Are your Political choices and beliefs influenced by your Genes, your Physiology?  This is an important and very interesting question as we get closer to the pivotal Presidential elections in the US history. Why do people with strong conservative or liberal views have a hard time changing their mind? How a person responds to war, threat and other political views may be determined by a person’s physiology and genetics. This is another step towards understanding human behavior, social dynamics, decision making and risk assessment in response to the environment and genetics. Genetics, environment and life experiences collectively may help shape our political and social views of the world!

A study on this was conducted by scientists at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and is published in the journal Science. The study was funded by the National Science Foundation (http://www.nsf.gov/news/news_summ.jsp?cntn_id=112246&org=NSF&from=news).

 The study tested people with strong political beliefs and their physiological response to various stimuli like bumps in the night, jarring sounds, spiders on a human body or graphic visual images. The results showed that people with deep-seated fears and strong physiological response support “protective policies” which lean towards support of war, defense spending, tighter immigration laws, etc.

On the other hand, people with mild physiological responses to various stimuli supported individual privacy and safety in the form of gun control more and viewed less threat from other people.

These contrasting physiological responses from people with opposing political and social views may help explain why conservative and liberals have a difficult time understanding and listening to the other’s point of view.

With such interesting results, the scope of the study is being expanded and will include brain scans of individuals and people with no strong opinions. The study has received additional funding from NSF.