Does Biology Influence Political Activities And Electoral Participation? Print E-mail
Medicine - Soc & Psych
Written by TS-Si News Service   
Saturday, 05 July 2008 17:00
Vote Here.
Biometrics.
Biometrics (Gr.: bios life, metron measure) came into contemporary use as a term that distinguishes two very different fields of study. The field typically analyzes physical and behavioral characteristics.
• Traditional biological studies have collected, synthesized, and managed quantitative data on biological communities (e.g., forests. This application is most often referred to as biological statistics.
• The term broadened to include the study of methods for uniquely recognizing humans based upon one or more intrinsic physical traits. The physical can include DNA databases, facial patterns, fingerprints, hand measurements, iris recognition, and retinal scans.
A biometric system can provide:
• Verification to authenticate users with a smart card, username or ID number. A biometric template is captured and stored against the registered user either on a smart card or database for verification.
• Authentication of users from the biometric characteristic alone without the use of smart cards, usernames or ID numbers. The biometric template is compared to all records within the database and a score returns that indicates it is the closest match. If the match is the closest within an allowed threshold, the individual is considered identified and authenticated.
Public concern has grown with increased awareness of biometrics.
• Some believe the instruments used are unsanitary or the technologies involved can cause physical harm. For example, there are concerns that retina scanners might not always be clean.
• There are peceptions that biometrics can be used in unauthorized ways without the individual's consent.Personal information can be misused, tampered with, or sold (e.g., by criminals stealing, rearranging or copying the data).
Behaviometrics. Biometrics has been extended even further to include behavioral characteristics.The term behaviometrics is a composite for behavioral biometrics, where the analysis can be done continuously without interrupting or interfering with the user's activities.
Examples include signature, mouse gestures, and typing patterns (rhythm).
San Diego, CA, USA. There have been intermittent claims for the genetic basis of specific behaviors, such as anger and heterosexuality. These efforts have been overtaken by events, most prominently by an advanced understanding of the difference between the human genome (all DNA) and its subset, the specific genes (packets of coded information extracted from DNA).
 
Behavior is now known to have a physiological basis with certain adaptive flexibilities that derive from non-genetic sources. As a result, the identification of specific genes must be treated as observational, pending a more detailed analysis of the genomic context.
 
 
[C1] Genetic Variation in Political Participation. James H. Fowler, Laura A. Baker, Christopher T. Dawes. American Political Science Review. 102(2) 233-248. doi: 10.1017 / S0003055408080209.  [ Download PDF ]
 
[C2] Two Genes Predict Voter Turnout. James H. Fowler and Christopher T. Dawes. Journal of Politics 70(3) 579–594. doi: 10.1017 / S0022381608080638. ISSN 0022-3816.  [ Download PDF ]
 
 
For the first time, research has linked specific genes to political behavior. The new findings suggest that a decision to vote is partly influenced by genes that influence participation in elections and in a wide range of political activities. Investigators identified a link between two specific genes and political participation. 
 
The baseline research was conducted by James H. Fowler and Christopher T. Dawes (University of California, San Diego) and Laura A. Baker University of Southern California - USC). Their findings appear in the American Political Science Review [C1]. Fowler and Dawes followed up with an article in the Journal of Politics that argues for a genetic link between two specific genes and political participation [C2].
 
The new research shows that individuals with a variant of the MAOA gene are significantly more likely to have voted in the 2000 presidential election. Their research also demonstrates a connection between a variant of the 5HTT gene and voter turnout, which is moderated by religious attendance. These are the first results ever to link specific genes to political behavior.
 
The initial research was based on voter turnout records in Los Angeles when matched to a registry of identical and non-identical twins.  These comparisons show that:
  • Identical twins, who share 100 per cent of their genes, are significantly more similar in their voting behavior than fraternal twins (who share only 50 per cent of their genes on average). 
     
  • 53 per cent of the variation in voter turnout is due to differences in genes.
     
  • Family upbringing may have little effect on a child’s future participatory behavior.

    This result runs counter to decades of conventional wisdom that family upbringing is a primary indicator of such behavior.
To replicate these findings the researchers went beyond the California voter data to examine patterns nationwide using the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (1994-2002).  This data has been utilized in a wide variety of genetic studies, but this is the first time it was used to show that participatory political behavior is heritable. 
  • For example, among identical twins, the researchers conclude that 72 per cent of the variance in voter turnout can be attributed to genes. 
     
