Friendly to the Extreme: Kids and Adults With Williams Syndrome (Link)

XiXiDu

Williams Syndrome is a rare genetic condition [...].

"Little babies will come up to you, they will stare into your face, and it will be hard to actually disengage from that stare," explained Helen Tager-Flusberg whose lab at Boston University studies the social behavior of children with Williams. "When they're four or five...whether they know you or not, within about five minutes you're their new best friend."

One fascinating study by researchers in Europe found that children with Williams show no racial bias whatsoever. While children, even babies, prefer people of their own race, the neural pathway that imprints for race bias is somehow lacking in children with Williams.

Williams Syndrome is caused by the deletion of roughly 25 genes on chromosome 7. The deletion can occur randomly during the production of a sperm or egg cell. Though there are 20,000 to 25,000 genes in the human genome, even the loss of just 25 genes can have profound effects on a person's physical, behavioral and cognitive make-up.

[...]

In one experiment to test empathy, the adult experimenter bangs her knee on a table and expresses a great deal of pain. In many runs the lab recorded, the typically-developing child just watched and expressed no empathy or concern. But children with Williams often went right over to the experimenter to rub her knee and ask, "What's wrong?"

[...]

What do most children with Williams Syndrome do when presented with the creepy spider? They pet it.

Link: abcnews.go.com/Health/friendly-extreme-meet-kids-adults-williams-syndrome/

Williams Syndrome is a rare genetic condition [...].

"Little babies will come up to you, they will stare into your face, and it will be hard to actually disengage from that stare," explained Helen Tager-Flusberg whose lab at Boston University studies the social behavior of children with Williams. "When they're four or five...whether they know you or not, within about five minutes you're their new best friend."

One fascinating study by researchers in Europe found that children with Williams show no racial bias whatsoever. While children, even babies, prefer people of their own race, the neural pathway that imprints for race bias is somehow lacking in children with Williams.

Williams Syndrome is caused by the deletion of roughly 25 genes on chromosome 7. The deletion can occur randomly during the production of a sperm or egg cell. Though there are 20,000 to 25,000 genes in the human genome, even the loss of just 25 genes can have profound effects on a person's physical, behavioral and cognitive make-up.

[...]

In one experiment to test empathy, the adult experimenter bangs her knee on a table and expresses a great deal of pain. In many runs the lab recorded, the typically-developing child just watched and expressed no empathy or concern. But children with Williams often went right over to the experimenter to rub her knee and ask, "What's wrong?"

[...]

What do most children with Williams Syndrome do when presented with the creepy spider? They pet it.

Link: abcnews.go.com/Health/friendly-extreme-meet-kids-adults-williams-syndrome/

Fascinating, thanks for the link.

Any particular link to rationality?

Williams Syndrome (WS) was discussed a while back on LW in the context of human enhancement.

I was fascinated to learn about WS. It's like the opposite of autism (or at least autistic savantism): good at social engagement, and bad at analytical thought.

I don't know if this, like autism, has varying degrees, but if it does, I've known at least one person far out on the scale.

2XiXiDu15y

Not really, but I thought it hints at some important insights and problems. What if it turns out that certain races are more kind than others, how would such knowledge influence CEV? If there are strong genetic factors strongly determining such important human values as altruism and general warmth, the opposite could be the case as well. This all leads to the question, what does it mean to be human? There might be some incoherence if the psychological unity of humans does depend on as little as 25 genes. Therefore CEV could turn out to cause a minority of humans to suffer or be discriminated due to their extreme psychological otherness, because it ultimately has a bearing on their interpretation of ethical questions. [...] If important human values are as strongly determined by genetic factors as shown by people with Williams Syndrome, then knowing more won't make the volition of different people with different genetic makeups converge.

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Friendly to the Extreme: Kids and Adults With Williams Syndrome (Link)

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Friendly to the Extreme: Kids and Adults With Williams Syndrome (Link)

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