Genetic Influences on Political Ideologies: Twin Analyses of 19 Measures of Political Ideologies from Five Democracies and Genome-Wide Findings from Three Populations

Abstract

Almost forty years ago, evidence from large studies of adult twins and their relatives suggested that between 30-60% of the variance in social and political attitudes could be explained by genetic influences. However, these findings have not been widely accepted or incorporated into the dominant paradigms that explain the etiology of political ideology. This has been attributed in part to measurement and sample limitations, as well the relative absence of molecular genetic studies. Here we present results from original analyses of a combined sample of over 12,000 twins pairs, ascertained from nine different studies conducted in five democracies, sampled over the course of four decades. We provide evidence that genetic factors play a role in the formation of political ideology, regardless of how ideology is measured, the era, or the population sampled. The only exception is a question that explicitly uses the phrase “Left-Right”. We then present results from one of the first genome-wide association studies on political ideology using data from three samples: a 1990 Australian sample involving 6,894 individuals from 3,516 families; a 2008 Australian sample of 1,160 related individuals from 635 families and a 2010 Swedish sample involving 3,334 individuals from 2,607 families. No polymorphisms reached genome-wide significance in the meta-analysis. The combined evidence suggests that political ideology constitutes a fundamental aspect of one’s genetically informed psychological disposition, but as Fisher proposed long ago, genetic influences on complex traits will be composed of thousands of markers of very small effects and it will require extremely large samples to have enough power in order to identify specific polymorphisms related to complex social traits.

The Genetic and Environmental Foundations of Political, Psychological, Social, and Economic Behaviors: A Panel Study of Twins and Families

“…Regarding heritability estimates, undoubtedly the most widely explored political trait is the heritability of ideology (see Hatemi et al, 2014). Reviewing the MZ/DZ co-twin correlations (see Table 3), our sample provides very similar heritability estimates to those identified in the extant literature.…”

“…The first was a National Science Foundation study conducted on US twins from the Minnesota twin registry (0721378, PIs : Hibbing, Alford, Funk, Hatemi, and Smith). These data are publically available (www.unl.edu/polphyslab) and have been widely used to explore differences in political attitudes and behaviors (e.g., see Fazekas & Littvay, 2012;Hatemi et al, 2014;Lewis & Bates, 2013;Ludeke & Krueger, 2013;Smith et al, 2012). Two additional 'politics and genetics' studies conducted in Denmark (Klemmensen et al, 2012) and Sweden (Oskarsson et al, 2012) have provided complementary results (see Hatemi, 2012).…”

“…With a handful of exceptions (see Benjamin et al, 2012;Deppe et al, 2013;Hatemi et al, 2011bHatemi et al, , 2014, most studies did not attempt to identify the specific genetic variants and mechanisms underlying the psychological pathways by which political and economic preferences and behaviors are formed and maintained. In comparison to the centuries of work exploring a strictly social model, such work is but a 'drop in the bucket' .…”

Modeling Political Belief and Its Propagation, with Malaysia as a Driving Context

“…As can be seen in the table, there were more proType compared to oppType in the general population, with an approximate ratio of 60 to 40 34 . The differences between proType and bnType were namely where stubbornness and emotion were concerned, factors that we might loosely here attribute to political genes (Hatemi, 2012). In fact, aside from differences due to background (Hing & Ong, 1987: p. 137 for example), BN-type and PR-type individuals, as with liberals and conservatives in American politics (Amodio et al, 2007), can sometimes be recognized based on differences in outlook or thinking style 35 , with the opposition-type individuals often perceived as being more likely to be more This figure more or less reflects the percentage of the general population who was agreeable with the direction of the country towards the end of 2012, according to the survey report "National Public Opinion Survey October 2012; Top Issues of Concern", Merdeka Center.…”

Corporantia: Is moral consciousness above individual brains/robots?

“…It turns out that certain biological differences among humans predispose us to different values which, in turn, shape our beliefs even before we realize it. For example, experiments reveal that 40% of variation in political ideology is explained by genetics [5], yet over 70% of us would reject the most qualified candidate for a scholarship if the candidate happened to affiliate with the political party that opposes our own [6]. The injustice and inefficiency measured in the scholarship experiment was not conscious; participants did not realize that their judgements had anything to do with politics.…”