“Elective Affinities”: On the Psychological Bases of Left–Right Differences

Jost, John T.

doi:10.1080/10478400903028599

Cited by 100 publications

(92 citation statements)

References 65 publications

(103 reference statements)

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“…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).…”

Section: The Structure Of Political Orientationmentioning

confidence: 93%

“…Ideological differences between liberals and conservatives have been linked to psychological needs and personality traits (Carney, Jost, Gosling, & Potter, 2008;Haidt, Graham, & Joseph, 2009;Jost, 2009;Jost, Glaser, Kruglanski, & Sulloway, 2003). 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).…”

Section: The Structure Of Political Orientationmentioning

confidence: 98%

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

Weissflog

Choma

Dywan

et al. 2013

Social Neuroscience

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Our goal was to test a model of sociopolitical attitudes that posits a relationship between individual differences in liberal versus conservative political orientation and differential levels of anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) responsivity. We recorded event-related potentials (ERPs) while participants who varied along a unidimensional liberal-conservative continuum engaged in a standard Go/NoGo task. We also measured component attitudes of political orientation in the form of traditionalism (degree of openness to social change) and egalitarianism (a preference for social equality). Generally, participants who reported a more liberal political orientation made fewer errors and produced larger ACC-generated ERPs (the error-related negativity, or ERN and the NoGo N2). This ACC activation, especially as indicated by a larger NoGo N2, was most strongly associated with greater preference for social equality. Performance accuracy, however, was most strongly associated with greater openness to social change. These data are consistent with a social neuroscience view that sociopolitical attitudes are related to aspects of neurophysiological responsivity. They also indicate that a bidimensional model of political orientation can enhance our interpretation of the nature of these associations.

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Section: The Structure Of Political Orientationmentioning

confidence: 93%

Section: The Structure Of Political Orientationmentioning

confidence: 98%

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

Weissflog

Choma

Dywan

et al. 2013

Social Neuroscience

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…On the contrary, they frequently embrace forms of change that are either incremental-and therefore designed to forestall the demand for more radical changes to the status quo-or retrograde or restorative in nature, that is, designed to return the country to some prior idealized state of affairs (e.g., see Eibach & Libby, 2009;Jost, 2009;Lipset & Raab, 1978). In addition, high system-justifiers might be moved to "agitate" when they perceive that a passionate defense of the status quo is required.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Indeed, it seems likely that some ideologies-such as the "new left" movement of the 1960s, which inspired student activism, civil rights demonstrations, and anti-war protests in the U.S. and elsewhere-generally increased rather than decreased feelings of uncertainty, danger, and social conflict (see also Jost & Napier, 2012). From a historical perspective, the instability brought on by each wave of leftist "agitation" may have provoked the corresponding conservative, system-justifying backlash designed to return America to the "good old days" (e.g., see Eibach & Libby, 2009;Frank, 2004;Jost, 2009). Indeed, conservative opposition to liberal reform has continued unabated to the present day, with the Tea Party Movement offering the most vivid example in recent years.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Not All Ideologies are Created Equal: Epistemic, Existential, and Relational Needs Predict System-Justifying Attitudes

Hennes¹,

Nam²,

Stern³

et al. 2012

Social Cognition

Self Cite

183

229

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Whereas most social psychological perspectives assume that needs to manage uncertainty, existential anxiety, and social cohesion should motivate any form of ideological zeal, System Justification Theory predicts that these needs are positively associated with the endorsement of system-justifying beliefs, opinions, and values but negatively associated with the endorsement of system-challenging ideological outcomes. For the first time we test a full theoretical model in which system justification mediates the effects of individual differences in epistemic, existential, and relational needs on attitudes toward public policy issues and social movements. Specifically, we conducted a national survey of 182 americans and found that, as hypothesized, lower need for cognition, greater death anxiety, and a stronger desire to share reality each contributed significantly and independently to economic system justification, which, in turn, contributed to support for the Tea Party (a movement aimed at restoring america's "traditional values") and opposition to Occupy Wall Street (a movement seeking to reduce social and economic inequality and minimize corporate influence on government). economic system justification also mediated the effects of these needs on the endorsement of status quo positions with respect to health care, immigration, global climate change, and the "Ground Zero mosque." These findings suggest that epistemic, existential, and relational needs lead disproportionately to support for system-justifying, rather than system-challenging, policies and movements.[A]s a prominent ultra-conservative radio commentator observed recently: "There is nothing wrong with our American system. It is as good as it ever was, but we must

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“…And finally, these new models help to explain why authoritarian attitudes might cause prejudice, an issue that the traditional authoritarian personality approach largely glossed over. During the past decade, both the DPM and Jost's motivated cognition approach have generated a good deal of supportive research (for reviews, see Duckitt and Sibley, 2009;Jost, 2009). …”

Section: Beyond the Authoritarian Personalitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Authoritarian Personality

Duckitt¹

2015

International Encyclopedia of the Social &Amp; Behavioral Sciences

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The theory of an authoritarian personality was an influential though controversial mid-twentieth-century theory to explain the mass appeal of fascism and ethnocentrism. Methodological and conceptual criticisms of the original theory, however, lead to alternative theories and culminated in research suggesting two distinct dimensions of ideological attitudes, RightWing Authoritarianism (RWA) or Social Conservatism and Social Dominance Orientation (SDO) or Anti-Egalitarianism. RWA and SDO were initially thought to be direct expressions of two different authoritarian personalities, but have more recently been seen as describing social or ideological attitude dimensions with multiple social and personal determinants.

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“Elective Affinities”: On the Psychological Bases of Left–Right Differences

Cited by 100 publications

References 65 publications

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

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

Not All Ideologies are Created Equal: Epistemic, Existential, and Relational Needs Predict System-Justifying Attitudes

Authoritarian Personality

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