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Tendency to Fear is Strong Political Influence

By Guest PostFebruary 10, 2013Politicsanti immigration, baseline fear, brown political scientist, common focus area, congress, emotional factors, Environment, factors, forces, genetic liability, immigration, immigration and war, kenneth s kendler, level, lindon j eaves, michael c neale, out group opinions, penn state university, peter k hatemi, political attitudes, political campaigns, political influence, political preferences, pro segregation policies, provocation, rational arguments, rose mcdermott, segregation, social phobia, tendency to fear, threat, trait based fear, virginia commonwealth university

Fear can play a role in influencing political attitudes on hot-button issues like immigration, according to new research co-authored by Brown political scientist Rose McDermott. The study, published in the American Journal of Political Science, shows that individuals who are genetically predisposed to fear tend to have more negative out-group opinions, which play out politically as support for policies like anti-immigration and segregation.

PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] — It’s no secret that fear is a mechanism often used in political campaigns to steer public opinion on hot-button issues like immigration and war. But not everyone is equally predisposed to be influenced by such a strategy, according to new research by Rose McDermott, professor of political science, and colleagues published in the American Journal of Political Science. (more…)

Rose McDermott: The Political Genome

By Guest PostAugust 31, 2012Politics, Sciencealcoholic, american sense, austrailia, biological measure, biology, capital punishment, courtney coelho, data, democrats, denmark, election result, evolutionary perspective, explosion, fraternal twins, gene, genetic contribution, genetic factor, genetic foundation, genetics, hereditary component, obesity, political genome, political preference, political problem, political science, prediction, public policy, reproductive issue, republicans, rose mcdermott, sex, spectrum, statistical test, trends, united states

A recent review of research co-authored by Rose McDermott highlights the role that genes play in political preferences, an area of study that began to draw significant attention in the last decade. McDermott speaks with Courtney Coelho about this growing field of research, its evolutionary roots, and whether it means anything for the prediction of future election results.

The connection between biology and political science is relatively new, but it’s one that has grown rapidly, with a boom in research linking genetics and political preferences in the last decade. Rose McDermott, professor of political science, has done research on this topic and recently co-authored a review, published in Trends in Genetics, of studies in recent years. (more…)

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Tendency to Fear is Strong Political Influence

Rose McDermott: The Political Genome