Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-gvvz8 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-22T13:55:05.788Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

New evidence on the link between genes, psychological traits, and political engagement

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  16 May 2019

Aaron C. Weinschenk ,
Christopher T. Dawes ,
Christian Kandler ,
Edward Bell  and
Rainer Riemann
Aaron C. Weinschenk*
Affiliation:
Department of Political Science, University of Wisconsin-Green Bay
Christopher T. Dawes
Affiliation:
Wilf Family Department of Politics, New York University
Christian Kandler
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, University of Bremen
Edward Bell
Affiliation:
School of Behavioural & Social Sciences (Sociology), Brescia University College at Western University
Rainer Riemann
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, Bielefeld University
*
Correspondence: Aaron C. Weinschenk, 2420 Nicolet Drive, Green Bay, WI 54311. Email: [email protected]
Get access

Abstract

We investigate the link between genes, psychological traits, and political engagement using a new data set containing information on a large sample of young German twins. The TwinLife Study enables us to examine the predominant model of personality, the Big Five framework, as well as traits that fall outside the Big Five, such as cognitive ability, providing a more comprehensive understanding of the underpinnings of political engagement. Our results support previous work showing genetic overlap between some psychological traits and political engagement. More specifically, we find that cognitive ability and openness to experience are correlated with political engagement and that common genes can explain most of the relationship between these psychological traits and political engagement. Relationships between genes, psychological traits, and political engagement exist even at a fairly young age, which is an important finding given that previous work has relied heavily on older samples to study the link between genes, psychological traits, and political engagement.

