The Relationship between Genes, Personality Traits, and Political Interest

DOI10.1177/1065912917698045
Published date01 September 2017
Date01 September 2017
Subject MatterArticles
https://doi.org/10.1177/1065912917698045
Political Research Quarterly
2017, Vol. 70(3) 467 –479
© 2017 University of Utah
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DOI: 10.1177/1065912917698045
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Article
Introduction
Some people find politics inherently interesting. They
tune into the news every night to learn about political
events, have favorite political websites, and wait for elec-
tion returns with breathless anticipation. Other people are
completely uninterested in politics. They never watch the
news to learn about politics, avoid political websites at all
costs, and could care less about who wins and loses elec-
tions. Political interest refers to “a state of curiosity, con-
cern about or attention to politics” (Haug 2013, 233), and
empirical studies have consistently demonstrated that
those who are interested in politics and public affairs are
far more likely to be civically engaged than those who are
not at all interested in politics and public affairs (Blais
and Labbé St-Vincent 2011; Brady, Verba, and Schlozman
1995; Verba, Schlozman, and Brady 1995). In fact, in
most individual-level models of political participation,
political interest is one of the strongest predictors (Verba,
Schlozman, and Brady 1995).
Previous studies on the origins of political interest
have primarily focused on demographic attributes and
socialization experiences as explanations for why some
people are more interested in politics than others. In terms
of demographic variables, political scientists have found
that age, income, and education are positively correlated
with political interest (Blais and Labbé St-Vincent 2011).
Demographic variables, however, do not account for all
of the variation in political interest.1 Studies on political
socialization have provided additional insights into the
origins of political interest. Most studies on socialization
and political interest have focused on the transmission of
interest from parent to child. Interestingly, Jennings,
Stoker, and Bowers (2009) find that there is a fairly weak
relationship between parental and child political interest.
In fact, they note that in a multivariate analysis, “youth
levels of political interest cannot be predicted on the basis
of parent attributes, whether parent political interest or
parent SES [socioeconomic status]” (Jennings, Stoker,
and Bowers 2009, 792). Verba, Schlozman, and Brady
(1995) find that some potential measures of socialization
(parental political involvement, including both political
discussion and community activity) are positively corre-
lated with their children’s political interest, although such
variables do not fully account for differences in political
interest across individuals.
One interesting study that relates to the above-men-
tioned research on socialization focuses on measuring the
698045PRQXXX10.1177/1065912917698045Political Research QuarterlyWeinschenk and Dawes
research-article2017
1University of Wisconsin–Green Bay, USA
2New York University, New York City, USA
Corresponding Author:
Aaron C. Weinschenk, Department of Political Science, University of
Wisconsin–Green Bay, 2420 Nicolet Drive, Green Bay, WI 54311,
USA.
Email: weinscha@uwgb.edu
The Relationship between Genes,
Personality Traits, and Political Interest
Aaron C. Weinschenk1 and Christopher T. Dawes2
Abstract
Political interest is one of the strongest predictors of individual political engagement, but little is known about the
origins of this political orientation. The goal of this paper is to clarify the role that biological and psychological factors
play in the formation of political interest. A series of recent studies in genetics have illustrated that political interest is
heritable, and a series of recent studies in political science and psychology have demonstrated that personality traits,
many of which are heritable, are related to political interest. In this paper, we make a number of contributions to the
literature: (1) we replicate previous analyses showing that political interest and personality traits are heritable, (2) we
demonstrate that personality traits are related to interest, and (3) we estimate the extent to which genetic factors
account for the correlation between personality traits and political interest. Using two datasets on twins, we find
evidence that genetic factors account for a large amount of the correlation between political interest and personality
traits. This study provides a more nuanced picture of the biological and psychological bases of political orientations.
Keywords
political interest, heritability, twins, personality traits, Big Five, genes, genopolitics

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