#1066 - Dr Kathryn Paige Harden - The Genetics of Evil: Are People Born Bad?
March 2, 2026
AI Summary
5 min read🎙️ The Expert & The Context
- The Voices: Interview between host Chris Williamson (podcaster, Modern Wisdom) and guest Paige Harden (PhD behavioral geneticist).
- The Credibility: Paige Harden, PhD in psychology, professor at University of Texas Austin, director of labs studying behavioral genetics. Author of The Genetic Lottery and new book Original Sin. Led 4M-person GWAS on risk-taking genes across behaviors like ADHD, early sex, substance use
(approx 15:00).
🔭 The Executive Hook
- The Breakthrough: Genes underlying risk-taking and antisocial behavior (e.g., impulsivity, rule-breaking) are highly heritable (~80% for childhood antisocial traits with callous-unemotional features), rivaling schizophrenia, revealed via massive GWAS of 4M genomes
(approx 20:00). - The Impact: Shifts blame from "free choice" to genetic lottery, urging society to prioritize accountability over retribution—potentially reducing incarceration cycles, fostering compassion without excusing harm, and rethinking punishment for longevity of social bonds.
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What you'll learn
- 1 (00:00) **🎙️ Introduction: Kathryn Paige Harden**
- 2 (05:28) **4-Million-Person Study on Risk-Taking Genes**
- 3 (09:20) **Origins of Research Interest in Risk-Taking**
- 4 (13:47) **Evolutionary Trade-Offs: Risk-Taking and Success**
- 5 (22:39) **Psychedelics, Brain Development, and Genetic Risks**
- 6 (25:02) **Free Will, Accountability, and Punishment**
- 7 (31:02) **Heritability of Antisocial Behavior**
+ Full timestamped outline available in the app
Show Notes
Dr. Kathryn Paige Harden is a psychologist and behavioural geneticist, Professor of Psychology at the University of Texas at Austin and an author.
Are people born evil, or does evil emerge from circumstance? While we tend to blame genetics for humanity’s darkest behaviors, science and psychology suggest a far more complicated picture. If biology, environment, and experience all shape behavior, how should society judge, or punish, those who may never have had full control over who they became?
Expect to learn what Kathryn learned from her first 4 million-person study, what the evolutionary roots of aggression, dominance, and impulsivity are, if there is a heritability of antisocial behaviour, why punishment is a useful tool for responding to harm, what Kathryn makes of the looksmaxxing movement, and much more…
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Check out Kathryn's book: https://tinyurl.com/msd53w6s
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#712 - Dr Jordan Peterson - How To Destroy Your Negative Beliefs: https://tinyurl.com/2rtz7avf
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