Fear Among the Extremes: How Political Ideology Predicts Negative Emotions and Outgroup Derogation

Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin

Volumn 41, Issue 4, 2015, Pages 485-497

  van Prooijen, Jan Willem ^a,b   Krouwel, André P M ^a   Boiten, Max ^a   Eendebak, Lennart ^c  

^a VU UNIVERSITY AMSTERDAM   (Netherlands)

^b NETHERLANDS INSTITUTE FOR THE STUDY OF CRIME AND LAW ENFORCEMENT   (Netherlands)

^c UNIVERSITY OF AMSTERDAM   (Netherlands)

Author keywords

fear; outgroup derogation; political extremism; political ideology

Indexed keywords

ADOLESCENT; ADULT; AGED; ATTITUDE; EMOTION; FEAR; FEMALE; HUMAN; MALE; MIDDLE AGED; POLITICS; SOCIAL BEHAVIOR; VERY ELDERLY; YOUNG ADULT;

ADOLESCENT; ADULT; AGED; AGED, 80 AND OVER; ATTITUDE; EMOTIONS; FEAR; FEMALE; HUMANS; MALE; MIDDLE AGED; POLITICS; SOCIAL IDENTIFICATION; YOUNG ADULT;

EID: 84924912227     PISSN: 01461672     EISSN: 15527433     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1177/0146167215569706     Document Type: Article

References (56)

