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Existing research shows that ideological orientations are stable after young adulthood. Extending research on the sources of ideological stability, we examine social and economic ideology over a 3- to 4-year period in two twin panels (one Danish and one American). We find evidence for the importance of genetic influences and individual life experiences on the stability of social ideology in both contexts; shared environmental factors play an important role in the younger, Danish sample only. For economic ideology, genetic factors contribute to stability in the American sample only. Our findings show that the role of genetic and environmental factors in the stability of ideological orientations varies by type of ideology, national context, and, possibly, age cohort. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines whether the effect of interethnic encounters on natives' attitudes towards immigration varies with the Big Five personality trait openness to experience. We hypothesize that individuals who score high on openness, and who therefore are more appreciative of and responsive to new experiences, react more positively/less negatively to interethnic encounters. We test this conjecture on two surveys collected in Denmark and Canada. In line with our expectations, the analyses suggest that openness positively moderates the effect of interethnic encounters on immigration attitudes: compared to those with lower levels of openness, more open individuals express more proimmigration attitudes when experiencing both personal interethnic contact and self-reported exposure to ethnic diversity in the neighbourhood. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]