Defining Origins of Inborn Conservatism

I want to relate this post to the classroom discussion we had on Wednesday.  I want to examine the origins of our inborn conservatism on sensitive issues (such as abortion, gay marriage, womens' rights, etc.).  Is it due to an innate biological process of needing complete understanding and correlating evidence to validate the legitimacy of any idea? Or, considering that the constructs of "normal" are determined by society and cultural expectations, do we exclusively ascribe our conservatism on social pressures and accepted norms?  Is there a balance of these two in determining our natural selections?
When we are first born we begin as an intellectual blank slate (variances do occur in intellectual capacity and strength), however we can say undoubtedly that our familial or environmental influences contribute to our opinions concerning various topics.  "Inborn conservatism", to me, refers to individual natural born tendency to favor one argument, not accepting one universal truth. The "conservatism" we experience is a subjective scale  resulting from our personally accepted modes of technique.  Example: If I was born in the Southern states in 1760 I would have an inborn conservatism to support slavery, due to the components I rationalize from my biological opinion of race superiority and cultural influences.  Example 2: If I was from the 1980s during the AIDS scare, my natural opinion would be greatly swayed by the media and societal pressures.  Regardless of my acceptance of "free love", homosexual relations, or opinions that intravenous drug users partake in a dangerous occupation, my perspectives are impacted.  I was "born" to recognize individual freedoms and the right to carry out such liberties- but my notions are thus challenged by recent developments;   ultimately becoming altered.
In both of these instances, it equates a combination of natural desire for complete validation on any ideal (that varies from the opinion we have) in correlation with cultural influences determines our inborn conservatism.  Can we say then, that "inborn" only defines half the formula and forsakes the larger influence of social pressures?