“Genes of Happiness and Well Being” in the Context of Search Activity Concept

Abstract

The goal of this article is to d iscuss that the long allele of the serotonin transporter gene that w as consid ered in some publications to be a gene of "happiness" and "w ell-being" is actually a gene that is responsible for the pred isposition to the search activity that by itself contains positive emotional feelings. This statement is confirmed by the comparison of the results of d ifferent investigations and helps to solve many contrad ictions in psychobiology of emotional sensitivity, fear, d epression, suicid e attempts, of relationships betw een stressful cond itions and w ell-being. Key w ord s: Consciousness; Gene of happiness; Search activity concept GEN ETIC PRED ISPOSITION TO WELL-BEIN GAn interest to the reasons of happiness and to the d istribution of the feeling of happiness is very strong in hu m an society. Diener (1996) fou nd in his investigation that m ost p eop le report a p ositive level of subjective w ell-being and say that they are satisfied w ith m arriage, w ork and leisure. This statement seem s to be overoptimistic but author m ay be correct proposing that such p ositive attitud e to the life help s to resist negative events and to cope w ith them. Positive self point may m otivate hum an's sociability, d rive free exploration and creativity. Thus it m ay be a feed back betw een w ell-being and the active position in hu man life.In the recent years appeared a new branch of hu man p sychobiology: a genetic app roach to w ell-being and happiness. In a comp rehensive investigation (Lykken & Tellegen, 1996) happ iness (subjective well-being) w as measured on a birth-record -based sample of several thou sand m id d le-aged tw ins using the Well-Being scale of Multid imensional Personality Questionnaire. Socioeconomic status, ed ucational attainment, family income, m arital statu s, an ind icant of religious com mitment could not account for more than a bout 3% of the variance in well-being. H owever, from 44% to 52% of the variance in well-being were associated w ith genetic variation. When tw ins have been retested after few years, authors found that the heritability of the stable component of subjective w ell-being approaches 80%.

Associations Among Internet Addiction, Genetic Polymorphisms, Family Functioning, and Psychopathological Risk: Cross-Sectional Exploratory Study

“…Besides the role played by dopamine, it has been evidenced that serotonin may also be implicated in IA. Serotonin (5-HT) plays an important role in feelings of well-being, happiness, anxiety, stress susceptibility [ 37 ], and depression [ 38 ]. The serotonin-transporter-linked polymorphic region (5-HTTLPR) is crucial for the fine regulation of 5-HT [ 39 ].…”

Lucid dreams: their advantage and disadvantage in the frame of search activity concept

“…In such a situation, the dreamer is sometimes unable to jump over the traumatic dream images that cause a feeling of being a victim, and to turn to another images, and this feeling suppresses the SA in the dream. The ability to create new imaginative stories in dreams that can restore SA may be restricted also due to the low right hemisphere functional activity (Rotenberg, 1995 ). The behavior in dream in such cases becomes by itself frustrating and increases feeling of helplessness instead of overcoming it.…”

Placebo Effect: A New Approach to Explanation of its Psychophysiological Mechanisms

“…Placebo responses in social anxiety disorders were accompanied by attenuated amygdala activity but only in subjects that are homozygous for long allele (L) of the serotonin transporter gene (that determines search activity, Rotenberg, 2013). Anxiety-relieving placebo response in healthy subjects decrease the activity in amygdala, insula, dorsal ACC (emotionally responding brain areas) and increase activity in subgenual anterior cingulated cortex and ventral striatum (Schedlowski et al, 2015).…”

“…DA system displays a positive reinforcement of chaotic search (see Rotenberg, 2011), and positive expectations help to reduce pain not only via a reduction of destructive negative emotions but also via stimulation of the active behavior and excitement related to this behavior. Placebo response is a reaction to signals that an unpleasant state is enabled by the belief and constructive feelings of the ability to cope with problems and to control the situation (Rotenberg, 2013).…”