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Choosing sides: The genetics of why we go with the loudest

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  • Zoltán Fazekas

    (University of Vienna, Austria)

  • Levente Littvay

    (Central European University, Hungary)

Abstract

Recent developments in spatial voting have moved beyond finding the most appropriate utility function and started to assess individual differences in decision strategy. The question is not if a proximity or directional worldview performs better in general, rather under what conditions do people pick one strategy over the other? We draw on psychological theories to develop a survey-based measure of individual decision strategy and take a behavior genetic route to explaining the individual differences. We argue that dispositional traits shape whether an individual develops a directional or proximity worldview of the political arena. Utilizing a classical twin design, we capitalize on the documented relationship between partisanship and a directionalist worldview. We find that, in the Minnesota Twin Political Survey, both the strength of party identification and directional voting are moderately (~20 percent) but significantly ( p

Suggested Citation

  • Zoltán Fazekas & Levente Littvay, 2012. "Choosing sides: The genetics of why we go with the loudest," Journal of Theoretical Politics, , vol. 24(3), pages 389-408, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:jothpo:v:24:y:2012:i:3:p:389-408
    DOI: 10.1177/0951629812437750
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    References listed on IDEAS

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