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Post by dchang on May 3, 2016 6:11:10 GMT
In the article "Political Orientations are correlated with Brain Structure in Young Adults", the authors propose that a person's brain structure could highly affect his or her political stance (ranging from strongly liberal to strongly conservative). It found that great liberalism is associated with increased gray matter volume in the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), and greater conservatism is associated with increased volume of the right amygdala. Because one's political orientation could be determined simply by brain structure, (according to the article), this made me think that our opinions may in fact be highly related to our genes and not just brain structure. There is also a specific term for this concept called Genopolitics, which is the study of the genetic basis of political behavior and attitude. This is an article that discusses the significance of genes in politics: www.bbc.com/future/story/20121204-is-politics-really-in-our-genes. The article provides evidence such as twin studies to argue for a fact that political orientation is heavily dependent on genetics. For example it says that identical twins share a more similar political orientation than fraternal twins. So here are a few questions I want you to think about: Do you think that political orientation is more environment based or genetic based? Why do you think that generally more conservative people have a bigger amygdala? Does this mean we are, in a way, genetically predisposed to a specific way of thinking? |
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Post by lilyzhuo on May 3, 2016 20:29:51 GMT
In my Poli Sci 40 class today, my professor actually mentioned how people tend to (eventually) vote for the same party as their parents, if their parents consistently voted for a party while the child was growing up I think. This could be due to several factors which boil down to environment versus genetics. If people really do vote the same as their parents, it is perhaps because they are genetically predisposed to it, as they inherited these genes from their parents. However, as the social issues and economics aspects of political party stances are highly influenced by what we are told when we're young and what we observe about the world (especially in regards to economics), it seems that political orientation could be even more influenced by environment than genetics. However, these two factors are definitely not mutually exclusive. The amygdala is involved in a number of functions, including fear, emotion/emotional learning, and memory. It seems almost absurd, however, to suggest that more conservative people would have a greater sense of fear, emotion, and capacity for memory, due to having a larger amygdala, as both sides of the spectrum (conservatism and liberalism) do highly deal in emotion/passion in regards to certain topics.
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Post by elipshutz on May 3, 2016 20:42:06 GMT
I think that political orientation is extremely environmental based. Being 19, this upcoming election is the first one I will be able to vote in. However, politics has always been a discussion among peers no matter what age. I remember talking about presidential candidates with my class mates as early as the second grade. Our talks at these age were never intelligent though. Instead we would just copy what we heard our parents saying at home. I did not fully understand politics at that age (I do not at this age either), but I had a clear grasp on who my parents wanted me to win. I assumed that they were making the right decision and did not question their reasons for doing so. In this sense my home environment largely impacted who I wanted to win the election. I think there is a common pattern of children sticking to their parents political beliefs, and not straying from what has been enforced in their home atmosphere. That being said people are given the opportunities to research politics themselves and many choose to do so. However, I still think our environment plays a large part into determining what people consider major issues. Through some people finding certain issues more important than others, that can influence who they stand behind.
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Post by vannahyazon on May 4, 2016 6:41:06 GMT
First of all, genopolitics, wow that's really cool, like wth soo many names for things. Now that that's out of my system, like i said in another thread, I actually am more on the side that environment is a bigger part in our political orientations because if we as individuals don't try to gain empirical knowledge about politics and affiliations in general, we are most likely going to side with the political affiliation of our parents (like lilyzhuo & elipshutz have said) or those closest to us because we trust and value their opinions. But, genetically-based affiliations i feel do still play a part because our genes and DNA do code for ourselves. Ok, so the amygdala is the little almond of fear and if it is bigger in conservatives then they must have more fear, and i think its the social fear of breaking from old moral teachings. I think we are genetically predisposed even a little bit, but we can change that. |
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bdang
New Member
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Post by bdang on May 5, 2016 16:54:22 GMT
I think that political orientation is more environment based. I agree with what the past posts have been saying about the home environment because I fell into category. Not having known anything about politics, young me would simply say "well my parents are voting for [...] so I guess I would too." But I also see more evidence for environmental influence because I have developed slightly different political views than my parents. On the other hand, I can see how that can also be argued as support for a biological basis of political orientation: since I do not have the same views as my home environment, the difference can only be explained through nature.
With this, another question comes to mind. Is political orientation more directly linked to genes or do our genes predispose us to a certain personality type which therefore reflects our political inclination (ie. conservative vs risk-taker)?
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Post by dchang on Jun 13, 2016 7:29:33 GMT
I agree with what most of you are saying. I also believe that even though it might be the case that we are slightly genetically predisposed for our political orientation, however, it is something that is easily changable and modifiable by the environment. Because our environment shapes so many of our values and beliefs it is more likely that we believe in values that we grew up and not believe in values that were supposedly determined by "fate".
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