Brains scans can predict political ideology, study claims

Imaging tests as accurate as person’s parents – the strongest known predictor, say experts

US academics found that ‘signatures’ in the brain shown by scans were as accurate at predicting political attitudes as the ideology of a person’s parents (AFP via Getty Images)

Brain scans can reveal people’s political views, suggesting ideology has biological and neurological origins, scientists say.

Researchers have discovered that scans of people’s brains taken while they performed various tasks – and even did nothing – accurately predicted whether they were politically conservative or liberal.

In the largest study of its kind, the US academics found that “signatures” in the brain shown by scans were as accurate at predicting political attitudes as the ideology of a person’s parents – the strongest known predictor.