Political scientists have long known that the sense of civic duty is one of the strongest predictors of individual voter turnout, yet scholars are only just starting to study and understand the origins of this orientation. Recent genopolitics research has indicated that the sense of civic duty is heritable, and recent research in political psychology has illustrated that individual personality traits, many of which have a heritable component, shape feelings of civic obligation. In this article, we link these two lines of inquiry to better understand how individual differences shape the sense of civic duty. More specifically, we explore the relationship between personality traits, measured using the Big Five model; genes; and the sense of civic duty. We show that genetic factors account for between 70% and 87% of the correlation between civic duty and four of the Big Five personality traits. Overall, the results presented here expand our understanding of the process through which prosocial orientations, such as civic duty, are formed.
ArceneauxK.JohnsonM.MaesH. H. (2012). The genetic basis of political sophistication. Twin Research and Human Genetics, 15, 34-41.
2.
BekkersR. (2005). Participation in voluntary associations: Relations with resources, personality, and political values. Political Psychology, 26, 439-454.
3.
BlaisA. (2000). To vote or not to vote? The merits and limits of rational choice theory. Pittsburgh, PA: University of Pittsburgh Press.
4.
BlaisA.AchenC. (2010). Taking civic duty seriously: Political theory and voter turnout (Working paper).
5.
BlaisA.GalaisC. (2016). Measuring the civic duty to vote: A proposal. Electoral Studies, 41, 60-69.
6.
BlaisA.Labbé-St-VincentS. (2011). Personality traits, political attitudes and the propensity to vote. European Journal of Political Research, 50, 395-417.
7.
BouchardT. (1994). Genes, environment, and personality. Science, 264, 1700-1701.
8.
BouchardT. (2004). Genetic influence on human psychological traits. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 13, 148-151.
9.
BrownS.TaylorK. (2015). Charitable behaviour and the big five personality traits: Evidence from UK panel data. Unpublished manuscript.
10.
CampbellA.ConverseP.MillerW.StokesD. (1960). The American voter. New York, NY:John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
11.
CampbellD. (2006). Why we vote: How schools and communities shape our civic life. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
12.
CarloG.OkunM.KnightG.de GuzmanM. (2005). The interplay of traits and motives on volunteering: Agreeableness, extraversion and prosocial value motivation. Personality and Individual Differences, 38, 1293-1305.
13.
ConverseP. (2006). The nature of belief systems in mass publics (1964). Critical Review, 18(1-3), 1-74.
14.
CredéM.HarmsP.NiehorsterS.Gaye-ValentineA. (2012). An evaluation of the consequences of using short measures of the big five personality traits. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 102, 874-888.
15.
DawesC. T.CesariniD.FowlerJ. H.JohannessonM.MagnussonP. K.OskarssonS. (2014). The relationship between genes, psychological traits, and political participation. American Journal of Political Science, 58, 888-903.
16.
DawesC. T.SettleJ. E.LoewenP. J.McGueM.IaconoW. G. (2015). Genes, psychological traits and civic engagement. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B, 370(1683), Article 20150015.
17.
Delli CarpiniM. X. (2009). The psychology of civic learning. In BorgidaE.FredericoC.SullivanJ. (Eds.), The political psychology of democratic citizenship (pp. 23-51). New York, NY: Oxford University Press.
18.
Delli CarpiniM. X.KeeterS. (1996). What Americans know about politics and why it matters. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.
19.
DinesenP. T.NørgaardA. S.KlemmensenR. (2014). The civic personality: Personality and democratic citizenship. Political Studies, 62(Suppl. 1), 134-152.
20.
DownsA. (1957). An economic theory of democracy. New York, NY: Addison-Wesley.
21.
FazekasZ.LittvayL. (2012). Choosing sides: The genetics of why we go with the loudest. Journal of Theoretical Politics, 24, 389-408.
22.
FazekasZ.LittvayL. (2015). The importance of context in the genetic transmission of U.S. party identification. Political Psychology, 36, 361-377.
23.
FinkelS. (1985). Reciprocal effects of participation and political efficacy: A panel analysis. American Journal of Political Science, 4, 891-913.
24.
FowlerJ. H.BakerL. A.DawesC. T. (2008). Genetic variation in political behavior. American Political Science Review, 102, 233-248.
25.
FunkC. L.SmithK. B.AlfordJ. R.HibbingM. V.EatonN. R.KruegerR. F.HibbingJ. R. (2013). Genetic and environmental transmission of political orientations. Political Psychology, 34, 805-819.
26.
