{"id":4400,"date":"2006-02-24T12:39:24","date_gmt":"2006-02-24T16:39:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.law.harvard.edu\/formerlyknownas\/2006\/02\/24\/blue-genes-and-billie-wilson\/"},"modified":"2011-08-05T14:54:08","modified_gmt":"2011-08-05T18:54:08","slug":"blue-genes-and-billie-wilson","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/2006\/02\/24\/blue-genes-and-billie-wilson\/","title":{"rendered":"blue genes and billie wilson"},"content":{"rendered":"

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The article “Twigs Bent Left or Right<\/A>: Understanding how liberals <\/EM><\/FONT><\/DIV>
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and conservatives differ, from conception on<\/EM>,” from the current <\/FONT><\/DIV>
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edition of Harvard Magazine<\/EM> (Jan-Feb. 2006), has a rather mis-<\/FONT><\/DIV>
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leading title.  It’s really just a discussion of studies that support <\/FONT><\/DIV>
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(usually quite weakly) or refute (ditto) various theories on what <\/FONT><\/DIV>
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forces effect an individual’s political philosophy or party affiliation.<\/FONT><\/DIV><\/FONT>
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The article is worth a read if those issues interest you.  For me, <\/FONT><\/DIV>
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the most compelling section was a Sidebar called Blue Genes or Red?<\/FONT><\/A>,<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/DIV>
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which describes a study by Harvard Professor Sidney Verba into <\/FONT><\/DIV>
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whether one’s genetic makeup can predict whether they will have <\/FONT><\/DIV>
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conservative or liberal views. <\/FONT><\/DIV>
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“twins Nov51 small” <\/FONT><\/DIV>
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The study used data on 8,000 sets of twins. “<\/FONT>Using information about <\/FONT><\/DIV>
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their opinions on 28 different political issues, they compared fraternal <\/FONT><\/DIV>
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twins, who share half of their genes, with identical twins, who have the <\/FONT><\/DIV>
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same genes. The researchers assumed that twins raised in the same <\/FONT><\/DIV>
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home experienced a similar upbringing.”  The results?<\/FONT><\/DIV>
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\"tiny <\/FONT>They found that genetic inheritance played a <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/DIV>
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statistically significant role in all 28 issues, but opinions on <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/DIV>
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school prayer and property taxes were the most powerfully <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/DIV>
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influenced by genes. Both had a ‘heritability estimate’ of .41, <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/DIV>
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while views on federal housing and liberals had estimates of <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/DIV>
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.20 and .18, making them the least affected by DNA. <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/DIV>
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“Although DNA appears to predispose people to react one way <\/FONT><\/DIV>
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or another to certain issues, shaping their ideology, the researchers <\/FONT><\/DIV>
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said party affiliation seems to depend more on the environment in <\/FONT><\/DIV>
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which the twins were raised.  <\/FONT><\/DIV><\/BLOCKQUOTE>
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Naturally, Verba is cautious about what this study reveals, saying, he says. <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/DIV>
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“Pinning down any genetic basis of politics and separating it from how you <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/DIV>
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were raised, and then connecting them to actual public policy or voting behavior <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/DIV>
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has got a long way to go. But I can see more of this in the future.”<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/DIV>
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<\/FONT> <\/DIV>
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                                                                                your editor and his brother<\/FONT><\/EM>  \"twins<\/FONT><\/DIV>
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<\/FONT> <\/DIV>
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Another wishy-washy study from an academic who hopes for more grant money?<\/FONT><\/DIV>
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Probably.  I can tell you, though, that my identical twin brother and I almost <\/FONT><\/DIV>
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certainly have similar views on school prayer and property taxes.  I need to poll <\/FONT><\/DIV>
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him about his feelings on federal housing and liberals.<\/FONT><\/DIV>
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<\/FONT> <\/DIV>
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“snowflakesN” From Billie Wilson and the <\/FONT>Alaska Haiku Society<\/FONT><\/A> <\/FONT><\/DIV>
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website:  <\/FONT><\/DIV>
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late night rain–<\/FONT><\/P>
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he reads to me from the book<\/FONT><\/P>
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I read to him<\/FONT><\/P>
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Mayfly<\/FONT><\/A> #40 (2005)<\/FONT><\/P><\/BLOCKQUOTE><\/BLOCKQUOTE><\/BLOCKQUOTE><\/BLOCKQUOTE><\/BLOCKQUOTE>
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nearly dark–<\/FONT><\/P>
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snow deepens<\/FONT><\/P>
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on the baseball field<\/FONT><\/P>
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Acorn<\/FONT><\/A> <\/FONT><\/I>15 (2005)<\/FONT> <\/FONT><\/P>
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\"snow<\/FONT><\/P><\/BLOCKQUOTE><\/BLOCKQUOTE><\/BLOCKQUOTE><\/BLOCKQUOTE>
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swing shift<\/FONT><\/P>
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scattered through the parking lot<\/FONT><\/P>
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leaves from distant trees<\/FONT><\/P>
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<\/FONT> <\/P>
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                   <\/FONT>Mariposa<\/EM><\/FONT><\/A>13 (2005)<\/FONT><\/P><\/BLOCKQUOTE><\/BLOCKQUOTE><\/BLOCKQUOTE><\/BLOCKQUOTE>
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winter storm–<\/FONT><\/P>
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three people in the checkout line<\/FONT><\/P>
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buying daffodils<\/FONT><\/P>
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              <\/FONT>Acorn<\/EM><\/FONT><\/A> <\/EM><\/FONT>15 (2005)<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P>
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a squabble of jays–<\/FONT><\/P>
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he shovels my bootprints<\/FONT><\/P>
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off the sidewalk<\/FONT><\/P>
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<\/FONT> <\/P>
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           <\/FONT>The Heron’s Nest<\/EM><\/FONT><\/A> <\/EM>VII:4 (2005)<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P><\/BLOCKQUOTE><\/BLOCKQUOTE><\/BLOCKQUOTE><\/BLOCKQUOTE>
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<\/FONT> <\/P><\/DIV>
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Billie Wilson<\/FONT><\/A><\/FONT><\/DIV>
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<\/FONT> <\/DIV>
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                                                                                                      “snowflakeSN”<\/FONT><\/DIV>
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 <\/DIV><\/BLOCKQUOTE><\/FONT><\/BLOCKQUOTE><\/BLOCKQUOTE><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The article “Twigs Bent Left or Right: Understanding how liberals and conservatives differ, from conception on,” from the current  edition of Harvard Magazine (Jan-Feb. 2006), has a rather mis- leading title.  It’s really just a discussion of studies that support  (usually quite weakly) or refute (ditto) various theories on what  forces effect an individual’s political philosophy or party […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":94,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[2926],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4400","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-pre-06-2006"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6kP1R-18Y","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4400","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/94"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4400"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4400\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12763,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4400\/revisions\/12763"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4400"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4400"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4400"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}