The Impact of Cognitive Styles on Authoritarianism Based Conservatism and Racism

Need for Closure Relations with Authoritarianism, Conservative Beliefs and Racism: The impact of urgency and permanence tendencies

“…Moreover, analogous to NFSS, the effects of the new Decisiveness scale on the target variables were transmitted through social attitudes, and the results therefore show that the mediation model proposed Chirumbolo (2002), Cornelis and Van Hiel (2006), Crowson et al (2005), and Van Hiel et al (2004) is applicable to the present data. In sum, the new Decisiveness scale has much more in common with NFSS than the original Decisiveness scale.…”

Need for Closure and Perceived Threat as Bases of Right-Wing Authoritarianism: A Longitudinal Moderation Approach

“…Moreover, NFC is considered an important motivational-cognitive basis for authority-and tradition-based ideologies (see Jost et al, 2003;Roets & Van Hiel, 2011a). Many correlational studies have supported the notion that RWA is more strongly endorsed by persons high in dispositional NFC (Cornelis & Van Hiel, 2006;Dhont, Roets, & Van Hiel 2013;Onraet, et al, 2011;Roets & Van Hiel, 2006;Roets et al, 2012). Moreover, the claim that epistemic motives are indeed an important source of authoritarianism is supported by experimental research showing that situationally induced NFC evokes a wide range of typical expressions of authoritarianism such as the rejection of opinion deviates (Kruglanksi & Webster, 1991), increased conformity (Kruglanksi, Webster & Klem, 1993) and the development of an autocratic leadership structure in groups (Pierro, Mannetti, De Grada, Livi, & Kruglanski, 2003).…”

The person-based nature of prejudice: Individual difference predictors of intergroup negativity

“…In general, those relatively higher in conservatism score more highly on prejudice towards various racial outgroups (e.g., Cornelis & Van Hiel, 2006;Franssen, Dhont, & Van Hiel, 2013;Hodson & Busseri, 2012;Sidanius, Pratto, & Bobo, 1996), immigrants (Hodson, Choma, et al, 2013), and the homeless . Conservatism, particularly social-cultural conservatism, proves an especially strong predictor of anti-gay attitudes , with a meta-analytic r = .42 (Whitley & Lee, 2000; see our Table 2).…”

“…Relatedly, Wilson (1973) operationalised conservatism as "a generalized susceptibility to experiencing threat or anxiety in the face of uncertainty" (p. 259). As such, those higher in conservatism, particularly social or cultural (vs. economic) conservatism, 2 are predisposed towards prejudicial orientations regarding lower status outgroups (see Cornelis & Van Hiel, 2006;Dhont & Hodson, 2014a;Hodson, 2014). Cast in contemporary terms, the "core ideology of conservatism stresses resistance to change and justification [or acceptance] of inequality" (Jost, Glaser, Kruglanski, & Sulloway, 2003, p. 339).…”

“…Furthermore, NFC is negatively correlated with the desire to engage in thinking activities, as tapped by the need for cognition (Webster & Kruglanski, 1994). Cornelis and Van Hiel (2006) tested the predictive value of several cognitive style measures, finding that NFC, and particularly the need for order and predictability facet, was the best predictor of racism. In sum, a general motivated cognitive style (NFC) represents an important cognitive factor underlying prejudice across targets , supporting Allport's( 1954) seminal ideas.…”