How do people develop their political attitudes? There is some growing evidence that suggests we are born with our political beliefs, just as we inherit the color of our eyes or hair. Researchers at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln conducted a study to see the impact of biology on our liberal or conservative preferences–published in the Journal of the International Society of Political Psychology.
The study was based on a 2009 survey of nearly 600 sets of twins in their 50s and 60s, found through the Minnesota Twin Registry. The reasoning behind a twin study is that pairs of twins typically share the same environment–they’re raised by the same parents, in the same household, with the same socioeconomic and political influences. Identical twins–who develop from the same fertilized egg–share 100 percent of their genetics, while fraternal twins, who develop from separate fertilized eggs, share about half their genetics, like any other pair of siblings–they’re basically just separate womb mates (smile). Therefore, if identical twins show a greater tendency to share political orientations than do fraternal twins, that tendency can be attributed to genetics, not their environment.
This is not the first time political scientists have studied twins to tease out whether political beliefs result from genetics. A 2005 paper directly challenged conventional wisdom that children are taught their political attitudes by their parents, with their beliefs later being shaped by life events and experiences, and admittedly I agree with this theory because it resembles my experience.
Due to being raised in a religiously conservative family, my siblings and other relatives have stayed with those conservative beliefs, possibly feeling that if they went another direction, it would be disrespectful of our conservative ancestry. However, then this renegade came along and changed that deal–that would be me. Admittedly, I continued in that voting vein–straight Republican–until after my military career–it just seemed like the right thing to continue doing.
However, since then, my more libral opinion has evolved–why? Was it because of my exposure to many different cultures and spirituality options; my practice of a more libral Episcopalian religion (due to my husbands upbring); my Rotary experience with its strong ethics program called the Four Way Test; my holistic wellness journey of light and love; my gay friend, Joel; feeling judged by the conservative right (once I moved back home) to not practice mainstream yoga (it needed to be Christian yoga) and also not feeling the spiritual need to attend my original church; human and voting rights rights being challenged in conservative states; learning more about our black history that I was not taught (many far right wanting to keep this untaught); or was it all the falsehoods of the previous narcissistic anti-democracy leader, etc. To me–much of this is troubling for the functioning of a healthy democracy–not to mention our holistic wellness. .
God gave us the option and right for discernment and I feel many of our conservative ancestors would understand due to how much the conservative right has changed.
P.S. We’ve done our own fraternal twin study–one is more libral and the other is an unvaccinated conservative who loves conspiracy theories–go figure!
Basically, we are definitely proof that we can be influenced by our environment differently–if we allow ourselves to be open to new opinions and information. A recent study came out about just that point.
Researchers from of California, Berkeley spent five years researching the effect of partisan media on people’s political views. A sample of Fox News viewers, some of whom were paid to watch CNN for about seven during the month of September 2020. The control group, composed of the rest of the participants continued to watch Fox News.
At the end of the testing period, the groups took three rounds of news surveys. Two significant findings emerged from the results–the Fox-to-CNN group changed their attitudes about several issues from COVID, mail-in ballots and more.
Realistically, It’s easy for many of us to routinely go down news rabbit holes of our comfort level, however, what other options are there?
Unbiased news sources are rare but so exist according to an article by Gavin Phillips, editor, Windows and Tech. He recommends websites that are free from true censorship: “The Associated Press”, “The Wall Street Journal”, “Reuters” and “BBC”.
Let’s do our best to find our genuine selves by being open to unbiased information–we have options Warriors!
Covid Humor: There’s a new COVID-19 vaccine delivered via an audio interface as music. It is hoped that this will lead to heard immunity.