GalaisC.BlaisA. (2014). Beyond rationalization: Voting out of duty or expressing duty after voting?International Political Science Review, 37, 213-229.
27.
GallegoA.OberskiD. (2012). Personality and political participation: The mediation hypothesis. Political Behavior, 34, 425-451.
28.
GerberA. S.HuberG. A.DohertyD.DowlingC. M. (2011). Personality traits and the consumption of political information. American Politics Research, 39, 32-84.
29.
GerberA. S.HuberG. A.DohertyD.DowlingC. M.PanagopoulosC. (2013). Big five personality traits and responses to persuasive appeals: Results from voter turnout experiments. Political Behavior, 35, 687-728.
30.
GerberA. S.HuberG. A.DohertyD.DowlingC. M.RasoC.HaS. (2011). Personality traits and participation in political processes. Journal of Politics, 73, 692-706.
31.
GoslingS.RentfrowP.SwannW. B. (2003). A very brief measure of the big five personality domains. Journal of Research in Personality, 37, 504-528.
32.
HatemiP. K.HibbingJ.AlfordJ.MartinN.EavesL. (2009). Is there a party in your genes. Political Research Quarterly, 62, 584-600.
33.
HatemiP. K.VerhulstB. (2015). Political attitudes develop independently of personality traits. PLoS ONE, 10(3), 1-24.
34.
HetheringtonM. (1998). The political relevance of political trust. American Political Science Review, 92, 791-808.
35.
JangK.LivesleyW.VernonP. (1996). Heritability of the big five personality dimensions and their facets: A twin study. Journal of Personality, 64, 577-591.
36.
JangK.McCraeR.AngleitnerA.RiemannR.LivesleyW. (1998). Heritability of facet-level traits in a cross-cultural twin sample: Support for a hierarchical model of personality. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 74, 1556-1565.
37.
JohnO. P.SrivastavaS. (1999). The big five trait taxonomy: History, measurement, and theoretical perspectives. In PervinL. A.JohnO. P. (Eds.), Handbook of personality: Theory and research (pp. 102-138). New York, NY: Guilford Press.
38.
JudgeT.ErezA.BonoJ.ThoresenC. (2002). Are measures of self-esteem, neuroticism, locus of control, and generalized self-efficacy indicators of a common core construct?Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 83, 693-710.
39.
KlemmensenR.HatemiP. K.HoboltS. B.PetersenI.SkyttheA.NørgaardA. S. (2012). The genetics of political participation, civic duty, and political efficacy across cultures: Denmark and the united states. Journal of Theoretical Politics, 24, 409-427.
40.
KlemmensenR.HatemiP. K.HoboltS. B.SkyttheA.NørgaardA. S. (2012). Heritability in political interest and efficacy across cultures: Denmark and the United States. Twin Research and Human Genetics, 15, 15-20.
41.
KsiazkiewiczA.LudekeS.KruegerR. (2016). The role of cognitive style in the link between genes and political ideology. Political Psychology, 37, 761-776.
42.
Lewis-BeckM.JacobyW.NorpothH.WeisbergH. (2008). The American voter revisited. Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press.
43.
LittvayL.WeithP. T.DawesC. T. (2011). Sense of control and voting: A genetically-driven relationship. Social Science Quarterly, 92, 1236-1252.
44.
LoehlinJ.McCraeR.CostaP. (1998). Heritabilities of common and measure-specific components of the big five personality factors. Journal of Research in Personality, 32, 431-453.
45.
LoewenP.DawesC. (2012). The heritability of duty and voter turnout. Political Psychology, 33, 363-373.
46.
LucianoM.WainwrightM.WrightM. J.MartinN. G. (2006). The heritability of conscientiousness facets and their relationship to IQ and academic achievement. Personality and Individual Differences, 40, 1189-1199.
47.
MartinN.EavesL. (1977). The genetic analysis of covariance structure. Heredity, 38, 79-95.
48.
McCraeR. R.CostaP. T. (1992). An introduction to the five-factor model and its implications. Journal of Personality, 60, 175-215.
49.
McCraeR. R.CostaP. T. (2003). Personality in adulthood: A five-factor theory perspective. New York, NY: Guilford Press.
50.
McCraeR. R.CostaP. T. (2008). The five-factor theory of personality. In JohnO. P.RobinsR. W.PervinL. A. (Eds.), Handbook of personality: Theory and research (3rd ed., pp. 159-181). New York, NY: Guilford Press.
51.
