An article at PsyPost reveals a connection between genetic essentialism and “nationalism, xenophobia, racism, right-wing authoritarianism, social-dominance orientation, sexism and conservative ideology.”
From an Interpersonal Neurobiology (IPNB) perspective, these traits can be seen as adaptive responses to unmet relational and environmental needs, especially when individuals grow up in contexts lacking safety, attunement, and relational connection.
When people experience chronic uncertainty, disconnection, or threat–whether in their homes, communities, or societies–they may gravitate toward rigid beliefs, us-vs-them thinking, and strict social hierarchies as attempts to create a sense of order, predictability, and control. In this light, traits such as social dominance orientation or right-wing authoritarianism aren’t innate flaws, but survival adaptations shaped by relational and sociocultural environments that foster fear, mistrust, and emotional neglect.
IPNB emphasizes how human development is shaped through relationships. When relational experiences are marked by fear, shame, or conditional acceptance, people may learn to guard against vulnerability by aligning with ideologies that promise strength, purity, or belonging, often at the expense of others’ humanity. Insecure relational patterns can give rise to worldviews that divide and devalue, especially when broader systems reinforce competition over cooperation, scarcity over care, and punishment over repair.
An IPNB-informed lens would advocate for addressing the relational conditions that lead people to feel unsafe, unseen, or powerless, and thus more susceptible to dehumanizing ideologies. This means cultivating communities and systems rooted in compassion, inclusion, mutual respect, and co-regulation, monitoring for extremist beliefs, and transforming the environments that breed them.
