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"Thorisdottir, Hulda"
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Conspiracy mentality and political orientation across 26 countries
People differ in their general tendency to endorse conspiracy theories (that is, conspiracy mentality). Previous research yielded inconsistent findings on the relationship between conspiracy mentality and political orientation, showing a greater conspiracy mentality either among the political right (a linear relation) or amongst both the left and right extremes (a curvilinear relation). We revisited this relationship across two studies spanning 26 countries (combined N = 104,253) and found overall evidence for both linear and quadratic relations, albeit small and heterogeneous across countries. We also observed stronger support for conspiracy mentality among voters of opposition parties (that is, those deprived of political control). Nonetheless, the quadratic effect of political orientation remained significant when adjusting for political control deprivation. We conclude that conspiracy mentality is associated with extreme left- and especially extreme right-wing beliefs, and that this non-linear relation may be strengthened by, but is not reducible to, deprivation of political control.Across 26 countries, Imhoff et al. find that conspiracy mentality is more prevalent at both ends of the political spectrum than the centre. This U-shaped pattern is accentuated for supporters of political parties not in government, particularly on the political right.
Journal Article
Psychological Needs and Values Underlying Left-Right Political Orientation: Cross-National Evidence from Eastern and Western Europe
According to previous research conducted mainly in the United States, psychological needs pertaining to the management of uncertainty and threat predict right-wing conservatism, operationally defined in terms of resistance to change and acceptance of inequality. In this study, we analyze data from 19 countries included in the European Social Survey (ESS) to assess two sets of hypotheses: (1) that traditionalism (an aspect of resistance to change) and acceptance of inequality would be positively associated with right (versus left) orientation, and (2) that rule-following (an aspect of the need for order), high need for security, and low need for openness to experience would be associated with right (versus left) orientation, adjusting for quadratic effects associated with ideological extremity. In addition, we determine the extent to which the pattern of relations among needs, values, and political orientation was similar in Eastern and Western European contexts. Results from regression and structural equation models indicate that traditionalism and, to a lesser extent, rule-following predict right-wing conservatism in both regions, whereas acceptance of inequality predicts right-wing orientation in the West only. Although openness to experience was associated with preferences for greater equality in both regions, it was associated with left-wing orientation in Western Europe and right-wing orientation in Eastern Europe. Needs for security, conversely, were associated with right-wing orientation in Western Europe and left-wing orientation in Eastern Europe. Thus, we find evidence of both universal and context-specific effects in our analysis of the cognitive and motivational antecedents of left-right political orientation.
Journal Article
Social and psychological bases of ideology and system justification
This volume both reflects and exemplifies the recent resurgence of interest in the social and psychological characteristics and processes that give rise to ideological forms. Ideology is an elusive, multifaceted construct that can usefully be analyzed in terms of “top-down” processes related to the social construction and dissemination of ideology, as well as to “bottom-up” processes, including dispositional and situational factors, that make certain ideological outcomes more likely than others. The twenty chapters of this volume focus on the cognitive and motivational antecedents and consequences of adopting specific ideologies, the functions served by those ideologies, and the myriad ways in which people accept and justify (versus reject) aspects of the social and political worlds they inhabit. Current challenges and future directions for the study of ideology and system justification are also discussed in several chapters. The volume represents a wide variety of research traditions bearing on the social and psychological bases of ideology and system justification. These traditions include (a) the study of attitudes, social cognition, and information processing at both conscious and nonconscious levels of awareness, (b) theories of motivated reasoning and goal-directed cognition, (c) research on personality and dispositional correlates of political orientation, (d) work on social justice and the origins of moral values, (e) the myriad ways in which social and political opinions are shaped by local situations and environments, and (f) studies of stereotyping, prejudice, and the ideological correlates of intergroup attitudes.
eBook
Motivated Closed-Mindedness Mediates the Effect of Threat on Political Conservatism
In this article we synthesize theory and research from several areas of psychology and political science to propose and test a causal model of the effects of threat on political attitudes. Based in part on prior research showing that fear, threat, and anxiety decrease cognitive capacity and motivation, we hypothesize that under high (vs. low) threat, people will seek to curtail open-ended information searches and exhibit motivated closedmindedness (one aspect of the need for cognitive closure). The subjective desire for certainty, control, and closure, in turn, is expected to increase the individual's affinity for political conservatism, insofar as resistance to change and adherence to authority figures and conventional forms of morality are assumed to satisfy these epistemic motives more successfully than their ideological opposites. Consistent with this account, we find in Studies la and lb that putting people into a highly threatened mindset leads them to exhibit an increase in motivated closed-mindedness and to perceive the world as more dangerous. Furthermore, in Study 2 we demonstrate that a subtle threat manipulation increases selfreported conservatism (or decreases self-reported liberalism), and this effect is mediated by closed-mindedness. In Study 3, we manipulated closed-mindedness directly and found that high (vs. low) cognitive load results in a greater affinity for the Republican (vs. Democratic) party. Finally, in Study 4 we conducted an experiment involving political elites in Iceland and found that three different types of threat (to the self, group, and system) all led center-right politicians to score higher on closed-mindedness and issue-based political conservatism. Implications for society and for the theory of ideology as motivated social cognition are discussed.
