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Our Political Nature: The Evolutionary Origins of What Divides Us Hardcover – Illustrated, September 3, 2013

by Avi Tuschman (Author)

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The first book to tell the natural history of political orientations.Our Political Natureis the first book to reveal the hidden roots of our most deeply held moral values. It shows how political orientations across space and time arise from three clusters of measurable personality traits. These clusters entail opposing attitudes toward tribalism, inequality, and differing perceptions of human nature. Together, these traits are by far the most powerful cause of left-right voting, even leading people to regularly vote against their economic interests.As this book explains, our political personalities also influence our likely choice of a mate, and shape society's larger reproductive patterns. Most importantly of all, it tells the evolutionary stories of these crucial personality traits, which stem from epic biological conflicts.Based on dozens of exciting new insights from primatology, genetics, neuroscience, and anthropology, this groundbreaking work brings core concepts to life through current news stories and personalities. For instance, readers will meet Glenn Beck and Hugo Chavez and come to understand the underlying evolutionary forces they represent. By blending serious research with relevant contemporary examples,Our Political Naturecasts important light onto the ideological clashes that so dangerously divide and imperil our world today.

Print length

543 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Prometheus
Publication date

September 3, 2013
Dimensions

6.4 x 1.36 x 9.2 inches
ISBN-10

1616148233
ISBN-13

978-1616148232
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Editorial Reviews

Review

"Think of this book as the next step after Jonathan Haidt."

--TYLER COWEN, Professor of Economics, George Mason University

"Political pundits on the left and right are rushing to grab pieces of Our Political Nature to substantiate their own biases, and this is understandable enough: this is a book of stunning scope and importance. The canvas here is global, and to put it bluntly I've never read anything this fascinating or compelling. I suspect this book will be a cause for heated debate in political and intellectual circles for a long time to come."

--PAUL CHUTKOW, Author and journalist

"The first book I've read that credibly attempts to present a unified view of political science, anthropology, genetics, neuroscience, and primatology. ...offers a penetrating explanation for why Americans (and the rest of the world) vote on a left-right spectrum, even against self and economic interest."

--CEDRIC MUHAMMAD, in Forbes

"At the same time disquieting, stimulating, and hopeful in its observations about humankind's evolutionary heritage and future. ...this book may provide the starting point for the political equivalent of the American Psychology Association's Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders by allowing citizens to identify extremists on both sides of the political spectrum. And sadly, this may be an increasingly necessary tool."

--PATRICK A. STEWART, Assoc. Professor of Political Science, U. of Arkansas; author of Debatable Humor: Laughing Matters on the 2008 Presidential Primary Campaign

"Best book I've read on [the topic]."

--MICHAEL SHERMER, Founding Publisher of Skeptic magazine, and columnist for Scientific American

"Tuschman's book attempts a feat that those of us monitoring the emerging science of politics have long been waiting for... If he's right, a dramatic new window opens on who we are and why we behave as we do."

--CHRIS MOONEY, Award-winning author and science and political journalist, in Washington Monthly

About the Author

Avi Tuschman is an internationally recognized expert on heritable psychometric traits. His research on the bioscience of human political personality has been covered in both mainstream and peer-reviewed media from 24 countries. Tuschman began his career as the youngest advisor in the government palace in Lima, Peru. He subsequently advised 18 former heads of state, multilateral banks, and corporations on shaping public opinion. More recently, Tuschman founded Pinpoint Predictive, which has brought to market the first privacy-safe and commercial applications of Psychometric AI. He holds a doctorate in evolutionary anthropology from Stanford University.

Product details

Publisher : Prometheus; Illustrated edition (September 3, 2013)
Language : English
Hardcover : 543 pages
ISBN-10 : 1616148233
ISBN-13 : 978-1616148232
Item Weight : 1.9 pounds
Dimensions : 6.4 x 1.36 x 9.2 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #1,252,329 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #428 in Evolutionary Psychology
- #3,055 in Medical Social Psychology & Interactions
- #3,096 in Popular Psychology Personality Study

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An eye-opening examination of what divides us and why

Reviewed in the United States on February 2, 2019

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Tuschman’s book was a refreshing, well written and well documented review of many fields of scientific research - biological, sociological and psychological as well as economic and political - that goes far towards explaining the roots of political ideology in terms of evolutionary forces expressed both biologically - in terms of brain structure - as well as sociologically. I would welcome an update given the change in political culture in the US since it’s original publication (during the Obama administration), and further testing of his hypothesis, well defended, that the roots of political ideological differences can be summarized by differences in attitudes towards the three factors he identifies: tribalism, attitude towards inequality, and understanding of human nature (competitive vs cooperative). I highly recommend this book to anyone seeking ways to more compassionately engage in discussion with those who hold different political views than your own.

