Biology and political orientation

A number of studies have found that human biology can be linked with political orientation.[1] This means that an individual's biology may predispose them to a particular political orientation and ideology. Many of the studies linking biology to politics remain controversial and unrepeated.[2]Davies, James (Dec 1983). "The Proper Biological Study of Politics". Political Psychology. 4 (4): 731–743. doi:10.2307/3791065. JSTOR 3791065.

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Studies have found that subjects with right-wing, or conservative in the United States, political views have larger amygdalae and are more sensitive to disgust. Those with left-wing, or liberal in the United States, political views have larger volume of grey matter in the anterior cingulate cortex and are more attentive to incongruent information. Conservatives have a stronger sympathetic nervous system response to threatening images and are more sensitive to threatening facial expressions. [3]

Genetic factors account for at least some of the variation of political views. From the perspective of evolutionary psychology, conflicts regarding redistribution of wealth may have been common in the ancestral environment and humans may have developed psychological mechanisms for judging their own chances of succeeding in such conflicts. These mechanisms affect political views.