The%20Psychology%20of%20Political%20Ideology.

1
The Psychology of Political Ideology.
2
Nature of Political Identity

• Is political ideology formed on the basis of
  Rational Thought, or is it based on Gut Emotion?
• How we are educated, the atmosphere of national
  or international politics at the moment, and
  personality traits from early childhood all
  influence our political identities.

3
Personality differences in liberals and
conservatives.

• Liberals messier, tolerate clutter, have more
  colorful spaces, possess travel documents and
  flags and maps of other countries. They possess
  more books with a wider variety of topics. They
  tend to be more optimistic, like classical music
  and jazz, enjoy abstract art and liberal men like
  romantic comedies more than conservative men.

4

• Conservatives neater, rooms are cleaner, better
  organized, more brightly lit, more
  conventional. They are more likely to be
  religious, like country music, and conservative
  men prefer conventional forms of entertainment
  like TV and talk radio more than liberal men.

5

• All people are born alikeexcept Republicans and
  Democrats.
• -Groucho Marx.

6
Empirical Studies

• 2003 Meta-Analysis of 88 earlier studies on
  personality and political orientation, involving
  22,818 participants from 12 different countries
  found

7

• Common factors linked to political conservatism
  included
• Fear and aggression
• Dogmatism and intolerance of ambiguity
• Uncertainty avoidance
• Need for cognitive closure
• Terror management
•  

8

• U of Arizona psychologist Jeff Greenberg has
  noted an ideological shift in viewpoint
  (especially evident after the 9/11 attacks) can
  be explained by the terror management theory
  (TMT) heightened fear of death motivates people
  to defend their worldviews. Greenberg notes that
  political conservatism seems to be the preferred
  ideology in times of insecurity.

9
Factors associated with Liberalism

• liberals are higher on openness (intellectual
  curiosity, excitement seeking, novelty,
  creativity, and a carving for things like travel,
  color, art, music, and literature).
• Liberals tend to view the world in Grey Matter
  and reconcile conflicting viewpoints.