Does our childhood shape our political choices?

Do our childhood experiences shape our political attitudes' A team of Inserm researchers from Unit 960 'Cognitive Neuroscience Laboratory' (Inserm/ENS) have discovered the answer to this question, the results of which have recently been published in the journal Evolution and Human Behavior. Childhood poverty is associated with stronger adherence to authoritarian political attitudes in adulthood, not only in the French population, but also in a sample of 46 European countries. Understanding the origins behind the success of authoritarianism is an important key to preserving current democracies. Since the early 2000s, most Western countries have seen a historic rise in authoritarian parties. At the same time, authoritarian attitudes are becoming the norm in many political parties. Analysis of these political phenomena is usually based on contextual factors, such as the economic crisis or terrorist threat, which tend to favor authoritarian attitudes. However, recent studies in biology and psychology have shown that a person's childhood environment can also shape their behavior in adulthood.