Political participation is partially rooted in genetic i...(ar genes influence social behavior but i...)

Date:7/1/2008

ar genes influence social behavior, but it has not been widely appreciated that social behavior plays an important role in voting and other forms of political behavior. In particular, the 5HTT gene appears to play an important role in the well-known association between voting and going to church, suggesting that it is the combination of social activity and genes that helps to shape political behavior. According to Fowler, "We are not robots the genes just seem to make it more likely that some of us will respond to our social lives by getting involved in politics." Fowler also cautioned that there is no such thing as a 'voter gene': "That idea is just silly. Complex social behaviors are the result of hundreds of genes interacting with hundreds of social factors these results are really just the tip of the iceberg."

The authors point out that while political scientists have typically not focused on the role of genetic and biological factors in political behavior, the present work points to a significant role for genes and, therefore, a next step in research is to determine why genes matter so much. They conclude, "These studies provide the first step needed to excite the imaginations of a discipline not used to thinking about the role of biology in human behavior."

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Contact: Barry Jagoda bjagoda@ucsd.edu 858-534-8567 University of California - San Diego Source:Eurekalert

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