Collaborative Research: DHB: Identifying the Biological Influences on Political Temperaments

合作研究：DHB：识别生物对政治气质的影响

• 批准号: 0826867
• 负责人: John Alford
• 金额: --
• 依托单位: William Marsh Rice University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2009
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2009-01-01 至 2012-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0826867&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Collaborative; Research; DHB; Identifying; Biological

Humans live in large social units and often care deeply about the rules governing life in those units (politics) even if those rules are unlikely to affect them personally. In fact, they sometimes care so deeply that differences of opinion over politics can be the cause of small-scale arguments and large-scale violence. This project examines the multiple influences on people's political preferences, using a wide range of techniques across different samples. Traditionally, it has been assumed that environmental factors, like parental socialization, lead some people to adopt positions associated with the left and others to adopt positions associated with the right (while still others refrain from adopting any political positions at all). The field of behavioral genetics, however, modifies this assumption in an important way by providing empirical evidence, mostly from twin studies, showing that genetics also plays a role in shaping political orientations. This research extends this work by using multiple levels of analyses including genotyping, brain imaging, physiological tests, surveys, and hormonal assays, applied to large samples of people in the United States and in Australia. Not only does identifying the specific genes, biological systems, and cognitive processing biases relevant to various political temperaments make the gene-political temperament link more convincing, it elucidates the nature and sources of political orientations. This project will also provide interdisciplinary training opportunities to undergraduate and graduate students.

人类生活在大型的社会单位中，并且经常深切关心那些单位（政治）生活的规则，即使这些规则不太可能影响他们个人。实际上，他们有时会非常关心，以至于对政治的看法差异可能是小规模论点和大规模暴力的原因。该项目使用不同样本中的广泛技术来研究对人们政治偏好的多种影响。传统上，人们认为，诸如父母社会化之类的环境因素导致某些人采取与左派相关的立场，而另一些人则采用与右派相关的立场（而其他人则根本不采用任何政治立场）。然而，行为遗传学领域通过提供经验证据，主要来自双胞胎研究，以一种重要的方式修饰了这一假设，这表明遗传学也在塑造政治取向方面发挥了作用。这项研究通过使用多个分析，包括基因分型，脑成像，生理测试，调查和荷尔蒙分析，扩展了这项工作，并应用于美国和澳大利亚的大量人群。确定特定基因，生物系统和认知处理与各种政治气质相关的偏见，使基因政治气质联系更具说服力，还阐明了政治取向的性质和来源。该项目还将为本科和研究生提供跨学科的培训机会。