Journal Article
Need for security and system fairness on the political extremes
We advance and empirically test the idea that people on both the far right and far left will be more likely than political moderates to perceive the system as fair, as long as it serves their heightened needs for security. We argue that political extremists may be especially drawn to systems that offer certainty and security. As long as ideological extremists are not alienated from the political system in general, they will, therefore, be especially motivated to see the system as fair, in particular, if extremism is coupled with a heightened need for security. We test this notion using data from Iceland, a country with a wide left–right spread in terms of the political opinions of both parties and people and which was, at the time of the study, still reeling from an economic crisis that strongly affected political trust and threatened people’s sense of security. We analyzed nationally representative data from the European Social Survey in 2012 (N = 752). The results showed a significant three-way interaction between political extremism, the need for security, and political trust in predicting perceived system fairness. The people most likely to perceive the system as fair were political extremists, with relatively high political trust and need for security. The results are discussed in light of context effects and how people on the left and right might have higher needs for security with different threats in mind.
Journal Article
Investigating the Links Between Cultural Values and Belief in Conspiracy Theories: The Key Roles of Collectivism and Masculinity
Research suggests that belief in conspiracy theories (CT) stems from basic psychological mechanisms and is linked to other belief systems (e.g., religious beliefs). While previous research has extensively examined individual and contextual variables associated with CT beliefs, it has not yet investigated the role of culture. In the current research, we tested, based on a situated cultural cognition perspective, the extent to which culture predicts CT beliefs. Using Hofstede 's model of cultural values, three nation-level analyses of data from 25, 19, and 18 countries using different measures of CT beliefs (Study 1, N = 5323; Study 2a, N = 12,255; Study 2b, N = 30,994) revealed positive associations between masculinity, collectivism, and CT beliefs. A crosssectional study among U.S. citizens (Study 3, N = 350), using individual-level measures of Hofstede's values, replicated these findings. A meta-analysis of correlations across studies corroborated the presence of positive links between CT beliefs, collectivism, r = .31, 95% CI = [.15; .47], and masculinity, r = .39, 95% CI = [.18; .59]. Our results suggest that in addition to individual differences and contextual variables, cultural factors also play an important role in shaping CT beliefs.
Journal Article
The left-right dimension in the minds of Icelandic voters 1987-2009
The left-right political dimension represents a powerful and parsimonious way to describe political ideology. The right is usually seen as standing for tradition and acceptance of inequality, whereas the left advocates progress and economic redistribution. This study reports an analysis of the left-right scale in the minds of Icelandic voters, using data from the Icelandic National Election Studies from 1987-2009. Findings indicate that the vast majority of respondents are willing to place themselves on the left-right scale, and that they have become increasingly willing to do so since 1987. The average political orientation of Icelanders has consistently been just right of centre, with a moderate dip in 2009. The possibility of political polarization and sorting is considered, and ultimately rejected, based on analyses of the distribution of left-right scores for the entire sample and for subgroups defined by political party affiliation and demographics. Lastly, the contextual nature of the left-right dimension is examined by looking at the relationship over time between attitudes towards six political issues and left-right self-placement. The overarching picture that emerges from this study is that of a stable, well-defined left-right political landscape in the minds of Icelandic voters.
Journal Article
Conspiracy Theories, Political Ideology and Political Behaviour
This chapter explores the link between conspiracy theories, political beliefs and political engagement in order to answer the question of whether conspiracy theories can be viewed as a vehicle for the outsider to articulate their doubts about governments and ruling powers. It examines whether belief in conspiracy theories is linked with a discernible profile of political engagement and participation. Conspiracy theories can serve as a psychological tool for the political outsider to regain a sense of control and increase predictability because they offer an explanation for events that the official account attributes to coincidences, natural forces or a series or random events. There is limited research on the relationship between belief in political conspiracy theories and political participation. Statistical analysis showed no relationship between political ideology and either the Conspiracy mentality questionnaire or belief in specific conspiracy theories. Among people low on political interest, conspiracy theories may further solidify their distaste, lack of trust and alienation from the political process.
Book Chapter
The effects of perceived threat on political attitudes: Uncertainty, lack of control, and closed -mindedness
In this dissertation, research and theorizing from several areas within psychology are brought together to establish a causal chain from perceptions of threat to political attitudes. Threat can lead to anxiety, fear, or both. Threat leads to fear when people can clearly identify the source of the threat; otherwise it leads to anxiety. Because people are highly motivated to alleviate the sense of threat, they will tend to focus on doing so, which results in a reduction of other cognitive activity. If the threat cannot be dealt with directly, people should seek to escape or avoid it. When a threat cannot be identified or dealt with, people experience a lack of control and a high degree of uncertainty, which they are motivated to reduce. People may try to compensate for a lack of control and certainty in one domain by bolstering it in another. Therefore, it is hypothesized that when threatened, people will latch onto social and political attitudes that provide the most easily construed means of restoring control and certainty. It is argued that conservatism is usually better suited for this than liberalism. This is due to some of the main characteristics of conservative ideology, primarily resistance to change and conformity to authority and conventional morality. The five studies reported in this dissertation assess and provide support for two main hypotheses: (1) Threat makes people more closed-minded, which in turn leads them to gravitate toward political conservatism; and (2) When people experience threat, they will be more likely to adhere to political ideologies that are characterized by certainty and control, both of which are primary hallmarks of conservatism.
Dissertation