Cortisol and politics: variance in voting behavior is predicted by baseline cortisol levels.
Participation in electoral politics is affected by a host of social and demographics variables, but there is growing evidence that biological predispositions may also play a role in behavior related to political involvement. We examined the role of individual variation in hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) stress axis parameters in explaining differences in self-reported and actual participation in political activities. Self-reported political activity, religious participation, and verified voting activity in U.S. national elections were collected from 105 participants, who were subsequently exposed to a standardized (nonpolitical) psychosocial stressor. We demonstrated that lower baseline salivary cortisol in the late afternoon was significantly associated with increased actual voting frequency in six national elections, but not with self-reported non-voting political activity. Baseline cortisol predicted significant variation in voting behavior above and beyond variation accounted for by traditional demographic variables (particularly age of participant in our sample). Participation in religious activity was weakly (and negatively) associated with baseline cortisol. Our results suggest that HPA-mediated characteristics of social, cognitive, and emotional processes may exert an influence on a trait as complex as voting behavior, and that cortisol is a better predictor of actual voting behavior, as opposed to self-reported political activity.
['French|Jeffrey A|JA|', 'Smith|Kevin B|KB|', 'Alford|John R|JR|', 'Guck|Adam|A|', 'Birnie|Andrew K|AK|', 'Hibbing|John R|JR|']
D000704:Analysis of Variance D019540:Area Under Curve D002755:Choice Behavior D005260:Female D006801:Humans D006854:Hydrocortisone D008297:Male D011057:Politics D011237:Predictive Value of Tests D012044:Regression Analysis D012067:Religion D012463:Saliva D013997:Time Factors D014481:United States
Cortisol Politics Voting behavior Stress