One person found this helpful

An excellent evolutionary analysis of political orientation

Reviewed in the United States on June 20, 2014

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It is commonly believed that differences in political opinion are just based on differences in background knowledge, education, or upbringing. I used to believe this myself and would sometimes argue endlessly with those of different political persuasions, trying to convert them to my point of view based on facts and logic. I don't think I ever succeeded. Eventually I recognized the futility of these debates, but was still puzzled by how deep-seated our political ideologies are. I also used to find it puzzling that political divisions almost always happen on a left-right spectrum. Is this just cultural or a historical accident?

The fact that this kind of division is universally present in all cultures hints at a deeper grounding in human nature. The author presents plenty of evidence that this is indeed the case, from twin studies to MRI brain scans that show differences between liberals and conservatives. It is also shown that children as young as preschool age already display personality traits that correlate well with later political orientation.

He first shows how political orientation correlates with three main personality trait clusters: tribalism, tolerance of inequality, and perceptions of human nature. He then uses evolutionary arguments to root these traits in biology. The biology of tribalism is based on tradeoffs between inbreeding and outbreeding, and can help us understand gender inequality, warfare, and genocide. The biology of family conflict includes parent-offspring conflict, sibling rivalry, and the importance of birth-order. For example, it turns out that first-borns tend to be more conservative. And finally, the biology of altruism and self-interest, which explains differences in how we perceive human nature. It turns out that conservatives tend to view people as inherently competitive, whereas liberals see people as more cooperative.

Books on human nature usually cover topics such as cooperation, morality, religion, economics, etc. Human political nature has been somewhat neglected, but this book now fills that gap brilliantly. I've read many books on human nature, but I've still learned a lot from this one, and I can say it is one of my favorites now.

The book is well written and structured, and contains a good mix of historical accounts, scientific studies, and evolutionary explanations. I recommend this book to anyone with an interest in a deeper understanding of human nature and the consilience of the social sciences with biology.

9 people found this helpful

Wow! Game changer!

Reviewed in the United States on May 3, 2019

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This book was amazing. Really brought it all together for me. I’ve studied evolutionary biology and evolutionary psychology for years to gain a deeper understanding of what it means to be human. This book helped me to understand the diversity of political and social inclinations in human societies from that perspective. Personally, it has softened my view of the other side of the spectrum from me and helped me see the impossibly complex web of forces that makes us hold the values we do, and see the world as do. It has brought some peace into the partisan chaos of my heart. Wonderful!

3 people found this helpful

Illuminating view on how environment and biology influence our political nature

Reviewed in the United States on December 16, 2013

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Our political nature is one of the most interesting books i have read in a while. The book is about many things, but its main purpose is to investigate what drives the political disposition of people, it looks at this from a neuroscience perspective, environmental perspective and genetic perspective. The left right political spectrum is an ambiguous scale as it refers to economic, cultural, ethnic and general issues that pertain to the broad idea a social contract, but in separating left right into specific issues ie tribalism, views on authority, views on distribution of wealth and reciprocity and altruism- the author is able so study and analyze behaviour based on dimensions that are more easily identifiable of being a left or right preference. This is a facinating investigation into what goes into creating our value systems.

The book contains a lot of information and is split into 6 major sections. The introduction starts with the beginning of the Arab Spring and details stories of behaviour that sparked waves of protest across the region. It uses the example to illuminate how different political classes see things differently, how sometimes small incidents can catalyze major political responses and how some political actions despite being personally detrimental might be biologically beneficial. The author then goes on to discuss studies done on following children through their lives and seeing how their political preferences evolved from the ages of 4-24 and twin studies on political nature (both identical and fraternal). The examples set the stage for exciting reading.

The first section of the book deals with tribalism. This is a cultural category of course but the author looks at ethnocentrism vs xenophilia and how that impacts politics. The author also discusses religiosity vs secularism and also attitudes towards homosexuality and gender roles. The author analyzes these scales using the Altmeyer test. The results are pretty intuitive in that the more ethnocentril/religious/traditionalist for sexuality, the more politically conservative they are. Tea Party politics are used for confirmation. I think some would take offense to the categorization but this is more probably around what actually defines the political spectrum, there are many who are economically conservative but ideologically liberal when it comes to personal freedom (libertarian). Nonetheless the author argues how conservatism helps predict which side of the scale people will tend to fall on the categories above.

The author then discusses the biology of tribalism. This is fascinating and far more interesting- it discusses the differences in fertility by breeding with closer kin vs more distantly related people. It discusses that analysis on a multigenerational basis as well. It effectively gives a context of how from a purely selfish genetic perspective there are competing forces that help stabilize excessive inbreeding but having robust fertility. This is an apolitical analysis where the stenghts of the content emerge. The author also discusses how certain trends have changed over time like fertility and gender roles. The author also gives a biological analysis of war and genocide and as horrifying as it is, the similarities in behaviour of people in these times is a telling sign of some deeper biological strategies that humans implicity have in such situations.