  • Moreover, genetic-based differences extend to a broad class of acts of political participation, including donating to a campaign, contacting a government official, running for office, and attending a political rally. 
According to James Fowler, “we expected to find that genes played some role in political behavior, but we were quite surprised by the size of the effect and how widely it applies to many kinds of participation.”
 
To pinpoint the specific genes implicated, the authors first looked at those genes that have previously been shown to account for variation in social behavior.  Among those, MAOA and 5HTT are known to exert a strong influence on the serotonin system regulating fear, trust, and social interaction.
 
Hypothesizing that persons with more efficient versions of these genes would be more likely to vote, the researchers turned again to the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health  to conduct tests on the relationship between turnout and MAOA and 5HTT.  The results show that both genes are significantly associated with the decision to vote.  Those who have the more efficient genes are about 10 per cent more likely to go to the polls.
 
“These findings are extremely important for how we think about political behavior,” said Fowler.  For example, it is widely known that parents and children exhibit similar voting behavior, but this has always been interpreted as learned behavior rather than inherited behavior.  It is also well-known that these particular genes influence social behavior, but it has not been widely appreciated that social behavior plays an important role in voting and other forms of political behavior. 
 
In particular, the 5HTT gene appears to play an important role in the well-known association between voting and going to church, suggesting that it is the combination of social activity and genes that helps to shape political behavior.
 

… there is no such thing as a voter gene: That idea is just silly…

According to Fowler, “We are not robots – the genes just seem to make it more likely that some of us will respond to our social lives by getting involved in politics.” Fowler also cautioned that there is no such thing as a ‘voter gene’: “That idea is just silly.  Complex social behaviors are the result of hundreds of genes interacting with hundreds of social factors – these results are really just the tip of the iceberg.”
 
The authors point out that while political scientists typically do not focus on the role of genetic and biological factors in political behavior, the present work points to a significant role for genes and, therefore, a next research step is to determine why genes matter so much. 
 
They conclude, “These studies provide the first step needed to excite the imaginations of a discipline not used to thinking about the role of biology in human behavior.”
 


Funding for the research in Citation 1 [C1] was provided by the Institute of Government Affairs at the University of California, Davis. The US National Science Foundation (NSF) funded the research in Citation 2 [C2].

James H. Fowler is Professor, Political Science Department, University of California, San Diego. Laura A. Baker is Professor, Psychology Department, University of Southern California (USC). Christopher T. Dawes is Professor, Political Science Department, University of California, San Diego.

 


[C1] Genetic Variation in Political Participation. James H. Fowler, Laura A. Baker, Christopher T. Dawes. American Political Science Review. 102(2) 233-248. doi: 10.1017 / S0003055408080209.  [ Download PDF ]

Abstract

The decision to vote has puzzled scholars for decades. Theoretical models predict little or no variation in participation in large population elections and empirical models have typically accounted for only a relatively small portion of individual-level variance in turnout behavior.However, these models have not considered the hypothesis that part of the variation in voting behavior can be attributed to genetic effects. Matching public voter turnout records in Los Angeles to a twin registry, we study the heritability of political behavior in monozygotic and dizygotic twins. The results show that a significant proportion of the variation in voting turnout can be accounted for by genes.We also replicate these results with data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health and show that they extend to a broad class of acts of political participation. These are the first findings to suggest that humans exhibit genetic variation in their tendency to participate in political activities.

[C2] Two Genes Predict Voter Turnout. James H. Fowler and Christopher T. Dawes. Journal of Politics 70(3) 579–594. doi: 10.1017 / S0022381608080638. ISSN 0022-3816.  [ Download PDF ]

Abstract

Fowler, Baker, and Dawes (2008) recently showed in two independent studies of twins that voter turnout has very high heritability. Here we investigate two specific genes that may contribute to variation in voting behavior. Using data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health, we show that individuals with a polymorphism of the MAOA gene are significantly more likely to have voted in the 2004 presidential election. We also find evidence that an association between a polymorphism of the 5HTT gene and voter turnout is moderated by religious attendance. These are the first results ever to link specific genes to political behavior.

 
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Last Updated on Saturday, 05 July 2008 17:28