The "Adventure" Gene Predicts Political Attitudes in Chinese Females, According to NUS Study
Why are some people more politically conservative while others are politically liberal? Social scientists have often assumed that political beliefs and ideology are learned from one's nuclear family or peer groups. However, increasing evidence have shown that social attitudes towards many contemporary issues are moderately heritable, and only a few studies recently report associations between specific genes and political attitudes. A team of researchers from the National University of Singapore (NUS) has shown for the first time that not only do genes play a direct and significant part in our political inclination and attitudes, but that Singaporean Chinese females who possess a particular variant of the Dopamine D4 receptor gene - or the "adventure" gene - are generally more politically conservative. The findings will be published in the online edition of the Proceedings of the Royal Society Section B.