Red and blue DNA
Study: Politics not logical but biological
Posted on Mon, Sep. 22, 2008
http://www.philly.com/philly/health_and_science/29231989.html

Forget about a candidate's issues and character. You may be biologically driven to lean toward John McCain or Barack Obama, a new study says, depending on your involuntary response to threat.

From a random sample of 1,310 residents of Lincoln, Neb., researchers selected 46 with strong political opinions that diverged on the intensity with which they sought to protect the long-term survival of the group. Views on the Iraq War, gun control, gay marriage and illegal immigration were among 18 variables separating the pro- and anti-status quo.

Two months later, the volunteers were shown 33 photos - including a few shockers, such as a large spider on a frightened face - while equipment monitored their skin conductivity, a measure of physiological response to threat. They were also startled by loud noises while machines tracked involuntary eye-blink responses to fear.

The results, published in the current issue of Science, showed that people with the greatest physiological responses took political positions most protective of the existing social structure, and vice versa. Age, income and other demographic factors that often influence political leanings made no difference. (Military service was not considered.)

Although they did not investigate reasons for varying physiological response, the researchers speculated that it may be inherited. And while the scientists emphasized there was no right or wrong, how we perceive threats may explain why neither liberals nor conservatives can fathom the other.

"People experience the world differently," says lead author John R. Hibbing, a professor of political science at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, "and this probably affects their political beliefs."