Can a Psychological Theory of Ideological Differences Explain Contextual Variability in the Contents of Political Attitudes?

Abstract

In this brief reply, we explore the ways in which a psychological theory of ideology as motivated social cognition (e.g., Jost, Glaser, Kruglanski, & Sulloway, 2003a, 2003b can explain several distinct but related empirical phenomena, including why (a) epistemic and existential needs to reduce uncertainty and threat would be positively associated with social or cultural conservatism in virtually all societal contexts and yet be associated with support for either capitalism or socialism, depending upon the local context; (b) conservatives eventually come to support policy positions that were once considered to be liberal or progressive; (c) liberals are more likely than conservatives to exhibit cognitive complexity and engage in "value trade-offs" between equality and freedom; and (d) time pressure and cognitive load produce "conservative shifts" in political opinion, even among liberal respondents. By clarifying the similarities and differences between the two core dimensions of Left-Right ideology (i.e., advocating vs. resisting social change and rejecting vs. accepting inequality) and highlighting the role of status quo acceptance in conservative ideology, we hope to demonstrate that a psychological theory of LeftRight differences can account for contextual variability in the contents of political attitudes.

How Political Orientation and Vulnerability Shape Representations of the Economic Crisis in Greece and Italy

“…Analysis of the slopes (Figure 1) showed that this cause is attributed more by centrists than people self-positioned to both left and right poles of the scale (the quadratic effect was negative). When the dependent variable was the cause 'inequality system', results showed in line with literature (Jost, Federico et al, 2009;Jost, Krochik et al, 2009) that the leftists considered the presence of a system of inequalities as a cause of the crisis more than right-wingers (negative linear effect). However, centrists tended to adopt this cause much less than both leftists and right-wingers (marginal positive quadratic effect).…”

“…Future research in this domain might better investigate what motivates (e.g., fear) respondents' self-positioning on the left-right spectrum. For instance, it might be worthwhile testing the presence of a motivated social cognition (Jost, Krochik, et al, 2009), according to which threatening situations lead to a shift of right-wingers to more progressive policies and centrists to more conservative shifts. It could also be that the effects we observed on centrists, were the result of the ideology of a class that aspires to social mobility and see itself as exonerated from the consequences of austerity reserved to undeserving others.…”

“…In other countries, the terms 'liberal' and ' conservative' are used in place of 'left' and 'right. The dichotomy expresses the ideological divide concerning preferences for advocating versus resisting social change and rejecting versus accepting inequality (Jost, Federico et al, 2009;Jost, Krochik, Gaucher, & Hennes, 2009). Specifically, in the economic-hierarchical domain, right-wing attitudes refer to adherence to capitalist ideology, private initiative, and unrestricted competition among individuals.…”

“…Thus, we expected that some issues will be considered as causes of the crisis (such as attributing the crisis to the nature of the financial and political system) irrespective of political self-positioning because they appear as truisms, whereas others might be supported by left-wing positioned people more than right-wing positioned ones (see for instance the crisis as produced by a system that exacerbates inequalities; see e.g., Jost, Federico et al, 2009;Jost, Krochik, et al, 2009). We also investigated the effect of self-positioning on the type of strategies that are considered important to overcome the crisis.…”

The political (and physiological) divide: Political orientation, performance monitoring, and the anterior cingulate response

“…Political liberals typically rate themselves higher than conservatives on traits like openness to experience and compassion (Hirsh, DeYoung, Xu, & Peterson, 2010;Lee, Ashton, Ogunfowora, Bourdage, & Shin, 2010), and tend to prefer flexibility, change (Jost, 2009) and cognitive complexity (Jost, Krochik, Gaucher, & Hennes, 2009), as well as creativity and a more universal orientation (Choma, Hafer, Dywan, Segalowitz, & Busseri, 2012). Conversely, political conservatives typically rate themselves higher on traits like conscientiousness and politeness (Hirsh et al, 2010), and tend to prefer order (Cornelis & Van Heil, 2006), cognitive closure (De Zavala, Cislak, & Wesolowska, 2010), and taking a more dogmatic perspective (Choma et al, 2012).…”