Raising a child has given me a different perspective on genetics than I once had. As a young adult, I was convinced that we are all a product of our environment. Now I'm not so sure. My daughter's personality started emerging very, very early. One thing I noticed right off the bat was her empathy -- she started patting crying babies in daycare from the time she was nine months old, I was told by her teachers. I don't think we taught her that quite so fast.

My major in college was communications studies and my minor was human relations, but I remember little about what I learned except that I'm fascinated by how people communicate with each other and which barriers stand in our way as we try to relate to one another. We all have our shit: some of us are shy, some of us are pessimists, some of us struggle with nonverbal cues and some of us struggle with empathy. I thought this article talking about the kindness gene was interesting -- the researchers had one person describe something sad to another and the observers watched with the sound off, then rated the kindness of the listener:

People in the study were tested beforehand and found to have GG, AG or AA genotypes for the rs53576 DNA sequence of the oxytocin receptor (OXTR) gene.

People who have two copies of the G allele are generally judged as more empathetic, trusting and loving.

Those with AG or AA genotypes tend to say they feel less positive overall, and feel less parental sensitivity. Previous research has shown they also may have a higher risk of autism.

Another study said there's a reason we can spot kindness in each other -- those who are more kind are better equipped to help the group survive:

From a scientific perspective, Fowler added, these findings suggest the fascinating possibility that the process of contagion may have contributed to the evolution of cooperation: Groups with altruists in them will be more altruistic as a whole and more likely to survive than selfish groups.

The combination of these studies left me thinking about kindness and behavior. The second study basically said any kind of behavior can be contagious -- I extrapolated that to be that moods rub off. We behave like those with whom we hang, which then reminded me of the starling murmurations video. 

I'm going to attempt to emit kindness today and see where that takes me.