Political Attitudes Vary with Physiological Traits

The words above are the title of a research article published in the journal Science in 2008. Science is the leading scientific journal in the US and all articles must pass stringent peer review to be accepted for publication. Here is the abstract for this article - my comments are below.

Political Attitudes Vary with Physiological Traits
Douglas R. Oxley, Kevin B. Smith, John R. Alford, Matthew V. Hibbing, Jennifer L. Miller, Mario Scalora, Peter K. Hatemi, John R. Hibbing

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.

Science 19 September 2008:
Vol. 321. no. 5896, pp. 1667 - 1670
DOI: 10.1126/science.1157627

These are remarkable findings and need to be replicated with a far larger sample. But their implication is enormous. People are conservatives or liberals because of their biology. This is the same as homosexuals, whose chemistry determines their orientation.

These results imply that it may be difficult to get Republicans or Democrats to change their beliefs because logic does not control them - something that is obvious when people vote against their own interests.

I wonder if Republican operatives know of these results or if they simply understand that fear can move people beyond logic? The common resort to fear that Republicans often use seems geared exactly at their core.