1. Adorno T. W.,Frenkel-Brunswik E.,Levinson D. J.,Sanford R. N.The authoritarian personality. New York, NY: Harper & Row; 1950:
2. Anson J.,Pyszczynski T.,Solomon S.,Greenberg J.Social and psychological bases of ideology and system justification. Jost J. J.Kay A. C.Thorisdottir H., ed. New York, NY: Oxford University Press; 2009:210-240.
3. Baumeister R. F.Evil: Inside human violence and cruelty. New York, NY: Henry Holt; 1997:
4. Brandt M. J.,Reyna C.,Chambers J. R.,Crawford J. T.,Wetherell G.The ideological-conflict hypothesis: Intolerance among both liberals and conservatives.Current Directions in Psychological Science. 2014;23:27-34
5. Castano E.,Leidner B.,Bonacossa A.,Nikkah J.,Perrulli R.,Spencer B.,Humphrey N.Ideology, fear of death, and death anxiety.Political Psychology. 2011;32:601-621
6. Chambers J. R.,Schlenker B. R.,Collisson B.Ideology and prejudice: The role of value conflicts.Psychological Science. 2013;24:140-149
7. Chirumbolo A.The relationship between need for cognitive closure and political orientation: The mediating role of authoritarianism.Personality and Individual Differences. 2002;32:603-610
8. Cohen J.,Cohen P.,West S. G.,Aiken L. S.Applied multiple regression/correlation analysis for the behavioral sciences. (2003). Applied multiple regression/correlation analysis for the behavioral sciences (3rd ed.). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum; 2003:
9. Crawford J. T.,Pilanski J. M.Political intolerance, right and left.Political Psychology. 2014;35:841-851
10. Das E.,Bushman B. J.,Bezemer M. D.,Kerkhof P.,Vermeulen I. E.How terrorism news reports increase prejudice against outgroups: A terror management account.Journal of Experimental Social Psychology. 2009;45:453-459
11. Duckitt J.On the nature of prejudice: Fifty years after Allport. Dovidio J.Glick P.Rudman L., ed. Malden, MA: Blackwell; 2005:395-412.
12. Fernbach P. M.,Rogers T.,Fox C. R.,Sloman S. A.Political extremism is supported by an illusion of understanding.Psychological Science. 2013;24:939-946
13. Fibert Z.,Ressler W. H.Intolerance of ambiguity and political orientation among Israeli university students.The Journal of Social Psychology. 1998;138:33-40
14. Graham J.,Haidt J.,Nosek B.Liberals and conservatives use different sets of moral foundations.Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. 2009;96:1029-1046
15. Greenberg J.,Jonas E.Psychological motives and political orientation—The left, the right, and the rigid: Comment on Jost et al. (2003).Psychological Bulletin. 2003;129:376-382
16. Haidt J.The righteous mind: Why good people are divided by politics and religion. New York, NY: Pantheon Books; 2012:
17. Hardin R.Political extremism and rationality. Breton A.Galeotti G.Salmon P.Wintrobe R., ed. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press; 2002:3-22.
18. Hayes A. F.,Preacher K. J.Quantifying and testing indirect effects in simple mediation models when the constituent paths are nonlinear.Multivariate Behavioral Research. 2010;45:627-660
19. Hogg M. A.,Meehan C.,Farquharson J.The solace of radicalism: Self-uncertainty and group identification in the face of threat.Journal of Experimental Social Psychology. 2010;46:1061-1066
20. Inbar Y.,Lammers J.Political diversity in social and personality psychology.Perspectives on Psychological Science. 2012;7:496-503
21. Inglehart R.Changing conceptions of conspiracy. Graumann C. F.Moscovici S., ed. New York, NY: Springer-Verlag; 1987:231-244.
22. Janoff-Bulman R.,Carnes N. C.Surveying the moral landscape: Moral motives and group-based moralities.Personality and Social Psychology Review. 2013;17:219-236
23. Jost J. J.,Glaser J.,Kruglanski A. W.,Sulloway F. J.Exceptions that prove the rule—Using a theory of motivated social cognition to account for ideological incongruities and political anomalies: Reply to Greenberg and Jonas (2003).Psychological Bulletin. 2003a;129:383-393
24. Jost J. J.,Glaser J.,Kruglanski A. W.,Sulloway F. J.Political conservatism as motivated social cognition.Psychological Bulletin. 2003b;129:339-375
25. Jost J. J.,Napier J. L.,Thorisdottir H.,Gosling S. D.,Pafai T. P.,Ostafin B.Are needs to manage uncertainty and threat associated with political conservatism or ideological extremity?.Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin. 2007;33:989-1007
26. Kemmelmeier M.Need for closure and political orientation among German university students.The Journal of Social Psychology. 1997;137:787-789
27. Kemmelmeier M.Political conservatism, rigidity, and dogmatism in American foreign policy officials: The 1966 Mennis data.The Journal of Psychology. 2007;141:77-90
28. Kruglanski A. W.,Pierro A.,Mannetti L.,De Grada E.Groups as epistemic providers: Need for closure and the unfolding of group-centrism.Psychological Review. 2006;113:84-100
29. Lammers J.,Proulx T.Writing autobiographical narratives increases political conservatism.Journal of Experimental Social Psychology. 2013;49:684-691
