You Liberal? It’s in your genes!

Well, not completely, but there’s an environment of adolescent social life and a gene… and it correlates with being a liberal. From WaPo.

So here’s our question: You probably don’t know if you have the 7R version of the DRD4 gene, but (1) are you a liberal and (2) did you have lots of friends in high school (and a risk taker)?

Is there a gene for liberals? Well, not quite, but scientists say they have found the first evidence that a gene can play a role in shaping an individual’s political leanings.

In this case, it appears a variation of a gene known as DRD4, which had previously been linked to risk-taking behavior, also makes people more likely to be liberal. But there’s a catch: That’s only the case if they had a lot of friends when they were in high school….

… They found that people with the “7R” version of the DRD4 gene were more likely to be liberal as adults, but only if they had an active social life when they were adolescents….

… They add: “We do not claim that this evidence proves a causal relationship between DRD4 and political ideology. However, the association is consistent with a causal theory that we develop about the ways genes and environments combine to affect political ideology.” Just having the gene does not make a person liberal, nor does “simply having a greater numbr of friends as teenager,” they said. The gene also does not cause an individual to have more friends. “Rather it is the crucial interaction of two factors”–having the gene and having many friends–“that is associated with being liberal.”