Transcript The Psychology of Political Ideology.

The Psychology of Political Ideology.
Nature of Political Identity
• Is political ideology formed on the basis of
Rational Thought, or is it based on Gut
Emotion?
• How we are educated, the atmosphere of
national or international politics at the
moment, and personality traits from early
childhood all influence our political identities.
Personality differences in liberals and
conservatives.
• Liberals: messier, tolerate clutter, have more
colorful spaces, possess travel documents and
flags and maps of other countries. They
possess more books with a wider variety of
topics. They tend to be more optimistic, like
classical music and jazz, enjoy abstract art and
liberal men like romantic comedies more than
conservative men.
• Conservatives: neater, rooms are cleaner,
better organized, more brightly lit, & more
conventional. They are more likely to be
religious, like country music, and conservative
men prefer conventional forms of
entertainment like TV and talk radio more
than liberal men.
• “All people are born alike—except Republicans
and Democrats.”
-Groucho Marx.
Empirical Studies
• 2003 Meta-Analysis of 88 earlier studies on
personality and political orientation, involving
22,818 participants from 12 different
countries found:
• Common factors linked to political
conservatism included:
– Fear and aggression
– Dogmatism and intolerance of ambiguity
– Uncertainty avoidance
– Need for cognitive closure
– Terror management
• U of Arizona psychologist Jeff Greenberg has
noted an ideological shift in viewpoint
(especially evident after the 9/11 attacks) can
be explained by the terror management
theory (TMT): heightened fear of death
motivates people to defend their worldviews.
Greenberg notes that political conservatism
seems to be the preferred ideology in times of
insecurity.
Factors associated with Liberalism
• liberals are higher on openness (intellectual
curiosity, excitement seeking, novelty,
creativity, and a carving for things like travel,
color, art, music, and literature).
• Liberals tend to view the world in Grey Matter
and reconcile conflicting viewpoints.