30. Malka A.,Soto C. J.,Inzlicht M.,Lelkes Y.Do needs for security and certainty predict cultural and economic conservatism? A cross-national analysis.Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. 2014;106:1031-1051
31. McClosky H.,Chong D.Similarities and differences between left-wing and right-wing radicals.British Journal of Political Science. 1985;15:329-363
32. McFarland S. G.,Ageyev V. S.,Abalakina-Paap M. A.Authoritarianism in the former Soviet Union.Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. 1992;63:1004-1010
33. McGregor I.Offensive defensiveness: Toward an integrative neuroscience of compensatory zeal after mortality salience, personal uncertainty, and other poignant self-threats.Psychological Inquiry. 2006;17:299-308
34. McGregor I.,Prentice M.,Nash K.Anxious uncertainty and reactive approach motivation (RAM) for religious, idealistic, and lifestyle extremes.Journal of Social Issues. 2013;69:537-563
35. Midlarsky M. L.Origins of political extremism. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press; 2011:
36. Napier J. L.,Jost J. J.Why are conservatives happier than liberals?.Psychological Science. 2008;19:565-572
37. Pipes D.Conspiracy: How the paranoid style flourishes and where it comes from. New York, NY: Simon & Schuster; 1997:
38. Podsakoff P. M.,MacKenzie S. B.,Lee J.-Y.,Podsakoff N. P.Common method biases in behavioral research: A critical review of the literature and recommended remedies.Journal of Applied Psychology. 2003;88:879-903
39. Pratto F.,Sidanius J.,Stallworth L. M.,Malle B. M.Social dominance orientation: A personality variable predicting social and political attitudes.Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. 1994;67:741-763
40. Pyszczynski T.,Abdollani A.,Solomon S.,Greenberg J.,Cohen F.,Weise D.Mortality salience, martyrdom, and military might: The great satan versus the axis of evil.Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin. 2006;32:525-537
41. Pyszczynski T.,Greenberg J.,Solomon S.A dual-process model of defense against conscious and unconscious death-related thoughts: An extension of terror management theory.Psychological Review. 1999;106:835-845
42. Roccato M.,Vieno A.,Russo S.Criminal victimization fosters conservatism among people living in areas living with high unemployment rates: A multilevel longitudinal study.European Journal of Social Psychology. 2013;43:585-592
43. Schlenker B. R.,Chambers J. R.,Le B. M.Conservatives are happier than liberals, but why? Political ideology, personality, and life satisfaction.Journal of Research in Personality. 2012;46:127-146
44. Sears D. O.,Henry P. J.The origins of symbolic racism.Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. 2003;85:259-275
45. Siemsen E.,Roth A.,Oliveira P.Common method bias in regression models with linear, quadratic, and interaction effects.Organizational Research Methods. 2010;13:456-476
46. Solak N.,Jost J. J.,Sümer N.,Clore G. L.Rage against the machine: The case for system-level emotions.Social & Personality Psychology Compass. 2012;6:674-690
47. Stephan W. G.,Stephan C. W.Reducing prejudice and discrimination. Oskamp S., ed. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum; 2000:23-45.
48. Tetlock P. E.,Armor D.,Peterson R. S.The slavery debate in antebellum America: Cognitive style, value conflict, and the limits of compromise.Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. 1994;66:115-126
49. Tetlock P. E.,Bernzweig J.,Gallant J. L.Supreme Court decision making: Cognitive style as a predictor of ideological consistency in voting.Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. 1985;48:1227-1239
50. Tetlock P. E.,Hannum K. A.,Micheletti P. M.Stability and change in the complexity of the senatorial debate: Testing the cognitive versus rhetorical style hypotheses.Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. 1984;46:979-990
51. Thorisdottir H.,Jost J. J.Motivated closed-mindedness mediates the effect of threat on political conservatism.Political Psychology. 2012;32:785-811
52. Thorisdottir H.,Jost J. J.,Liviatan I.,Shrout P. E.Psychological needs and values underlying left-right political orientation: Cross-national evidence from Eastern and Western Europe.Public Opinion Quarterly. 2007;71:175-203
53. Toner K.,Leary M.,Asher M. W.,Jongman-Sereno K. P.Feeling superior is a bipartisan issue: Extremity (not direction) of political views predicts perceived belief superiority.Psychological Science. 2013;24:2454-2462
54. Van Lange P. A. M.,Bekkers R.,Chirumbolo A.,Leone L.Are conservatives less likely to be prosocial than liberals? From games to ideology, political preferences and voting.European Journal of Personality. 2011;26:461-473
55. Weise D. R.,Pyszczynski T.,Cox C. R.,Arndt J.,Greenberg J.,Solomon S.,Kosloff S.Interpersonal politics: The role of terror management and attachment processes in shaping political preference.Psychological Science. 2008;19:448-455
56. Wetherell G. A.,Brandt M. J.,Reyna C.Discrimination across the ideological divide: The role of value violations and abstract values in discrimination by liberals and conservatives.Social Psychological & Personality Science. 2013;4:658-667