The relationship between need for cognitive closure and political orientation: the mediating role of authoritarianism

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

“…Furthermore, these relationships are largely mediated by RightWing Authoritarianism. The present results thus corroborate previous studies on the relationship between the need for closure and authoritarianism (e.g., Jost et al, 2003;Kemmelmeier, 1997;Kossowska & Van Hiel, 2003) as well as on the mediating role of RWA in the relationship between NFSS and rightwing attitudes (e.g., Chirumbolo, 2002;Crowson et al, 2005;Van Hiel et al, 2004). The theoretical rationale that explains these well-replicated results has been summarised by Jost et al (2003, p. 348) who argued that "contents that promise or support epistemic stability, clarity, order, and uniformity should be preferred by high-need-for-closure persons over contents that promise their epistemic opposites (i.e., instability, ambiguity, chaos, and diversity)".…”

“…The aforementioned advancements in our understanding of social attitudes and motivational-cognitive styles have instigated research on the relationship between these two types of variables (e.g., Chirumbolo, 2002;Crowson, Thoma, & Hestevold, 2005;Jost, Glaser, Kruglanski, & Sulloway, 2003;Jost, Kruglanski, & Simon 1999;Kemmelmeier, 1997;Kossowska &Van Hiel, 2003;Van Hiel, Pandelaere, & Duriez, 2004). While the aforementioned studies provided direct evidence for the link between social attitudes and NFC, other studies provided additional, indirect evidence for this relation by showing that high need for closure individuals are more likely to prefer autocratic leadership (Pierro, Mannetti, De Grada, Livi, & Kruglanski, 2003) and to derogate deviants (Kruglanski & Webster, 1991).…”

“…Some studies (Chirumbolo, 2002;Crowson et al, 2005;Van Hiel et al, 2004) tried to construct integrative models in which the effects of NFC on target variables, such as right-wing beliefs and prejudice, are transmitted through social attitudes. Van Hiel et al (2004) have indeed shown that the NFC effects on conservatism and prejudice were fully mediated by RWA, as well as partially mediated by SDO.…”

“…In the meanwhile, some authors have argued that because of the non-significant relationship between Decisiveness and social attitudes, urgency strivings are not related to ideological variables (see, Kossowska & Van Hiel, 2003;Van Hiel et al, 2004). Other authors who studied the relationship between NFC and social attitudes simply omitted the Decisiveness facet scale from their analyses (e.g., Pierro, Mannetti, De Grada, Livi, & Kruglanski, 2003;Chirumbolo 2002).…”

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

“…Thus, many conservatives today strive to repeal or otherwise replace the social security system created during the New Deal, undermine the separation of Church and State, eliminate welfare and affirmative action programs, overturn the Roe v. Wade Supreme Court decision, and so on. In addition to flouting philosophical disputes originating JOST with Burke, Marx, and their contemporaries over the issue of social change, the position taken by Wildavsky (1989) and Greenberg and Jonas (2003) that leftists and rightists are equally desirous of change ignores a veritable mountain of psychological data documenting major differences between liberals (or leftists) and conservatives (or rightists) with respect to their degree of openness to novelty, innovation, stimulation, excitement, diversity, and change in general (Altemeyer, 1998;Amodio, Jost, Master, & Yee, 2007;Barnea & Schwartz, 1998;Carney, Jost, Gosling, & Potter, 2008;Chirumbolo, 2002;Ekehammar, Akrami, & Gylje, 2004;Feather, 1984;Gerber, Huber, Raso, & Ha, 2008;Gosling, Rentfrow, & Swann, 2003;Jost et al, 2003aJost et al, , 2003bKemmelmeier, 2007;Kruglanski, 2004;Levin & Schalmo, 1974;McClosky & Chong, 1985;McCrae, 1996;Riemann, Grubich, Hempel, Mergl, & Richter, 1993;Rokeach, 1960;Sidanius, 1978;Stenner, 2005;Trapnell, 1994;Van Hiel & Mervielde, 2004;Wilson, 1973).…”