sweet and a mom not so sweet and nice and they are a very nice person. Whereas there is another set of people that the mother from what I understand comes from a very nice mother and a nice father and she is a very evil, wicked person who will not think twice to destroy your life if you do not do what she wants and her one kid is the same way while the other is as sweet as can be. All people can be nice at times and most people can be mean at other times as well....I think they are talking more of the overall....but I really believe it is a good combination of both genes and learned behavior.

[NancyY]

01:39 AM on 04/16/2012

From the article [Poulin]: "If one of your neighbors seems [like a] really generous, caring, or civic-minded kind of person, while another seems more selfish, tight-fisted and not as interested in pitching in, their DNA may help explain why one of them is nicer than the other."

Me: I disagree with this research, and I disagree with this article. I do not believe that there is a 'nice' gene, but that behavior is learned. I also believe that if people want to spend time with their families, or have quiet time to themselves, that they are not being 'selfish'.

[amd52]

03:16 AM on 04/16/2012

So Nancy i gather you are the type of neighbor that could not be bothered with your neighbor when kindness is necessary.

[NancyY]

06:27 AM on 04/17/2012

You do not know me, so you are not a person who has any right to make any judgements against me. How rude of you.

[bmitche]

01:09 AM on 04/16/2012

A very good article. I feel sorry for someone who cannot be nice and sweet, knowing that it is not by choice ( I've always thought it was by choice). Being hateful has to be painful.

[cqdeed]

02:37 AM on 04/16/2012

"It's not my fault officer. I didn't want to do it but my genes made me naturally mean."

[bmitche]

09:36 AM on 04/16/2012

I'm sure the officer would understand. LOL

[dagoredf1]

12:25 AM on 04/16/2012

I love these studies. The fact people get payed to do them makes it appearant I chose the wrong occupation. The gene can cause people to be nice given certain other variables are also at play. Coming soon once more mony is made available... The same gene can cause people to be mean given certain variables are also at play.

[Big Horn Man]

12:14 AM on 04/16/2012

This is one of the worst studies I ever come across. This is BS. I bet the liberals like this one.

[doonooch]

12:58 AM on 04/16/2012

Struck a nerve? sounds like you're speaking from a guilty concsience.

[Big Horn Man]

01:22 AM on 04/16/2012

You see, the liberals can use this study to make a silly point. Other than that, it is NOT true. You could take a finding and then stretch it out into your own perspective such as developing your own doctrine. It's dangerous.

[trishamine]

11:35 PM on 04/15/2012

Then what's my husbands excuse? He's a verbally abusive jerk, who thinks ONLY of him self. Even my neighbors don't like him so much, they see and hear how he is. His mohter was a very nice woman, his brother is nice and so is his sister, but him don't know what happened?

[babyewan]

11:50 PM on 04/15/2012

Ahh maybe you should leave his verbally abusive butt

[thm4usa]

12:01 AM on 04/16/2012

Perhaps he is like me! I am the nicest person in the world, willing to help everyone, very generous, but I get mean as heck if I do not get sex 3 times per day!

[Cliff Rothband]

03:40 AM on 04/16/2012

We're products of our experiences. it's nice to emulate someone else's actions, Yet better to learn from there mistakes. Like a wounded animal; people who are fearful or hurting can bite.

[nikkitytom]

11:33 PM on 04/15/2012

Huffington Editor .... did you even READ the title of this piece?

" Why people are NICE" .... not "Why People are MEAN" ..... which you posted as your teaser headline on the main page.

Your teaser headlines already skew reader's expectations on virtually every political piece you publish. Now this relatively innocuous piece is also being slammed.

WHAT IS THE MATTER WITH YOUR EDITORS??????

Yes ..... I am using caps .... this example is just too much. This is cheating and lying. How can you expect to retain any credibility as a newspaper with this nonsense?

Time for a whole new staff. Fire the idiots who are doing this.

(Yep .... normally I'm "nice" .... unless truly provoked as I am by this nonsense)

[cqdeed]

02:33 AM on 04/16/2012

I'm glad you said all that so I can retain my nice personna.

[nikkitytom]

03:20 AM on 04/16/2012

LOL ..... I needed that to calm my ruffled feathers. Thanks ...

[OhioResident101]

11:14 PM on 04/15/2012

It's who you are inside; who you choose to be. You can be brought up bad and think then I'll be bad because that's how I've been treated. Or you can be brought up bad and think, I'll never treat people as badly as I've been treated for I know how that feels and I'm better than that.

[trishamine]

11:37 PM on 04/15/2012

Your right, I never liked the way my mother treated em and my siblings, so when I had my kids I REFUSED to be like my mom and never did to my kids what mom did to me and the rest of us.

[amd52]

03:21 AM on 04/16/2012

well said fanned and faved

[ababy123]

10:52 PM on 04/15/2012

Bullcrap! its mostly how you were raised and the surroundings that you were raised in that could possibly make you mean or nice... my friend, her sister and their two brothers are all mean. Their mother was mean... didnt like anybody... but they were raised well, are all doing well, as well as their kids, and all of the stingy tightwads have money! they said that they had never been read too, did not get toys or play games as kids and they have no real memory of being held or kissed by their mom!

[seattleite4]

11:35 PM on 04/15/2012

Then how would you explain the differences within families where one child is kind and the other is mean?

[trishamine]

11:38 PM on 04/15/2012

How sad for them.

[Major lackland]

10:38 PM on 04/15/2012

I'm not name calling here, but you are a nice Liberal. That's good.

[camhart5124]

10:47 PM on 04/15/2012

whats being liberal have anything to do with this article?

[Major lackland]

05:42 AM on 04/16/2012

Absolutely nothing. I just made an observation that they person admitted being a nice person.

[doonooch]

12:59 AM on 04/16/2012

what in heavens name does the have to do with Liberals?

[arc23con]

02:12 AM on 04/16/2012

Science. It's becomes a liberal term to conservatives. Kind of like knowledge.