Do selfish genes mean selfish people?
Not necessarily. Describing genes as selfish is an analogy that has nothing to do with our folk notion of selfishness. Adaptations evolve via the differential reproduction of alleles (different versions of the same gene). This means that one version of a gene (allele A) at a particular locus causes organisms bearing that version to have a different phenotype (body structure) than organisms bearing a different version of the gene (allele B) at the same locus. If organisms with phenotype A produce more offspring than those with phenotype B, allele A will increase in frequency in the population. Allele A is said to have ‘out-competed’ allele B. Thus, allele A is a ‘selfish gene’–it increased its frequency at the expense of allele B. But, every adaptation in the body evolved in this manner! That means that the genes coding for your hair are just as ‘selfish’ as the genes coding for your fingernails, which are just as ‘selfish’ as the genes coding for your kneecaps! The same goes for psych
