Linking Genes and Political Orientations: Testing the Cognitive Ability as Mediator Hypothesis

Johannesson, Magnus (author): Stockholm School of Economics,Handelshögskolan i Stockholm

Teorell, Jan (author): Lund University,Lunds universitet,Statsvetenskapliga institutionen,Samhällsvetenskapliga institutioner och centrumbildningar,Samhällsvetenskapliga fakulteten,Department of Political Science,Departments of Administrative, Economic and Social Sciences,Faculty of Social Sciences,Lund University (SE)

(creator_code:org_t)

2014-08-18
2015
English.
In: Political Psychology. - : Wiley: 24 months. - 1467-9221 .- 0162-895X. ; 36:6, s. 649-665

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Abstract Subject headings

Recent research has demonstrated that genetic differences explain a sizeable fraction of the variance in political orientations, but little is known about the pathways through which genes might affect political preferences. In this article, we use a uniquely assembled dataset of almost 1,000 Swedish male twin pairs containing detailed information on cognitive ability and political attitudes in order to further examine the genetic and environmental causes of political orientations. Our study makes three distinct contributions to our understanding of the etiology of political orientations: (1) we report heritability estimates across different dimensions of political ideology; (2) we show that cognitive ability and political orientations are related; and (3) we provide evidence consistent with the hypothesis that cognitive ability mediates part of the genetic influence on political orientations. These findings provide important clues about the nature of the complex pathways from molecular genetic variation to political orientations.

By the author/editor: Dawes, Christoph ...; Fowler, James H.; Johannesson, Mag ...; Magnusson, Patri ...; Oskarsson, Sven; Cesarini, David; show more...; Teorell, Jan; show less...

About the subject

SOCIAL SCIENCES: SOCIAL SCIENCES; and Political Scienc ...; and Political Scienc ...

By the university: Stockholm School of Economics; Lund University; Karolinska Institutet

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