Keywords

Political engagementheritabilitytwinspersonalitycognitive ability
Type
Article
Information
Politics and the Life Sciences , Volume 38 , Issue 1 , Spring 2019 , pp. 1 - 13
Copyright
© Association for Politics and the Life Sciences 2019 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Brady, H. E., Verba, S., and Schlozman, K. L., “Beyond SES: A resource model of political participation,” American Political Science Review , 1995, 89(2): 271–294.Google Scholar
Gerber, A., Green, D., and Larimer, C., “Social pressure and voter turnout: Evidence from a large-scale field experiment,” American Political Science Review , 2008, 102(1): 33–48.Google Scholar
Plutzer, E., “Becoming a habitual voter: Inertia, resources, and growth in young adulthood,” American Political Science Review , 2002, 96(1): 41–56.Google Scholar
Jennings, M. and Niemi, R., Generations and Politics (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1981).Google Scholar
Fowler, J. H., Baker, L. A., and Dawes, C. T., “Genetic variation in political behavior,” American Political Science Review , 2008, 102(2): 233–248.Google Scholar
Fowler, J. H. and Dawes, C. T., “Two genes predict voter turnout,” Journal of Politics , 2008, 70(3): 579–594.Google Scholar
Hatemi, P., Funk, C., Medland, S., Maes, H., Silberg, J., Martin, N., and Eaves, L., “Genetic and environmental transmission of political attitudes over the life time,” Journal of Politics , 2009, 71(3): 1141–1156.Google Scholar
Arceneaux, K., Johnson, M., and Maes, H. H., “The genetic basis of political sophistication,” Twin Research and Human Genetics , 2012, 15(1): 34–41.Google Scholar
Klemmensen, R., Hatemi, P. K., Hobolt, S. B., Skytthe, A., and Nørgaard, A. S., “Heritability in political interest and efficacy across cultures: Denmark and the United States,” Twin Research and Human Genetics , 2012, 15(1): 15–20.Google Scholar
Klemmensen, R., Hatemi, P. K., Hobolt, S. B., Petersen, I., Skytthe, A., and Nørgaard, A. S., “The genetics of political participation, civic duty, and political efficacy across cultures: Denmark and the United States,” Journal of Theoretical Politics , 2012, 24(3): 409–427.Google Scholar
Fowler, J. H. and Dawes, C. T., “In defense of genopolitics,” American Political Science Review , 2013, 107(2): 362–374.Google Scholar
Loewen, P. and Dawes, C., “The heritability of duty and voter turnout,” Political Psychology , 2012, 33(3): 363–373.Google Scholar
Mondak, J., Personality and the Foundations of Political Behavior (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2010).Google Scholar
Gerber, A., Huber, G., Doherty, D., Dowling, C., Raso, C., and Ha, S., “Personality traits and participation in political processes,” Journal of Politics , 2011, 73(3): 692–706.Google Scholar
Mondak, J., Hibbing, M., Canache, D., Seligson, M., and Anderson, M., “Personality and civic engagement: An integrative framework for the study of trait effects on political behavior,” American Political Science Review , 2010, 104(1): 85–110.Google Scholar
Wang, C.-H., “Gender differences in the effects of personality traits on voter turnout,” Electoral Studies , 2014, 34: 167–176.Google Scholar
Ha, S. E., Kim, S., and Jo, S. H., “Personality traits and political participation: Evidence from South Korea,” Political Psychology , 2013, 34(4): 511–532.Google Scholar
Dawkins, R., “Political participation, personality, and the conditional effect of campaign mobilization,” Electoral Studies , 2017, 45: 100–109.Google Scholar
Schoen, H. and Steinbrecher, M., “Beyond total effects: Exploring the interplay of personality and attitudes in affecting turnout in the 2009 German federal election,” Political Psychology , 2013, 34(4): 533–552.Google Scholar
McCrae, R. and Costa, P., “An introduction to the five-factor model and its implications,” Journal of Personality , 1992, 60: 175–215.Google Scholar
Loehlin, J., McCrae, R., Costa, P., and John, O., “Heritabilities of common and measure-specific components of the Big Five personality factors,” Journal of Research in Personality , 1998, 32: 431–453.Google Scholar
Jang, K., McCrae, R., Angleitner, A., Riemann, R., and Livesley, W., “Heritability of facet-level traits in a cross-cultural twin sample: Support for a hierarchical model of personality,” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology , 1998, 74(6): 1556–1565.Google Scholar
Dawes, C., Cesarini, D., Fowler, J. H., Johannesson, M., Magnusson, P. K. E., and Oskarsson, S., “The relationship between genes, psychological traits, and political participation,” American Journal of Political Science , 2014, 58(4): 888–903.Google Scholar
Dawes, C. T., Settle, J. E., Loewen, P. J., McGue, M., and Iacono, W. G., “Genes, psychological traits and civic engagement,” Philosophical Transaction of the Royal Society B , 2015, 370(1683): 20150015.Google Scholar
Weinschenk, A. and Dawes, C. T., “The relationship between genes, personality traits, and political interest,” Political Research Quarterly , 2017, 70(3): 467–479.Google Scholar
Dinesen, P., Dawes, C., Johannesson, M., Klemmensen, R., Magnusson, P., Norgaard, S., Oskarsson, S., and Pedersen, I., “Estimating the causal impact of education and political engagement: Evidence from monozygotic twins in Denmark, Sweden, and the United States,” Political Behavior , 2016, 38(3): 579–601.Google Scholar
Fazekas, Z. and Littvay, L., “The importance of context in the genetic transmission of U.S. party identification,” Political Psychology , 2015, 36(4): 361–377.Google Scholar
Oskarsson, S., Cesarini, D., Dawes, C., Fowler, J., Johannesson, M., Magnusson, P., and Teorell, J., “Linking genes and political orientations: Testing the cognitive ability as mediator hypothesis,” Political Psychology , 2015, 36(6): 649–665.Google Scholar
Bell, E., Schermer, J. A., and Vernon, P. A., “The origins of political attitudes and behaviours: An analysis using twins,” Canadian Journal of Political Science , 2009, 42(4): 855–879.Google Scholar
Weinschenk, A., “Personality traits and the sense of civic duty,” American Politics Research , 2014, 42(1): 90–113.Google Scholar
Gerber, A., Huber, G., Doherty, D., and Dowling, C., “Personality traits and the consumption of political information,” American Politics Research , 2011, 39: 32–84.Google Scholar
Nie, N., Junn, J., and Stehlik-Barry, K., Education and Democratic Citizenship in America (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1996).Google Scholar
