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One of the most common questions I have been fielding recently in my Culture Trumps Everything presentation is, “What about individual differences?” If culture explains so much of human behavior, what creates the differences we see between people?
Let’s start with the data: In the last 200,000 years that modern humans have walked on the earth, there have been about 108 billion people who have lived. Today there are about 7.4 billion people alive. All of us, the 108 billion people who have ever lived, including the 7.4 billion people alive today are more than 99.9% genetically the same. We happen to share 98.7% of our genes with Chimpanzees and Bonobos, and 95.5% of our genes with African Great Apes. The point is that a very small percentage change in genetics yields significant biological, observable differences.
What is difficult for many to understand is the power of culture, experience and opportunity. We tend to focus on biological differences between that are static, such as gender or eye color – these don’t change. Most will then infer that other differences must have the same biological, genetic origin. But we know that, for example, maximum adult height is due in part to genetics and in part to the nutritional experience and opportunities the specific adult had as a child. The genes you receive from you mother and father regarding your ultimate height offer a range of height possibilities. Your ultimate height is in large part due to how you were nourished.
So, for example, my father is 6’2” tall; my mother is 5’7” tall. One could reasonably assume that because they are both taller than average for their gender, statistically, my height should have ended up somewhere between the two. This concept is referred to as regression toward the mean. However, I am actually 6’5” tall – even further beyond average height. Why? This is not magic nor divine intervention. It is because I was force fed as a child by any adult who could put food in my mouth – I’ll spare you the details. It was the Latino culture during the period of time that I was a child, and in my home in particular, it was a commonly held belief that a chunky child is a healthy child (hence, the force feeding). It was this type of eating that ultimately allowed me to grow to the top of my biological range – moving me well beyond what is statistically average height rather than returning to the mean as would have been predicted. The experience I had with both my parents and grandparents living at home to ensure they could impose their will and eating regimen on me as a child, and the opportunities I had to eat nutritious food, rather than food with low nutrients or no food at all, is ultimately what made me as tall as I am. Similarly, the vast majority of differences we see between different people come from our experience and opportunities. Genetics offers us a range of potentials. It is our experience and opportunities which determine our ultimate outcomes.
Keep cultivating your culture!