The Genetic Basis of Political Sophistication

Arceneaux, Kevin; Johnson, Martine; Maes, Hermine H.

doi:10.1375/twin.15.1.34

Cited by 52 publications

(31 citation statements)

References 27 publications

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“…We rely on the data from Tests 1–2. In accordance with past research, we use education as our measure of political sophistication (Aarøe and Jensen 2015; Arceneaux, Johnson and Maes 2012; Hetherington 2001; Sniderman, Brody and Tetlock 1991). As summarized by Sniderman, Brody and Tetlock (1991, 21), education is ‘well measured’, ‘covaries with political awareness and information’ and constitutes the ‘the handiest proxy’ for measuring political sophistication.…”

Section: Test 3 Recollection and Persuasion In The Two-step Flow Acrmentioning

confidence: 99%

Cognitive Biases and Communication Strength in Social Networks: The Case of Episodic Frames

Aarøe

Petersen

2018

Brit. J. Polit. Sci.

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Media stories often reach citizens via a two-step process, transmitted to them indirectly via their social networks. Why are some media stories strongly transmitted and impact opinions powerfully in this two-step flow while others quickly perish? Integrating classical research on the two-step flow of political communication and novel theories from cognitive psychology, this article outlines a model for understanding the strength of political frames in the two-step flow. It argues that frames that resonate with cognitive biases (that is, deep-seated psychological decision rules) will be transmitted more and have a stronger influence on opinion when citizens recollect media frames in their social networks. Focusing on the case of episodic and thematic frames, the study tests this model. It introduces a novel research design: implementing the children’s game ‘Telephone’ in consecutive experimental online surveys fielded to nationally representative samples. This design helps gauge the reliability of transmission and the degree of persuasiveness in actual chains of transmission.

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Section: Test 3 Recollection and Persuasion In The Two-step Flow Acrmentioning

confidence: 99%

Cognitive Biases and Communication Strength in Social Networks: The Case of Episodic Frames

Aarøe

Petersen

2018

Brit. J. Polit. Sci.

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“…But such studies did not explore potential differences between men and women (Arceneaux, Johnson and Maes 2012;Littvay, Weith and Dawes 2012).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Theorizing Sex Differences in Political Knowledge: Insights from a Twin Study

2014

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There is no theory that currently explains the gender gap in the psychological orientation to politics. This paper is an attempt to build theory and we make use of an empirical test to illustrate a pattern in the gender gap in political knowledge literature. We test for the source of variance in political knowledge between men and women using an ACE twin design. We find that the amount of the variance in political knowledge explained by the environment is the same for men and women, but there is a difference in the amount of variance explained by additive genetic effects. In fact, the additional variance in political knowledge among women is almost entirely driven by additive genetic effects. We discuss the implications of this finding in light of the literature on the "gender gap" in political knowledge and our own theoretical framework. We recommend implementing different measures of political knowledge as well as more nuanced theorizing to guide gender and politics research.

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“…Medland and Hatemi () provide a detailed description of the Cholesky model geared toward a political science audience. The Cholesky decomposition has also been utilized in several recently published political science studies (Arceneaux, Johnson, and Maes ; Fazekas and Littvay ; Hatemi, Hibbing, et al. ; Klemmensen et al.…”

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confidence: 99%

The Relationship between Genes, Psychological Traits, and Political Participation

Dawes

Cesarini

Fowler

et al. 2014

American J Political Sci

128

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Recent research demonstrates that a wide range of political attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors can be explained in part by genetic variation. However, these studies have not yet identified the mechanisms that generate such a relationship. Some scholars have speculated that psychological traits mediate the relationship between genes and political participation, but so far there have been no empirical tests. Here we focus on the role of three psychological traits that are believed to influence political participation: cognitive ability, personal control, and extraversion. Utilizing a unique sample of more than 2,000 Swedish twin pairs, we show that a common genetic factor can explain most of the relationship between these psychological traits and acts of political participation as well as predispositions related to participation. While our analysis is not a definitive test, our results suggest an upper bound for a proposed mediation relationship between genes, psychological traits, and political participation.

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The Genetic Basis of Political Sophistication

Cited by 52 publications

References 27 publications

Cognitive Biases and Communication Strength in Social Networks: The Case of Episodic Frames

Cognitive Biases and Communication Strength in Social Networks: The Case of Episodic Frames

Theorizing Sex Differences in Political Knowledge: Insights from a Twin Study

The Relationship between Genes, Psychological Traits, and Political Participation

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