Verba, S., Schlozman, K. L., and Brady, H. E., Voice and Equality: Civic Voluntarism in American Politics (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1995).Google Scholar
Hillygus, D. S., “The missing link: Exploring the relationship between higher education and political engagement,” Political Behavior , 2005, 27(1): 25–47.Google Scholar
Deary, I., Batty, D., and Gale, C., “Childhood intelligence predicts voter turnout, voting preferences, and political involvement in adulthood: The 1970 British cohort study,” Intelligence , 2008, 36: 548–555.Google Scholar
Hauser, S., “Education, ability, and civic engagement in the contemporary United States,” Social Science Research , 2000, 29: 556–582.Google Scholar
Riemann, R., Angleitner, A., and Strelau, J., “Genetic and environmental influences on personality: A study of twins reared together using the self- and peer report NEO-FFI scales,” Journal of Personality , 1997, 65: 449–475.Google Scholar
McCrae, R. and Costa, P., Personality in Adulthood: A Five-Factor Theory Perspective (New York: Guilford Press, 2003).Google Scholar
Stelmack, R., “Advances in personality theory and research,” Journal of Psychiatric Neuroscience , 1991, 16(3): 131–138.Google Scholar
Bouchard, T. J., “Genes, environment, and personality,” Science , 1994, 264(5166): 1700–1701.Google Scholar
Bouchard, T. J., “Genetic influence on human psychological traits,” Current Directions in Psychological Science , 2004, 13: 148–151.Google Scholar
Jang, K., Livesley, W., and Vernon, P., “Heritability of the Big Five personality dimensions and their facets: A twin study,” Journal of Personality , 1996, 64: 577–591.Google Scholar
Oskarsson, S., Dawes, C., Johannesson, M., and Magnusson, P. K. E., “The genetic origins of the relationship between psychological traits and social trust,” Twin Research and Human Genetics , 2012, 15(1): 21–33.Google Scholar
Haworth, C. M., Wright, M. J., Martin, N. W., Martin, N. G., Boomsma, D. I., Bartels, M., and Posthuma, D. et al. , “A twin study of the genetics of high cognitive ability selected from 11,000 twin pairs in six studies from four countries,” Behavior Genetics , 2009, 39(4): 359–370, https://doi.org/10.1007/s10519-009-9262-3.Google Scholar
Gosling, S. D., Rentfrow, P. J., and Swann, W. B., “A very brief measure of the Big Five personality domains,” Journal of Research in Personality , 2003, 37(6): 504–528, at p. 506.Google Scholar
John, O. P. and Srivastava, S., “The Big Five trait taxonomy: History, measurement, and theoretical perspectives,” in Handbook of Personality: Theory and Research, Pervin, L. A. and John, O. P., eds. (New York: Guilford Press, 1999), pp. 102–138, at p. 103.Google Scholar
Settle, J., Dawes, C., Loewen, P., and Panagopoulos, C., “Negative affectivity, political contention and turnout: A genopolitics field experiment,” Political Psychology , 2017, 38(6): 1065–1082.Google Scholar
Gerber, A. S., Huber, G. A., Doherty, D., Dowling, C. M., and Panagopoulos, C., “Big Five personality traits and responses to persuasive appeals: Results from voter turnout experiments,” Political Behavior , 2013, 35(4): 687–728.Google Scholar
Vecchione, M. and Caprara, G., “Personality determinants of political participation: The contribution of traits and self-efficacy beliefs,” Personality and Individual Differences , 2009, 46(4): 487–492.Google Scholar
Blais, A. and St.-Vincent, S. L., “Personality traits, political attitudes and the propensity to vote,” European Journal of Political Research , 2011, 50(3): 395–417.Google Scholar
Neale, M. and Cardon, L., Methodology for Genetic Studies of Twins and Families (Dordrecht: Kluwer, 1992).Google Scholar
Suhay, E., Kalmoe, N., and McDermott, C., Why twin studies are problematic for the study of political ideology: Rethinking are political orientations genetically transmitted,” unpublished manuscript, 2007.Google Scholar
Beckwith, J. and Morris, C. A., “Twin studies of political behavior: Untenable assumptions?,” Perspectives on Politics , 2008, 6(4): 785–791.Google Scholar
Charney, E., “Genes and ideologies,” Perspectives on Politics , 2008, 6(2): 299–319.Google Scholar
Hatemi, P., Hibbing, J., Medland, S., Keller, M., Alford, J., Smith, K., Martin, N., and Eaves, L., “Not by twins alone: Using extended family design to investigate genetic influence on political beliefs,” American Journal of Political Science , 2010, 54(3): 798–814.Google Scholar
Smith, K., Alford, J. R., Hatemi, P. K., Eaves, L. J., Funk, C., and Hibbing, J. R., “Biology, ideology, and epistemology: How do we know political attitudes are inherited and why should we care?,” American Journal of Political Science , 2012, 56(1): 17–33.Google Scholar
Littvay, L., “Do heritability estimates of political phenotypes suffer from an equal environment assumption violation? Evidence from an empirical study,” Twin Research and Human Genetics , 2012, 15(1): 6–14.Google Scholar
Conley, D., Rauscher, E., Dawes, C., Magnusson, P. K. E., and Siegal, M. L., “Heritability and the equal environments assumption: Evidence from multiple samples of misclassified twins,” Behavior Genetics , 2013, 43(5): 415–426.Google Scholar
Martin, N. and Eaves, L., “The genetic analysis of covariance structure,” Heredity , 1977, 38(1): 79–95.Google Scholar
Posthuma, D., Beem, L., de Geus, E., van Baal, G., von Hjelmborg, J., Iachine, I., and Boomsma, D., “Theory and practice in quantitative genetics,” Twin Research and Human Genetics , 2003, 6(5): 361–376.Google Scholar
Deppe, K. D., Stoltenberg, S., Smith, K., and Hibbing, J., “Candidate genes and voter turnout: Further evidence on the role of 5-HTTLPR,” American Political Science Review , 2013, 107(2): 375–381.Google Scholar
Charney, E. and English, W., “Candidate genes and political behavior,” American Political Science Review , 2012, 106(1): 1–34.Google Scholar
Hahn, E., Gottschling, J., and Spinath, F., “Short measurements of personality—Validity and reliability of the GSOEP Big Five Inventory (BFI-S),” Journal of Research in Personality , 2012, 46: 355–359.Google Scholar
Medland, S. and Hatemi, P., “Political science, biometric theory, and twin studies: A methodological introduction,” Political Analysis , 2009, 17: 191–214.Google Scholar
Rosenstone, S. and Hansen, J., Mobilization, Participation, and Democracy in America (New York: Macmillan, 1993).Google Scholar
Smith, K. and Hatemi, P., “OLS is AOK for ACE: A regression-based approach to synthesizing political science and behavioral genetics models,” Political Behavior , 2013, 35: 383–408.Google Scholar