Avelient BioPharm Blog

Are your Political Views Biologically Programmed?

I was sitting down for a drink the other day with a longtime friend when the topic of politics came up for discussion.  Growing up in Massachusetts, I rarely encountered somebody of a conservative mindset, let alone someone who would admit to being so in such a heavily democratic state, so I had always assumed she was a democrat.  Much to my surprise, she wasn’t, and staunchly so.  She had grown up in the same type of environment I had, and she had been exposed to the same propaganda, and I thought had pretty much the same views that I had when it came to how an ideal world should work.

I think the surprise must have registered pretty immediately on my face, because she seemed almost apologetic after that; not apologetic for her views as a republican, but for the shock she had just imparted on me. For me it was just more of a surprise that my assumption was incorrect.

I remember the first time I really cared about politics was the election of 1984, a landslide victory of Regan against Mondale.  I was around 10 years old at the time and remember arguing with my grandparents, whom I had discovered had voted republican, about why they were wrong to have voted the way they did.  I didn’t understand anything about politics and only had a vague understanding of the classic Democratic platform vs. the classic Republican platform, but I remember being so passionate that I actually tried to convince them that what they were doing was bad for the country.  Seriously?  What did I know?

The fact is, that response may have been pre-programmed in me, according to a new study I just read about in the Boston Globe.  The article, by Eve LaPlante and published on November 2nd, argues that our reactions to politics may be more related to how we feel in our gut about an issue more than our rationalization of it.  This theory and the associated study, coauthored by several political scientists driving an emerging field called “political physiology,” challenges the notion that poticial views are nurtured rather than ingrained in our psyche based on our environment.  The hypothesis is that when we debate on issues, we’re asserting our individuality rather than trying to make a political point.

The scientists in the study say that people with different political views perceive the world differently:

Conservatives are more easily startled by threats, and when performing a habitual task they have more difficulty switching to a new response. Liberals, on the other hand, react less vigorously to threatening stimuli, and in performing a habitual task they are quicker to provide a new response.(1)

This theory that there could be some genetic basis to political views was first borne out in a study done with identical and fraternal twins at Rice University, published in 2005 in the American Political Science Review.  In their examination of thousands of sets of volunteers, identical twins were far more likely to share political views than their fraternal counterparts.  The conclusion was that 40-50% of political and social attitudes are heritable, and therefore significantly influenced by some genetic component.

The research team, using the Rice University study as a basis for their hypothesis, conducted experiments using images and sounds to evoke responses from their subjects and used their reaction as a marker for their political disposition.  The study found that test subjects’ responses to these stimuli, specifically what they felt threatened by, ended up being reliable predictors of their conservative or liberal values.

One of the most frustrating things as a liberal or as a conservative is not being able to understand why anyone would not think the same way you do.  Doubly frustrating is the inability to understand the opposing person’s thought process, and why they may choose a path that to you is so obviously wrong.  Perhaps this study shows us that our tendency towards one end of the spectrum or another is not only shaped by our experiences, but how we’re wired to perceive those experiences through time.

My friend did surprise me with her revelation that day, but I never felt like I would hold it against her.  I know many conservatives and liberals, and think no less of them if their views differ from mine.  Our forefathers wrote the Constitution well aware of the diversity of opinions that shape who we are, and seemed to understand that we could find strength in our diversity.  Though political rhetoric sometimes rules Washington, I am hopeful that as we understand what drives our political instinct we can more harmoniously determine a path for this country that will deliver us through the next 219 years.

What do you think?

(1) “Born to party“, Boston.com, Eve LaPlante, November 22nd, 2008, pg2.