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Ideology and the brain

The source of ideology is

  • 90% inborn/genetic

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • 80% inborn/genetic

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • 60% inborn/genetic

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • 40% inborn/genetic

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Total voters
    22
Let's just say that I'm skeptical about things I can't prove to myself. Science is only half right in most of their theories. They get an A on effects, but a D on provable causes.

ricksfolly

You really actually believe this?
 
If anyone is interested there is a site that goes in depth exploring the subject, and has numerous articles posted there over the last several years looking at this issue, it is rather fascinating; however it is most certainly not light reading.

Neuropolitics.org

One article that I recall from that site that is of interest was "Conservative left brain, Liberal right brain"

Edit: I initially linked to the wrong articles on the same subject matter, but they were not the particular one that I recalled that discussed people with split brain syndrome (one hemisphere of the brain cut off from the other).

The correct link is here:
Conservative Left Brain, Liberal Right Brain
 
I would lean towards 0% being nature, and 100% being nurture...

There is perhaps a small percentage that is natural, but I personally don't think it is all that hard to overcome - if it even exists.

In the sense that everything we know is nurtured (conditioned), I agree, but our body and how it functions has to be natural, just as animals are natural. Somehow I can't see our memories floating around out there without our bodies.

ricksfolly
 
Considering most ideologies today are complete fabrications from within the last 300 years, no I do not think there is a connection between genes and ideology. There is a connection between ideas and the way somebody is brought up but I doubt it's got biological ramifications.
 
Considering most ideologies today are complete fabrications from within the last 300 years, no I do not think there is a connection between genes and ideology. There is a connection between ideas and the way somebody is brought up but I doubt it's got biological ramifications.

Well - some ideologies center around beliefs about marriage (such as who has the right to marry).

On one hand you might have someone with the ideology that gays shouldn't be allowed to marry.

On the other hand you might have someone who is gay and believes he should have the right to marry his partner. . . a proponent of gay-marriage might be able to argue that who you're attracted to centers around body-chemistry and pheromones.

Since pheromones are purely physical, and attraction stems from that, then it might be considered purely natural to be gay and, thus, purely acceptable for gays to marry.

Thus - one's physical makeup might affect their ideology.

OR - another example could be that one's personality affects what they do and don't believe.

If someone is, say, by their nature an understanding and non-aggressive person then they wouldn't align their self with an ideology that challenges authority or centers around illegal activities.

And on I could go - physical differences and deformities might affect how one feels they measure up. One's gender or race might strongly deter them from aligning with ideologies that are prejudice or racist, sexist . . . and so on.

I think you have to dig a bit deeper to figure out which ones might come from or be affected by genetic makeup and personality, but they're there.
 
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Can you prove how genes affect political leans? I've taken genetics in college and we did learn about genes that can influence behavior, but I don't think there is a "liberal" or "Hindu" gene out there.

There's no liberal gene, no Hindu gene, and no proof for any of this either way. But it's just common sense. For example, a lot of our ideologies derives from the methods we approach issues with, our level of intellectual curiosity, and such like that, and it's pretty hard to argue that these things have no basis in genes. It's not as if there's genes which make people liberal and conservative, but it's very likely that there's genes which give people traits that, when applied to the modern political spectrum, would then make one more likely to lean one way or the other.

I seem to remember seeing a psychologist (Jonathan Haidt) assert that conservatism was actually partially hereditary, but I didn't read that whole article so I don't know if he elaborated.
 
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There's no liberal gene, no Hindu gene, and no proof for any of this either way. But it's just common sense. For example, a lot of our ideologies derives from the methods we approach issues with, our level of intellectual curiosity, and such like that, and it's pretty hard to argue that these things have no basis in genes. It's not as if there's genes which make people liberal and conservative, but it's very likely that there's genes which give people traits that, when applied to the modern political spectrum, would then make one more likely to lean one way or the other.

I seem to remember seeing a psychologist (Jonathan Haidt) assert that conservatism was actually partially hereditary, but I didn't read that whole article so I don't know if he elaborated.

The problem with arguments like that is things like intellectual curiosity do not necessarily lead two different people to arrive at the same conclusions.
 
The problem with arguments like that is things like intellectual curiosity do not necessarily lead two different people to arrive at the same conclusions.

No, but they can lead one person to a different conclusion, and they can lead groups of people to groups of conclusions. I'm willing to bet that a high level of intellectual curiosity would overall make people much more likely to be either liberal or libertarian - but again, it's not that the modern spectrum is derived from genetics, it's the other way around.

Anyways, that's just one factor. The way your mind works is largely influenced by genetics, and your politics is largely influenced by the way your mind works. Not 100% or even a majority for either necessarily, but still to a notable extent.
 
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