McManusM.KellyM. (1999). Personality measures and biodata: Evidence regarding their incremental predictive value in the life insurance industry. Personnel Psychology, 52, 37-148.
52.
MedlandS.HatemiP. (2009). Political science, biometric theory, and twin studies: A methodological introduction. Political Analysis, 17, 191-214.
53.
MillerR.GriffinM.HartP. (1999). Personality and organizational health: The role of conscientiousness. Work and Stress, 13, 17-29.
54.
MondakJ. (2010). Personality and the foundations of political behavior. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press.
55.
MondakJ.HibbingM.CanacheD.SeligsonM.AndersonM. (2010). Personality and civic engagement: An integrative framework for the study of trait effects on political behavior. American Political Science Review, 104, 85-110.
56.
NealeM.BokerS.XieG.MaesH. (2003). Mx: Statistical modeling. Richmond, VA: Department of Psychiatry.
57.
NealeM.CardonL. (1992). Methodology for genetic studies of twins and families. Dordrecht, The Netherlands: Kluwer Academic.
58.
NeumanG.KickulJ. (1998). Organizational citizenship behaviors: Achievement orientation and personality. Journal of Business and Psychology, 13, 263-279.
59.
NiemiR.JenningsM. K. (1991). Issues and inheritance in the formation of party identification. American Journal of Political Science, 35, 970-988.
60.
OskarssonS.CesariniD.DawesC.FowlerJ.JohannessonM.MagnussonP.TeorellJ. (2015). Linking genes and political orientations: Testing the cognitive ability as mediator hypothesis. Political Psychology, 36, 649-665.
61.
OskarssonS.DawesC.JohannessonM.MagnussonP. (2012). The genetic origins of the relationship between psychological traits and social trust. Twin Research and Human Genetics, 15, 21-33.
62.
PosthumaD.BeemL.de GeusE.van BaalG.von HjelmborgJ.IachineI.BoomsmaD. (2003). Theory and practice in quantitative genetics. Twin Research and Human Genetics, 6, 361-376.
63.
PullmanH.RaudseppL.AllikJ. (2006). Stability and change in adolescents’ personality: A longitudinal study. European Journal of Personality, 20, 447-459.
64.
RikerW. H.OrdeshookP. C. (1968). A theory of the calculus of voting. The American Political Science Review, 62, 25-42.
65.
SchoenH.SteinbrecherM. (2013). Beyond total effects: Exploring the interplay of personality and attitudes in affecting turnout in the 2009 German federal election. Political Psychology, 34, 533-552.
66.
SettleJ.DawesC.LoewenP.PanagopoulosC. (Forthcoming). Negative affectivity, political contention, and turnout: A genopolitics field experiment. Political Psychology. doi: 10.1111/pops.12379
67.
StelmackR. (1991). Advances in personality theory and research. Journal of Psychiatric Neuroscience, 16, 131-138.
68.
VerhulstB.EavesL.HatemiP. (2012). Correlation not causation: The relationship between personality traits. American Journal of Political Science, 56, 34-51.
69.
VerhulstB.HatemiP.MartinN. (2010). The nature of the relationship between personality and political attitudes. Personality and Individual Differences, 49, 306-316.
70.
VisscherP. M.YangJ.GoddardM. E. (2010). A commentary on “common snps explain a large proportion of the heritability for human height” by yang et al. (2010). Twin Research and Human Genetics, 13, 517-524.
71.
WeberC.JohnsonM.ArceneauxK. (2011). Genetics, personality, and group identity. Social Science Quarterly, 92, 1314-1337.
72.
WeinschenkA. (2014). Personality traits and the sense of civic duty. American Politics Research, 42, 90-113.
73.
WeinschenkA.PanagopoulosC. (2014). Personality, negativity, and political participation. Journal of Social and Political Psychology, 2, 164-182.
74.
YangJ.BenyaminB.McEvoyB.GordonS.HendersA.NyholtD.. . . VisscherP. (2010). Common SNPs explain a large proportion of the heritability for human height. Nature Genetics, 42, 565-569.
75.
YangJ.LeeS. H.GoddardM. E.VisscherP. M. (2011). Gcta: A tool for genome-wide complex trait analysis. American Journal of Human Genetics, 88, 76-82.
Supplementary Material
Please find the following supplemental material available below.
For Open Access articles published under a Creative Commons License, all supplemental material carries the same license as the article it is associated with.
For non-Open Access articles published, all supplemental material carries a non-exclusive license, and permission requests for re-use of supplemental material or any part of supplemental material shall be sent directly to the copyright owner as specified in the copyright notice associated with the article.
