Left wing/right wing genes

Funny I've just been reading Rose tear a gaping arsehole in twin studies, I was actually pretty shocked at how shit they are, I'd niavely assumed proper seperation and loads of controlled variables, I hadn't really given much thought to the rather obvious problems in having properly controlled variables.

There's a genetic component in pretty much everything.
The idea that there are 'democrat' or 'republican' genes is obviously ridiculous.
What I would suppose is that personality influences political leaning, and personality is to some extent influenced by biology (eg level of cautiousness / adventurousness is strongly influence by the type of receptors you have for a certain type of neurotransmitter, maybe seratonin, I don't remember).
So here we would get the result that if you are a more cautious person you are more likely to support the way things are. Amazing.

But actually, personality is also largely determined by environmental factors, not your parents so much but your position in the family (whether you are an oldest / middle / youngest / only child) and your peer group, and stuff like body size. Oldest children are more likely to be reactionary / conservative, apparently.

Basically, I think it's pretty obvious that your genes are going to have some bearing on some criteria that go into political gut feeling, but the idea that the genes determine the particulars of your ideology is just stupid.
But the observation that a lot of people are resistant to reason is nothing new

now, now, just because something isn't simply socialised or chosen doesn't mean to say it is genetic, maybe it is something that happens Prenatal, maybe it is dependent on exposure to Patchouli Oil passed from the mother.

Anna
I didn't put-forward a strawman of the study suggesting they said there are left-right genes - I said they linked political leaning to personality trait, which you also said.

They did link some of what they see as predictive factors to dopamine levels if that's what you meant. The particulars can certainly be argued over sure, but the conclusion "Trying to persuade someone not to be liberal is like trying to persuade someone not to have brown eyes. We have to rethink persuasion," says John Alford, a political scientist at Rice University in Houston, Texas
is pretty rediculous - I'm sure most of us have went through some sort of ideological change due to socialisation - I know I did - I certainly wasn't brought up in the political/philosophical currents I'd situate myself in now, but I picked up stuff from elsewhere, and none of my family have even close to the same politics or worldview as me. Course that dudes a political scientist so who cares.

yeah but once you start that hardcore regime you're about to embark on that'll all change!

Resistance to reason or change isn't new sure, but don't you think it has more to do with structural forces than a complusion toward conserving the status-quo?

If the status-quo benefits you, youre gonna think it's sweet as. If given social relations are teh suck for you, you're gonna wanna FuCk 5h1T uP 2 Th@ m@XXX!1!!!1!!

There's certainly some sort of gene for talking on your mobile while hogging machines, it seems to be the same one that makes you a woman. Whut!

Um, I think you should learn a bit more about brain development. You seem to be advocating some naive form of environment mediated connectionism - this is not how the brain works.

But what I wrote had nothing to do with the particular networks of connections, but how the connections themselves work, so this is all irrelevant.

I just looked up the details (it was dopamine, not seratonin).

- Dopamine is a neurotransmitter. A shortage of dopamine causes an indecisive personality (in the extreme form, when the body cannot even initiate its own movement, this is known as Parkinson's disease). An excess of dopamine makes a person adventurous and bored easily. High dopamine levels are associated with schizophrenia.
- A gene, D4DR, is involved in forming dopamine receptors. This gene has a variable repeat sequence in the middle, and so comes in different version of different lengths. The shorter the version of the gene, the more responsive the receptor is to dopamine. Hence a person with a long version of the gene would have to do something more exhilarating than a person with a short version, in order to get the same 'dopamine buzz'.
- Therefore, it is postulated that possessing the long form of the gene causes people to develop a more adventurous thrill-seeking personality. This is borne out by studies. For one thing, heterosexual men with the long form of the gene are 6 times more likely to have slept with a man than heterosexual men with the short form. Also, homosexual men with the long form are 5 times more likely to have slept with a woman than those with the short form. People with the long form tend to have had more sexual partners than those with the short form.

So this is an example of a genetic component in personality. Personality is about 40% heritable. (This does not mean that personality is only 40% determined by genes, but that only 40% of the differences in personality are determined by genes. (Most strongly genetically determined traits are 0% heritable, ie all variation in the trait is caused by environment). There are about 500 genes that interact to form the genetic component of personality.

Are you going to actually go running irl? A treadmill might be a safe option.

I know, I was agreeing with you!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qxlXmKgbfX0

GDID - you're coming up this weekend yeah?
Cool, just checking, i been training my trusty right lots.

There actually a gene for being a gypsy and junky - and it's shared by all people from Dublin, weird that. But definitely true.
The gypsy gene is handily enough, called GY95Y and the junky one is DU311N.
People thought I was just being bigoted before, thankfully 21st century super-science has proven me right.

you are oppressing me for something i cannot change, you are no better than the nazi's who killed the Jews only because they are genetically programmed to be money swindling tight bastards.

IT'S JUST ANOTHER FORM OF RACIALISM!!!