In heterozygotic inheritance (like sickle cell trait providing malaria resistance), schizotypy genes are maintained in populations because the mild version provides adaptiveness through cultural roles like shamanism, while the homozygotic version (full-blown schizophrenia) is costly; thus there has been selection for schizotypy genes, not schizophrenia genes.

causalpending

Speaker

Robert Sapolsky

Evidence Quote

There has not been selection for genes pertinent to schizophrenia; there has been selection for milder versions of those genes with schizotypy.

Source

31. Religious Belief by Robert SapolskyStanford School of Humanities and Sciences
Created: 8/12/2026, 5:59:56 PM

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