PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Oxley, Douglas R.
AU  - Smith, Kevin B.
AU  - Alford, John R.
AU  - Hibbing, Matthew V.
AU  - Miller, Jennifer L.
AU  - Scalora, Mario
AU  - Hatemi, Peter K.
AU  - Hibbing, John R.
TI  - Political Attitudes Vary with Physiological Traits
AID  - 10.1126/science.1157627
DP  - 2008 Sep 19
TA  - Science
PG  - 1667--1670
VI  - 321
IP  - 5896
4099  - http://science.sciencemag.org/content/321/5896/1667.short
4100  - http://science.sciencemag.org/content/321/5896/1667.full
SO  - Science2008 Sep 19; 321
AB  - Although political views have been thought to arise largely from individuals' experiences, recent research suggests that they may have a biological basis. We present evidence that variations in political attitudes correlate with physiological traits. In a group of 46 adult participants with strong political beliefs, individuals with measurably lower physical sensitivities to sudden noises and threatening visual images were more likely to support foreign aid, liberal immigration policies, pacifism, and gun control, whereas individuals displaying measurably higher physiological reactions to those same stimuli were more likely to favor defense spending, capital punishment, patriotism, and the Iraq War. Thus, the degree to which individuals are physiologically responsive to threat appears to indicate the degree to which they advocate policies that protect the existing social structure from both external (outgroup) and internal (norm-violator) threats.