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Genetic and environmental influences on sociopolitical attitudes

Addressing some gaps in the new paradigm

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 November 2018

Edward Bell ,
Christian Kandler  and
Rainer Riemann
Edward Bell*
Affiliation:
Brescia University College at Western University
Christian Kandler
Affiliation:
MSB Medical School Berlin and University of Bremen
Rainer Riemann
Affiliation:
Bielefeld University
*
Correspondence: Edward Bell, School of Behavioral and Social Sciences, Brescia University College at Western University, London, Canada. Email: eabell@uwo.ca
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Abstract

A new paradigm has emerged in which both genetic and environmental factors are cited as possible influences on sociopolitical attitudes. Despite the increasing acceptance of this paradigm, several aspects of the approach remain underdeveloped. Specifically, limitations arise from a reliance on a twins-only design, and all previous studies have used self-reports only. There are also questions about the extent to which existing findings generalize cross-culturally. To address those issues, this study examined individual differences in liberalism/conservatism in a German sample that included twins, their parents, and their spouses and incorporated both self- and peer reports. The self-report findings from this extended twin family design were largely consistent with previous research that used that rater perspective, but they provided higher estimates of heritability, shared parental environmental influences, assortative mating, and genotype-environment correlation than the results from peer reports. The implications of these findings for the measurement and understanding of sociopolitical attitudes are explored.

Keywords

political attitudesheritabilitybehavior geneticsliberalism/conservatismextended twin family design
Type
Article
Information
Politics and the Life Sciences , Volume 37 , Issue 2 , Fall 2018 , pp. 236 - 249
Copyright
© Association for Politics and the Life Sciences 2018 

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