ATLANTA , Georgia ( CNN ) -- For years , political scientists assumed our political leanings came from the way we were raised and the company we keep . You 're a screaming liberal ? Must be because you were raised in a household full of screaming liberals . You 're an arch conservative ? Must be because of that college you went to . Experts are studying the theory that political leanings are related to the way individuals process information . But slowly , some political scientists are beginning to change their minds on what shapes our political views . They 're starting to wonder whether some of our political identity is rooted in our DNA . The theory goes something like this : Choosing a political point of view involves thinking through issues : Will more lax immigration rules put the U.S. at risk ? Will tighter gun-control laws help lower the murder rate ? Many scientists believe how our brains work is influenced by our genes -- that to some extent we 're hard-wired from birth to process information in a certain way . This does n't mean , these scientists say , genes dictate how we think ; environment clearly plays a huge role . Nor does it mean there 's a Republican gene or a Democrat gene . Scientists who espouse the genetics-politics connection say that probably hundreds of genes influence how we think and how we see the world . Watch more about how your genes can influence how you vote . » . `` Political tendencies are like being left-handed or right-handed -- you 're born feeling more natural using one hand or the other , '' says John Alford , a political scientist at Rice University . `` It does n't mean you ca n't switch -- for many years lefties were taught to be righties . But it 's not easy . '' It 's a classic dispute of nature versus nurture , and it was Alford 's study on nearly 10,000 twins that started the debate three years ago . The study showed identical twins , who share all the same genes , are more likely to share political views than fraternal twins , who share only about 50 percent of their genes . After Alford 's study , scientists set out to see whether brains of liberals and conservatives look any different . In one study , researchers at New York University and UCLA asked 43 study subjects to assess , on this scale if they were liberal or conservative . They then strapped electrodes on the subjects and had them play a game on the computer game . In a study published last year in the journal Nature Neuroscience , the researchers found that liberals and conservatives processed information differently . Specifically , they found differences in activity in the anterior cingulate cortex , an area of the brain that processes conflicting information . David Amodio , an assistant professor of psychology at New York University , and lead author of the study , says these results suggest that liberals and conservatives have some basic brain differences -- and those differences are influenced by our genetic makeup . `` People used to think political attitudes were influenced only by our culture and our environment , '' he says . `` Now we realize political attitudes are influenced by genes in interaction with the environment . '' Political scientist James Fowler at the University of California , San Diego , puts it this way : `` What we are discovering is that nature is just as important as nurture when it comes to political behavior . '' Our genes may influence not just our political point of view , but also whether we vote at all . In a study recently accepted by The Journal of Politics , Fowler found people with one version of a gene called MAOA were 1.3 times more likely to vote than those with a different version . In addition , members of religious groups who carried a particular version of another gene called 5HTT were 60 percent more likely to vote than members of religious groups with a different version of the gene . The science of genes and politics is not without its critics . Some say there 's absolutely no proof that our political views are embedded in our DNA . `` These are very facile studies that make outrageous claims , '' says Evan Charney , a political scientist at Duke University . `` They 're trying to make political science into a science , when really it 's not . '' For example , he says identical twins might have more similar political views than fraternal twins because they were raised `` as if they were one unit . They 're dressed in the same clothes and given names that rhyme . '' Alford , who did the twins study , disagrees . He says genes do make a difference , and he hopes the genes-politics research will help increase tolerance for people with different political views . `` Maybe we 'll all just accept that people are built to see the world differently , '' he says . `` There is n't one correct way to be . It 's just the way you are . '' E-mail to a friend . Elizabeth Cohen is a correspondent with CNN Medical News .
Political scientists study whether some political identity is rooted in DNA . Theory : Political leanings related to the way individuals process information . One study found differing brain activity as liberals , conservatives processed info . No Democrat or Republican gene ; environment a huge factor .