Red Brain Blue Brain
Studies about “nature vs nurture” have more-or-less determined that there are some things we are born with and other things we learn. Obviously, things like being right- or left-handed are pretty-much beyond our control — we are born that way. But other behaviors, like if we are mostly happy or mostly sad, well, how we are brought-up can make a difference. Or so we think.
Studying twins who are separated at birth is particularly fascinating because genetically they are the same — this is the “nature” part. So then any differences observed between the twins can probably be attributed to how they grew up — the “nurture” part. This helps to figure-out which is which. Sounds easy enough.
What’s very interesting about these studies of twins is how they have found personality traits like being mostly happy or mostly sad to be mostly inherited, NOT learned. What was found was that even twins who were separated at birth were more alike than different in these ways. It may be surprising, but our emotions are largely driven by our hormones and brain chemistry, and like it or not, we’re mostly born with that.
On the flip side, things like height, for instance, are not entirely genetic. It may be hard to believe, but sometimes twins who were separated at birth don’t grow-up to be the same height. The reason is because of diet, healthiness, athleticism, and stature (“sit up straight!”) — in other words, nurture. Maybe a lot of it. Crazy but true.
But perhaps most interesting of all — especially in these tumultuous times — is that our political orientation is not entirely learned, as one might think. It’s NOT entirely our choice. Best estimates are that roughly a third of the reason we tend towards “Conservative” or “Liberal” is because we were born leaning that way. Sometimes, our race can be an influencing factor (for instance, being born black into segregation), and sometimes even our gender (for instance, being born female into a patriarchy), but by-and-large these all add-up to predisposition one way or another. Things pretty-much beyond our control.
There is a podcast on this very subject, “Nature, Nurture, and Your Politics,” and it is a worthwhile listen to anyone with 26 minutes to spare.
In the podcast, a political scientist at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln named John Hibbing is interviewed about these things, and he concludes, “What I would say to that argument is that I believe we have always had this very same division [so-called Conservative and Liberal]. This is the very basic difference between people who are fairly sensitive to threats and think we need to be vigilant and those people who are more into experimentation and trying new things. Ralph Waldo Emerson has a great quote — and I’m sorry I can’t give it to you verbatim — but it’s basically that the division between those people who are supporters of tradition and those people who are supportive of innovation is very old and has structured the world since time began.”
“The two parties which divide the state, the party of Conservation and that of Innovation, are very old, and have disputed the possession of the world ever since it was made.” Ralph Waldo Emerson
It’s very likely that the human species has survived because some of us ventured out into the wilderness while others of us stayed home. Liberals and Conservatives. We need each other more than we know. If we stop to think about it, the world would not be a better place if everyone thought the same way. In fact, had that been the case, we wouldn’t have survived this long.
So the next time you are arguing with someone and you can’t believe they think the way they do, well, you should thank them for that. ;)
