Some scientists claim to have discovered the “liberal gene.” Of course you and I know that this is one of the stupidest thing you’ll ever read but if we were to take them at their word the first thing I think is that hey there must be a cure then. We just need to monkey around with their genes a little bit.
NBC San Diego reports:
Researchers have determined that genetics could matter when it comes to some adults’ political leanings.
According to scientists at UC San Diego and Harvard University, “ideology is affected not just by social factors, but also by a dopamine receptor gene called DRD4.” That and how many friends you had during high school.
The study was led by UCSD’s James Fowler and focused on 2,000 subjects from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health. Scientists matched the subjects’ genetic information with “maps” of their social networks. According to researchers, they determined that people “with a specific variant of the DRD4 gene were more likely to be liberal as adults.” However, the, subjects were only more likely to have leanings to the left if they were also socially active during adolescence.
How soon until liberal makes it illegal to abort any babies in the womb with an abundance of DRD4?
I love how they say people with lots of friends in high school are liberal, leaving the conservative end of the spectrum to be peopled by societal friendless misfits. This kind of thing is just such pseudo science that only idiots would believe this. But maybe I just don’t have enough DRD4 to understand it.
October 28, 2010 at 3:45 am
Can you please add my new blog to your links?
October 28, 2010 at 4:25 am
Sure sign of bad pop science: when they find a correlation between X genetic factor, Y social factor and Z belief, they say something about how any of them are affecting the rest.
Coralation.
Association.
"We found that adult liberals who had a lot of friends in high school tend to also have this genetic variation."
But assuming the end result is ideology, or that having lots of friends is not affected by the genetic quirk… good sign of bad science.
I can think of several possible explanations off the top of my head– the quirk could be associated with characteristics which make you more likely to value large numbers of friends, large groups of high school kids tend to cause folks to form a world view that is liberal, high school kids now are liberal and folks with that quirk tend not to change between high school and now….
But, hey, that wouldn't get the headlines!
(imagine the nasty version of this– "liberals are genetic freaks!" or some garbage.)
October 28, 2010 at 6:21 am
Perhaps it's because those that have the most friends are often more concerned about the image of who they are rather than who they actually are. Sounds like a liberal to me.
October 28, 2010 at 6:59 am
I don't know about dopamine, but dope-a-something's definitely involved.
October 28, 2010 at 11:39 am
You're getting it backwards…
According to the study
The MORE socially active the adolescent subjects were, the LESS liberally they leaned as adults.
Correlation is backwards, stop and retract.
October 28, 2010 at 11:45 am
Dopamine is also involved in the treatment of multiple disorders and diseases. One of its shelf names is Liva-dopa. That's a prescription dispensed phama and has nothing to do with Level 2 or other 'narcotics' as your ill advised post would lead. Don't be so short sighted or attempt to be 'cute' or 'coy' here. If you'll maintain objectivity and you'll probably be a little more observant (READ: Not perceived as STUPID)
October 28, 2010 at 2:20 pm
This has to do with another study that was done recently, and isn't bad science.
Participants were shown pictures, some of which were nice, like a bunny, some of which were not, like a spider on a woman's face. Conservatives reacted very strongly to the notnice pictures, perceiving great danger. Liberals reacted weakly to the notnice pictures, perceiving no danger, as it was only a picture.
Dopamine has a lot to do with how people react to stimuli, so it makes sense that liberals would have a different dopamine reaction genetically than conservatives.
Don't attempt to debunk what you don't understand.
October 28, 2010 at 2:32 pm
Gosh! I thought he was joking – guys, maybe you need more dopamine!
October 28, 2010 at 3:02 pm
So "liberalism is a mental disorder" is actually true?
October 28, 2010 at 3:04 pm
Liberals reacted weakly to the notnice pictures, perceiving no danger, as it was only a picture.
No danger?!? No Danger?!? Are you kidding me – that woman might have hurt the spider!!! How dare they abuse innocent creatures like spiders for their ghastly mental experiments!
Or maybe liberals are just completely desensitized to danger… hmmm…
October 28, 2010 at 5:18 pm
*cough* PersonalFailure is kinda…well… failing at conveying the results.
When they tested 46 people, "Political Attitudes Vary with Physiological Traits" suggested political views might have a basis in biology (which, again, they haven't done enough to support) when they found that those with liberal views "measurably lower physical sensitivities to sudden noises and threatening visual images".
(Standard way to test response to threat, incidentally.)
Found the study paper (yay google):
the more friends nominated, the stronger the liberal ideological identification of the respondent in early adulthood
Naturally, they think that "more friends claimed in high school" means "were exposed to more viewpoints," which makes me wonder about how much they paid attention in high school….
On the upside, the paper also points out that this variation in the 7R allele of the DRD4 is famously associated with "thrill-seeking" or "novelty seeking."
October 28, 2010 at 5:57 pm
The science may have nothing more to do than using taxpayers money for funding. I would expect that the lack of a gene in liberalism is more to be searched for. This is like saying that 50% of all babies aborted are democrats.
October 28, 2010 at 6:39 pm
Could be a justification of genetic engineering. Then again, if the world were devoid of liberals, what are we going to do with our prisons and insane assylums?
October 30, 2010 at 2:59 am
Winston Churchill, himself a liberal when young and of course, a conservative when older, said “Any man who is under 30, and is not a liberal, has not heart; and any man who is over 30, and is not a conservative, has no brains.
October 30, 2010 at 3:44 am
Wasn't he quoting Twain?