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Conservative scientists: Liberal gene discovered – Metro US

Conservative scientists: Liberal gene discovered

U.S. scientists have a message for liberal voters: Blame it on your genes.

According to researchers at the University of California and Harvard, one of the brain’s neurotransmitters — called DRD4 — could be stimulated by the novelty value of left-of-center opinions, according to a new article in the Journal of Politics.

This biological trait leads those possessing it to seek out unconventional companions — and therefore, later in life, to hold more unconventional political beliefs.

The research claims that those who carry the DRD4 gene are compelled to seek out “novelty” — which, the researchers seem to have concluded, is one way to describe non-conservative thought.

The findings undermine beliefs that allege social factors play a large role in political beliefs.

“It is the crucial interaction of two factors — the genetic predisposition and the environmental condition of having many friends in adolescence — that is associated with being more liberal,” explained University of California professor James Fowler.

But having the gene isn’t enough, as the study says they also need to be “embedded in a social context that provides them with multiple points of view.”