The Molecule of More

Chapter 5

POLITICS

Why we can’t just get along.

In which we learn how superpowers and hand

sanitizers affect our political ideology

THE AUTHORS REGRET...

In April 2002 the American Journal of Political Science published a research
report, “Correlation not Causation: The Relationship Between Per-
sonality Traits and Political Ideologies.” It was written by a group of
researchers from Virginia Commonwealth University who studied the
link between political beliefs and personality traits. They found that the
two were connected, and that the connection could be attributed to
genes. Along the way, they noticed that certain personality traits were
associated with liberals and others with conservatives.
They were particularly interested in a collection of personality
features—what psychiatrists call a personality constellation—called P. The

Conservative: A statesman who is enamored of existing evils, as

distinguished from the liberal, who wishes to replace them with others.

—Ambrose Bierce, The Devil’s Dictionary