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Liberals may owe their political outlook partly to their genetic make-up, according to new research from the University of California, San Diego, and Harvard University. Ideology is affected not just by social factors, but also by a dopamine receptor gene called DRD4. The study’s authors say this is the first research to identify a specific gene that predisposes people to certain political views.

Appearing in the latest edition of The Journal of Politics published by Cambridge University Press, the research focused on 2,000 subjects from The National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health. By matching genetic information with maps of the subjects’ social networks, the researchers were able to show that people with a specific variant of the DRD4 gene were more likely to be liberal as adults, but only if they had an active social life in adolescence.

Dopamine is a neurotransmitter affecting brain processes that control movement, emotional response, and ability to experience pleasure and pain. Previous research has identified a connection between a variant of this gene and novelty-seeking behavior, and this behavior has previously been associated with personality traits related to political liberalism.

Lead researcher James H. Fowler of UC San Diego and his colleagues hypothesized that people with the novelty-seeking gene variant would be more interested in learning about their friends’ points of view. As a consequence, people with this genetic predisposition who have a greater-than-average number of friends would be exposed to a wider variety of social norms and lifestyles, which might make them more liberal than average. They reported that “it is the crucial interaction of two factors – the genetic predisposition and the environmental condition of having many friends in adolescence – that is associated with being more liberal.” The research team also showed that this held true independent of ethnicity, culture, sex or age.

Fowler concludes that the social and institutional environment cannot entirely explain a person’s political attitudes and beliefs and that the role of genes must be taken into account. “These findings suggest that political affiliation is not based solely on the kind of social environment people experience,” said Fowler, professor of political science and medical genetics at UC San Diego.

“It is our hope that more scholars will begin to explore the potential interaction of biology and environment,” he said. “The way forward is to look for replication in different populations and age groups.”

The first author on the study is Jaime Settle, doctoral student in political science at UC San Diego. Settle’s and Fowler’s coauthors are Christopher Dawes, also of UC San Diego, and Nicholas Christakis, Harvard.

This research was supported by the National Institute on Aging and the National Science Foundation.

"human perfectibility at last! who could possibly oppose me? don't you understand I'm doing this to save the human race! It is our Destiny! I Vill REMAKE us ALL, each and ev'ery van.
Stop me? Ha! You think I am an idiot? You can not stop me, the virus has been released for weeks... an my foolish foolish hero, you can not even kill me, for this body you see before you is but a telepresence apparatus. Now... good day to you."
With that the lab went silent, the waldo stood slumped, motionless, it's strings cut.
- Dr. Pathos in The Least Among Us

justdrew wrote:eventually it'll be possible to engineer a retro-virus that will perform a germ-line modification to all human genomes that will cause just the right mutations to make us all be highly predisposed to being excellent nice trustworthy authority questioning individuals. uh... mwah ha ha ha?

Montag wrote:

justdrew wrote:eventually it'll be possible to engineer a retro-virus that will perform a germ-line modification to all human genomes that will cause just the right mutations to make us all be highly predisposed to being excellent nice trustworthy authority questioning individuals. uh... mwah ha ha ha?

You've seen Gattaca! Haha...

Lead researcher James H. Fowler of UC San Diego and his colleagues hypothesized that people with the novelty-seeking gene variant would be more interested in learning about their friends’ points of view. As a consequence, people with this genetic predisposition who have a greater-than-average number of friends would be exposed to a wider variety of social norms and lifestyles, which might make them more liberal than average. They reported that “it is the crucial interaction of two factors – the genetic predisposition and the environmental condition of having many friends in adolescence – that is associated with being more liberal.” The research team also showed that this held true independent of ethnicity, culture, sex or age.

Nordic wrote:

Lead researcher James H. Fowler of UC San Diego and his colleagues hypothesized that people with the novelty-seeking gene variant would be more interested in learning about their friends’ points of view. As a consequence, people with this genetic predisposition who have a greater-than-average number of friends would be exposed to a wider variety of social norms and lifestyles, which might make them more liberal than average. They reported that “it is the crucial interaction of two factors – the genetic predisposition and the environmental condition of having many friends in adolescence – that is associated with being more liberal.” The research team also showed that this held true independent of ethnicity, culture, sex or age.

C'mon, this sounds ridiculous. Complete crap IMO.

Liberals may owe their political outlook partly to their genetic make-up, according to new research from the University of California, San Diego, and Harvard University.

justdrew wrote:There are a number of (well, at least one) known genetic mutations ('diseases') that cause characteristic personality traits. If the mechanism of the that mutations action were determined and understood it could be possible to engineer mutation to achieve specific goals.

Nordic wrote:

justdrew wrote:There are a number of (well, at least one) known genetic mutations ('diseases') that cause characteristic personality traits. If the mechanism of the that mutations action were determined and understood it could be possible to engineer mutation to achieve specific goals.

Well sure. But this sure as hell doesn't sound like one of those. This sounds like the scientific equivalent of "beer talk".