Experiments in political psychology

Fischer, Kyle; Atkinson, Quentin D.; Chaudhuri, Ananish

doi:10.4337/9781789909852.00015

Cited by 5 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 58 publications

(70 reference statements)

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“…Under this Dual Foundations Theory, SDO can be explained as underpinned by a competitive, self-interested motivation for dominance, driven by a view of the world as a ‘competitive jungle’ versus a more cooperative, other-regarding orientation motivated by empathic and egalitarian preferences. Consistent with this, people low in SDO and similar measures show greater empathic concern and cooperative behaviour in economic games, while those high in SDO score higher on traits such as Machiavellianism and display more competitive behaviour (Chiao et al 2009; Fischer, Atkinson, and Chaudhuri 2021; Jones and Figueredo 2013; Sidanius et al 2013).…”

Section: The Dual Evolutionary Foundations Of Political Ideologymentioning

confidence: 70%

Dual Evolutionary Foundations of Political Ideology Predict Divergent Responses to COVID-19

Fischer

Chaudhuri

Atkinson

2023

Brit. J. Polit. Sci.

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Political conservatives' opposition to COVID-19 restrictions is puzzling given the well-documented links between conservatism and conformity, threat sensitivity, and pathogen aversion. We propose a resolution based on the Dual Foundations Theory of ideology, which holds that ideology comprises two dimensions, one reflecting trade-offs between threat-driven conformity and individualism, and another reflecting trade-offs between empathy-driven cooperation and competition. We test predictions derived from this theory in a UK sample using individuals' responses to COVID-19 and widely-used measures of the two dimensions – ‘right-wing authoritarianism’ (RWA) and ‘social dominance orientation’ (SDO), respectively. Consistent with our predictions, we show that RWA, but not SDO, increased following the pandemic and that high-RWA conservatives do display more concerned, conformist, pro-lockdown attitudes, while high-SDO conservatives display less empathic, cooperative attitudes and are anti-lockdown. This helps explain paradoxical prior results and highlights how a focus on unidimensional ideology can mask divergent motives across the ideological landscape.

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Section: The Dual Evolutionary Foundations Of Political Ideologymentioning

confidence: 70%

Dual Evolutionary Foundations of Political Ideology Predict Divergent Responses to COVID-19

Fischer

Chaudhuri

Atkinson

2023

Brit. J. Polit. Sci.

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“…In particular, to provide a complete picture for the dual evolutionary foundations framework, future research should test whether group conformist predispositions predict future variation in RWA and social policy views. Evidence already suggests that RWA covaries cross-sectionally with conformist behaviour in the rule following task and social learning tasks(Claessens et al, 2023;Fischer et al, 2021).Extending this research longitudinally will allow researchers to make causal, rather than just correlational, claims in support of the dual evolutionary framework of political ideology.…”

mentioning

confidence: 84%

“…However, some have argued that, due to issues like social desirability and experimenter demand, self-report measures do not fully capture the political mind (Burdein, Lodge, & Taber, 2006;Gawronski, Galdi, & Arcuri, 2015). As such, recent work has begun to explore the relationships between political ideology and behaviour in incentivised economic games (Fischer, Atkinson, & Chaudhuri, 2021). Economic games (i.e., social decision-making tasks that involve real money) are tools that elicit private behavioural preferences, such as a willingness to share, while avoiding the desirability issues that plague self-report methods (Pisor, Gervais, Purzycki, & Ross, 2020).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Cooperative phenotype predicts political ideology eighteen months later

Claessens,

Sibley,

Chaudhuri

et al. 2023

Preprint

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Cross-sectional research has identified robust correlations between cooperative behaviour in economic games and measures of political ideology, but this research is limited in its ability to draw causal inferences. Here, we conducted a longitudinal cross-lagged panel study of cooperation and political ideology with a New Zealand sample (n = 631). Across two waves separated by eighteen months, we measured self-reported political views and employed a battery of economic games to estimate people’s general preferences for cooperation. We found that this “cooperative phenotype” predicted future variation in Social Dominance Orientation and support for income redistribution. Income attribution beliefs and political party support were not related to the cooperative phenotype over time, but did negatively covary with cooperation within waves. In contrast, none of these variables predicted future variation in the cooperative phenotype. These results suggest that cooperative predispositions may play a causal role in the expression of political ideology.

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“…Aside from psychometric scales, the dual foundations framework's focus on trade-offs opens another avenue for measuring political ideology with incentivized tasks, a suite of tools that is gaining popularity to measure social behavior (Pisor et al, 2020). Since the dimensions are grounded in trade-offs inherent to group-living, predictions have been made about each dimension's ties to preferences in incentivized tasks (Claessens et al, 2020;Fischer et al, 2021).…”

Section: Study 1 21 Study 1 Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Validating the dual evolutionary foundations of political values in a US sample

2023

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Psychological research repeatedly identifies two dimensions of political values. Recent work argues that these dimensions reflect the dual evolutionary foundations of human social and political life: a trade-off between cooperation and competition that generates differences in values about social inequality, and a trade-off in managing group coordination that generates differences in values about social control. Existing scales used to measure political values, however, were created prior to this framework. Here, we introduce the Dual Foundations Scale, designed to capture values about the two trade-offs. We validate the scale across two studies, showing it accurately and reliably measures both dimensions. Our results support key predictions of the dual foundations framework and pave the way for future work on the foundations of political ideology.

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Experiments in political psychology

Abstract: This is a pre-print of a chapter that will appear in the forthcoming book, tentatively titled "A Research Agenda for Experimental Economics" edited by Ananish Chaudhuri, and has not yet been peer-reviewed.

Cited by 5 publications

References 58 publications

Dual Evolutionary Foundations of Political Ideology Predict Divergent Responses to COVID-19

Dual Evolutionary Foundations of Political Ideology Predict Divergent Responses to COVID-19

Cooperative phenotype predicts political ideology eighteen months later

Validating the dual evolutionary foundations of political values in a US sample

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