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It is believed that our political views are mainly influenced by education, upbringing and social status. Recently, however, there is growing evidence that political beliefs are partly determined by our genes.
Researchers at the National University of Singapore, led by psychology professor Richard Ebstein, surveyed more than 1700 Singaporean students of Chinese ethnicity to find out their political views (which, in the survey, covered the spectrum from extreme conservative to extreme liberal). They also took DNA samples for analysis by molecular genetics. Scientists were especially interested in the DRD4 gene, which is associated with the work of the dopamine D4 receptor. Previous work has shown the role of this gene in the regulation of risky behavior, including financial risk, it has even been called the “adventurous gene”.
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The DRD4 gene is present in everyone, but the variant associated with risk appetite was found in less than 50% of the students surveyed. In general, the dependence of political views on the presence of a certain variant of this gene was more pronounced in women than in men. In particular, women – carriers of the gene variant The DRD4, called 4R/4R, were more risk averse and more politically conservative.
Interestingly, in a similar study conducted in the United States, an association was found between another variant of the DRD4 gene (DRD4-7R) and liberal beliefs – but it was present only in people who had a wide circle of friends in their youth, in the Singapore study, this factor did not play a role. . The authors suggest that this is due to cultural differences.
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“The results show that that regardless of the political system and culture of the country, the political beliefs of citizens are at least partly genetically determined. From this follows the conclusion that they can be very difficult to change even under the pressure of society and under the influence of propaganda.”, says one of the authors of the work, Chew Soo Hong, a professor of economics at the National University of Singapore.
Подробнее см. R. Ebstein «Association between the dopamine D4 receptor gene exon III variable number of tandem repeats and political attitudes in female Han Chinese, Proceedings of the Royal Society B», Biological Sciences, August 2015.