This article is more than 1 year old

Your genes determine whether you will respond to surveys

Surveys indicate people think this is a good thing

Humanity is in general genetically predisposed not to take surveys, according to new research. However there exists a proportion of mutant freaks whose genes make them want to respond to surveys.

The amazing news comes as part of a new study by profs in America and Singapore. This involved the cunning sending out of a survey to over 1,000 sets of twins.

"We found that the behavior of one identical twin was a good predictor for the other," says psychology professor Dr Lori Foster Thompson, "but that the same did not hold true for fraternal twins.

"Because all of the sets of twins were raised in the same household, the only distinguishing variable between identical and fraternal twin sets is the fact that identical twins are genetically identical and fraternal twins are not."

The twins bearing the strange genes which made them want to respond to surveys were apparently rare, with Foster Thompson stating that "we found that there is a pretty strong genetic predisposition to not reply to surveys".

Exactly what gene is responsible for survey-friendliness remains unknown, as is the mechanism by which it works.

"Is the linkage between genetics and survey response explained by personality, attitudes toward employers, or something else entirely?" asks Foster Thompson. She and her colleagues don't know, anyway.

One thing's clear: whoever the mutant weirdoes are who like to respond to surveys, opinion polls etc, their freakish propensities plainly give them much too great a voice in public and commercial affairs. The silent genetic mainstream of humanity are evidently being drowned out by strident freaks.

But if you take a survey on the matter, you'll find that nobody agrees.

Foster Thompson and her colleagues' paper Genetic underpinnings of survey response will be published in a forthcoming issue of the Journal of Organizational Behavior. Meanwhile there's (a little) more detail from North Carolina State uni here. ®

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