ArticleSocial psychology quarterly2009
The Politics of the Gene: Social Status and Beliefs about Genetics for Individual Outcomes.
Article in Social psychology quarterly, 2009. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 19 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
19 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Cross-National and Cross-Generational Evidence That Educational Attainment May Slow the Pace of Aging in European-Descent Individuals.The journals of gerontology. Series B, Psychological sciences and social sciences · 2023Pooled it
- Adolescent Deviance and Cyber-Deviance. A Systematic Literature Review.Frontiers in psychology · 2021Pooled it
- No Argument with Biology? The Effects of Genetic Explanations for Socioeconomic Outcomes on American and Swedish Citizens' Attitudes Towards Government Intervention.Behavior genetics · 2026Article
- Perceived Biological Bases of Sexual Orientation and Sexual Prejudice: The Moderating Role of Gender and Religious Beliefs.Archives of sexual behavior · 2025Article
- Perceptions of the determinants of health across income and urbanicity levels in eight countries.Communications medicine · 2024Article
- Genetic determinism, essentialism and reductionism: semantic clarity for contested science.Nature reviews. Genetics · 2023Review
- Encountering the social determinants of health on a COVID-19 ICU: Frontline providers' perspectives on inequality in a time of pandemic.SSM. Qualitative research in health · 2021Article
- The Psychiatric Genetic Data of Children in Proceedings to Terminate Parental Rights.The journal of the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law · 2021Article
- Relationships of Family History-related Factors and Causal Beliefs to Cancer Risk Perception and Mammography Screening Adherence Among Medically Underserved Women.Journal of health communication · 2020Article
- Implicit associations of teleology and essentialism concepts with genetics concepts among secondary school students.PloS one · 2020Article
- Preventing discrimination based on psychiatric risk biomarkers.American journal of medical genetics. Part B, Neuropsychiatric genetics : the official publication of the International Society of Psychiatric Genetics · 2019Review
- Acceptance and Disclosure: Comparing genetic symmetry and genetic asymmetry in heterosexual couples between egg recipients and embryo recipients.Facts, views & vision in ObGyn · 2016Article
- Epigenetic Determinism in Science and Society.New genetics and society · 2015Article
- The Genomic Revolution and Beliefs about Essential Racial Differences: A Backdoor to Eugenics?American sociological review · 2013Article
- Does Biology Justify Ideology? The Politics of Genetic Attribution.Public opinion quarterly · 2013Article
- Implicit essentialism: genetic concepts are implicitly associated with fate concepts.PloS one · 2012Article
- Genetic essentialism: on the deceptive determinism of DNA.Psychological bulletin · 2011Review
- What's at stake? Genetic information from the perspective of people with epilepsy and their family members.Social science & medicine (1982) · 2011Article
- Images of illness: how causal claims and racial associations influence public preferences toward diabetes research spending.Journal of health politics, policy and law · 2010Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
4 authors.
Funding
Abstract
Social scientists have predicted that individuals who occupy socially privileged positions or who have conservative political orientations are most likely to endorse the idea that genes are the root cause of differences among individuals. Drawing on a nationally representative sample of the US population, this study examines belief in the importance of genes for understanding individual differences in a series of broad domains: physical illness, serious mental illness, intelligence, personality, and success in life. We also assess whether the belief that genetics are important for these outcomes is more common among those in relatively advantaged positions or among those who are more politically conservative. Finally, we consider whether such beliefs predict attitudes toward genetics-related social policies. Our analyses suggest that belief in the importance of genetics for individual differences may well have a substantial effect on attitudes toward genetics-related policies, independent of political orientation or other measures. Our study identifies high levels of endorsement for genes as causes of health and social outcomes. We describe a cultural schema in which outcomes that are "closer to the body" are more commonly attributed to genetics. Contrary to expectations, however, we find little evidence that it is more common for whites, the socioeconomically advantaged, or political conservatives to believe that genetics are important for health and social outcomes.
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.