The author moves on to analysing attitudes towards authority and how that is indicative of political nature. It makes the argument that deferring to authority tends to be a conservative political disposition and being anti-authoritarian tends to be a liberal disposition. The political spectrum aside there is some very interesting analysis in the chapter. It discusses attitudes of people toward inequality; some believe the outcomes that evolve in the world are the fair consequence of the reality of the world while others focus on the initial conditions and context for being the reason for unequal outcomes which ought to be remedied. The author also discusses the differences in politics within the family. This is far more interesting. It discusses the difference in politics of siblings due to the order of their birth and how that might arise. In particular first born children tend to believe more in deferring to authority vs second/third born children tend to be more anti-authoritarian. The author describes plausible reasons for this. The author introduces cross sectional analysis of supreme court judgements and the propensity of judges to be in or out of the majority has been dependent on whether or not they are first born children. In addition the propensity to steal bases in baseball has a relationship with the order in which one is born. These kinds of interesting studies are very telling and give much food for thought.

The author then describes the biology of sibling rivalry. Within the context of people, it is much less relevant than it was. The author puts forward biological arguments about survivability under scarce resources and how child mortality rates will impact sibling rivalry. But such is much less relevant today in the developed world. It goes through some interesting studies of various species though to articulate the points. There are species of birds who share food with siblings until their body weight drops below certain thresholds in which cooperation turns into competition. Such biological examples give concrete examples of how embedded biology might emerge in behaviour but this section is less relevant than the previous in terms of defining politics.

The author then describes political philosophy through time and how the same concerns and perspectives on the nature of man have been articulated throughout history. There is much history of political thought and a reminder that the left right presumptions about the nature of man have been argued through time. Both western and easter philosophy is used. The author also discusses how the nature of our political self changes over time. In particular human brains take a long time to mature and the author argues the brain continues to develop until mid 20s and integrates that fact into a discussion of the migration of politics at an individual level.

The author ends with a discussion of altruism and how it can exist from a biological fitness perspective. The author discusses kin selective altruism as well as altruism when there is a social structure that creates reputations. This analysis is pretty straightforward to follow if one is "mathematical" about genetic overlap and about how reputational generosity has clear spillovers. The author discusses how the changing nature of our environment and dependency structure (from family at first to society at large) impacts our world views as well as our means of practicing altruism. The author then discusses how self deceipt in politics can emerge and how at the far ends of the political spectrum the practical reality is both right and left corrupt are close. The author finally discusses how selfless altruism exists and discusses lightly why it might.

All in all there is a lot of fascinating material. For content, i love this book. There is so much to think about. From a politics perspective I am less amazed- the left right political spectrum is not a 1 dimensional line and that certain behavioural traits pre-dispose people to vote conservative or liberal is indicative but incomplete. Most will get a lot of info and a lot of science out of the contents of this book and it frames a good discussion about things like immigration, cultural cross polination and environment.

23 people found this helpful

Top reviews from other countries

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A path to Insight

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on January 15, 2018

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I am increasingly of the view the “reality” of life learned through evolutionary biology can become a foundation to underpin thought which has been a bit uprooted since the challenge to religion of the last few hundred years.

Our Political Nature begins that process for the political sphere. It offers a new way to look at an old problem and is comprehensive and broad enough to provide a new way to think.

Miles Saltiel

Weak treatment of an interesting topic

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on January 5, 2014

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Tuschman purports to explain political orientation in terms of biological if not evolutionary insights. He presents no new material, instead rehashing the work of others, some of it very long in the tooth. This wouldn't matter if he were a gifted synthesist or even a satisfactory writer. Sadly he is neither.

First, he fails to give the reader confidence that he understands his own argument. His thesis is that "our political nature" stems from (1) tribalism, itself a consequence of the optimal balance between finding mates locally or remotely (apparently second cousins are the way to go: who knew?); (2) tolerance of inequality, largely a consequence of birth-order; and (3) perceptions of human nature, arising out of the mathematics of genetic altruism (ie, one brother is worth - genetically equivalent to - four cousins). But this gets us nowhere. Let's just take the final example. Genetic maths are universal and eternal. They do nothing to explain differences in political orientation between individuals, societies or from time to time. We are left with the feeling that the author has cobbled together interesting results from anthropology, biology and elsewhere, but lacks sufficient command over his material to generate persuasive explanations. Or more likely, the state of knowledge is insufficient.

Second, his writing style is grossly repetitive - indeed it is astonishing that his publishers, Prometheus, should so stiff him on editorial support. It also betrays Tuschman's patent embarrassment that his explanations from biology join him with attitudes he presents as most associated with conservatives. He seems to find this so alarming as to become obliged to parade his credentials to the contrary, with otherwise unintelligible parenthetical protests about (eg) a cover of Time magazine, the Rosenbergs and a wonderful concluding apology lest he might have been politically incorrect.

In short, this is an unsatisfactory book which does no justice to the underlying subject matter or the possibilities of the explanations in which the author is interested. A second star only for the seriousness of the topic and no more for the weakness of the treatment.

4 people found this helpful

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