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Political taste: Exploring how perception of bitter substances may reveal risk tolerance and political preferences

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 August 2021

Amanda Friesen Open the ORCID record for Amanda Friesen [Opens in a new window] ,
Aleksander Ksiazkiewicz Open the ORCID record for Aleksander Ksiazkiewicz [Opens in a new window]  and
Claire Gothreau
Amanda Friesen*
Affiliation:
Western University
Aleksander Ksiazkiewicz
Affiliation:
University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
Claire Gothreau
Affiliation:
Rutgers University
*
Correspondence: Amanda Friesen, Western University, 1151 Richmond St., Room 4151, Department of Political Science, London, ONN6A 5C2, Canada. Email: afries4@uwo.ca
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Abstract

Risk is endemic to the political arena and influences citizen engagement. We explore this connection by suggesting that risk-taking may be biologically instantiated in sensory systems. With specific attention to gender and gender identity, we investigate the connections between self-reported bitter taste reception, risk tolerance, and both of their associations with political participation. In three U.S. samples collected in 2019 and 2020, participants were asked to rate their preferences from lists of foods as well as whether they detected the taste of the substance N-Propylthiouracil (PROP) and, if so, the strength of the taste. In this registered report, we find that self-reported bitter taste preference, but not PROP detection, is positively associated with higher levels of risk tolerance as well as political participation. The pattern with gender and gender identity is mixed across our samples, but interestingly, we find that sex-atypical gender identity positively predicts political participation.

Keywords

political participationbitter tastegenderrisk tolerance
Type
Special Issue: Psychophysiology, Cognition, and Political Differences
Information
Politics and the Life Sciences , Volume 40 , Issue 2 , Fall 2021 , pp. 152 - 171
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2021. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of the Association for Politics and the Life Sciences

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