Personage Admiration and Other Correlates of Conservatism-Radicalism

Lentz, Theodore F.

doi:10.1080/00224545.1939.9713347

Cited by 8 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 0 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Historically, conservatism as an ideological belief system has embodied many things, including the desire for order and stability, preference for gradual rather than revolutionary change (if any), adherence to preexisting social norms, idealization of authority figures, punishment of deviants, and endorsement of social and economic inequality (e.g., Eckhardt, 1991;Eysenck & Wilson, 1978;Kerlinger, 1984;Lentz, 1939;Mannheim, 1927Mannheim, /1986McClosky & Zaller, 1984;Sidanius et al, 1996;W. F. Stone & Schaffner, 1988;Tomkins, 1963;Wilson, 1973c).…”

Section: Conceptual Definitionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Political conservatism as motivated social cognition.

Jost¹,

Glaser²,

Kruglanski³

et al. 2003

Psychological Bulletin

3,789

247

3,256

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Analyzing political conservatism as motivated social cognition integrates theories of personality (authoritarianism, dogmatism-intolerance of ambiguity), epistemic and existential needs (for closure, regulatory focus, terror management), and ideological rationalization (social dominance, system justification). A meta-analysis (88 samples, 12 countries, 22,818 cases) confirms that several psychological variables predict political conservatism: death anxiety (weighted mean r ϭ .50); system instability (.47); dogmatism-intolerance of ambiguity (.34); openness to experience (-.32); uncertainty tolerance (-.27); needs for order, structure, and closure (.26); integrative complexity (-.20); fear of threat and loss (.18); and self-esteem (-.09). The core ideology of conservatism stresses resistance to change and justification of inequality and is motivated by needs that vary situationally and dispositionally to manage uncertainty and threat.Conservatism is a demanding mistress and is giving me a migraine.-George F. Will, BuntsFor more than half a century, psychologists have been tracking the hypothesis that different psychological motives and tendencies underlie ideological differences between the political left and the right. The practice of singling out political conservatives for special study began with Adorno, Frenkel-Brunswik, Levinson, and Sanford's (1950) landmark study of authoritarianism and the fascist potential in personality. An asymmetrical focus on right-wing authoritarianism (RWA) was criticized heavily on theoretical and methodological grounds (e.g., Christie, 1954;Eysenck, 1954;Rokeach, 1960;Shils, 1954), but it has withstood the relentless tests of time and empirical scrutiny (e.g., Altemeyer, 1981Altemeyer, , 1988Altemeyer, , 1996Altemeyer, , 1998Billig, 1984;Brown, 1965;Christie, 1991;Elms, 1969;Sidanius, 1985;W. F. Stone, 1980;W. F. Stone, Lederer, & Christie, 1993;Tetlock, 1984;Wilson, 1973c). A voluminous literature, which we review here, facilitates the comparison of cognitive styles and motivational needs of political conservatives with those of moderates, liberals, radicals, and left-wingers. In addition to classic and contemporary approaches to authoritarianism, we cover less obvious sources of theory and research on individual differences associated with dogmatism and intolerance of ambiguity, uncertainty avoidance, need for cognitive closure, and social dominance orientation (SDO) insofar as each of these psychological variables contributes to a deeper and more nuanced understanding of political conservatism.The study of authoritarianism and other personality theories of political attitudes is often dismissed a priori as an illegitimate, value-laden attempt to correlate general psychological profiles with specific ideological beliefs (e.g., Durrheim, 1997; J. L. Martin, 2001;Ray, 1988). The psychological study of ideological conservatism is one that invites controversy (e.g., Redding, 2001;Sears, 1994;Sidanius, Pratto, & Bobo, 1996;Sniderman & Tetlock, 1986;Tetlock, 1994;Tetlock & Mitchell,...

show abstract

Section: Conceptual Definitionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Political conservatism as motivated social cognition.

Jost¹,

Glaser²,

Kruglanski³

et al. 2003

Psychological Bulletin

3,789

247

3,256

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…It may be that the detachment from home and the increasing influence of new and stimulating ideas and experiences are the prime factors. A study of children aged I I - 16 years by Frenkel-Brunswik (7)…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Teacher trainees and authoritarian attitude

Hill

1959

Australian Journal of Psychology

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Recent studies of social attitudes suggest that an individual, in expressing prejudicial opinions and beliefs, is exposing aspects of a deep-lying, self-consistent mental economy. Ethnocentricism and politico-economic conservatism are seemingly influenced by an underlying authoritarian attitude, which implies implicit antidemocratic trends and what have been termed pre-Fascist leanings. Investigations of these so-called Fascist attitudes have been carried out by Katz and Cantril (13), Edwards (6), and Stagner (22) with college students comprising the samples in most of these studies.

show abstract

“…For instance, why would any psychologist expect to find that attitudes of students toward Sunday observance, the church, and God would be related to receiving aid from the NYA? Or take a recent report (76) based on a mammoth questionnaire of 3000 items, laboriously filled in by 409 individuals. Some of the 3000 items were scored as a "conservatism-radicalism" scale, then it was ascertained that 1076 of 2600 items were related to conservatism-radicalism.…”

Section: Correlations and Interrelationshipsmentioning

confidence: 99%