America loves a risk-taker, most of the time. By Ben Marino Psychologists, as we know, are fond of classifying people. For philobats, a life lived fully is a life lived on a razor's edge.
Risk is all.
For the most part, biologists and behavioral psychologists tend to look kindly on risk-taking, and that's because, in historical terms, it has given the species an evolutionary advantage. Someone always had to take on the wild and bring home the bacon. Taking risks meant upping one's chances of survival. He believes genetics and biochemistry both have roles to play. On the basis of studies involving identical twins, he has concluded that some people have a genetic predisposition toward high-risk activities.