Psyche profile of the conservative mindset
Interesting articles in The Guardian and the Seattle Post-Intelligencer this week about the study "Political Conservatism as Motivated Social Cognition".
I think that comparing Hitler and Mussolini to Reagan, Limbaugh, and Bush (a comparison that the study makes) is perhaps a little bit excessive, but a lot of what is reported about the study makes sense. Many conservatives do seem to want to be able to see the world in black-and-white / us-or-them terms.
The study goes on to hypothesize that...
One of the authors of the study does say some good things about the conservative mindset. Apparently conservatives are also more likely to be loyal, decisive and committed.
Quote:
A study funded by the US government has concluded that conservatism can be explained psychologically as a set of neuroses rooted in "fear and aggression, dogmatism and the intolerance of ambiguity [which] can lead people to cling to the familiar, to arrive at premature conclusions, and to impose simplistic cliches and stereotypes"
A study funded by the US government has concluded that conservatism can be explained psychologically as a set of neuroses rooted in "fear and aggression, dogmatism and the intolerance of ambiguity [which] can lead people to cling to the familiar, to arrive at premature conclusions, and to impose simplistic cliches and stereotypes"
I think that comparing Hitler and Mussolini to Reagan, Limbaugh, and Bush (a comparison that the study makes) is perhaps a little bit excessive, but a lot of what is reported about the study makes sense. Many conservatives do seem to want to be able to see the world in black-and-white / us-or-them terms.
The study goes on to hypothesize that...
Quote:
political conservatism is significantly associated with (1) mental rigidity and closed-mindedness, including (a) increased dogmatism and intolerance of ambiguity, (b) decreased cognitive complexity, (c) decreased openness to experience, (d) uncertainty avoidance, (e) personal needs for order and structure, and (f) need for cognitive closure; (2) lowered self-esteem; (3) fear, anger, and aggression; (4) pessimism, disgust, and contempt.
political conservatism is significantly associated with (1) mental rigidity and closed-mindedness, including (a) increased dogmatism and intolerance of ambiguity, (b) decreased cognitive complexity, (c) decreased openness to experience, (d) uncertainty avoidance, (e) personal needs for order and structure, and (f) need for cognitive closure; (2) lowered self-esteem; (3) fear, anger, and aggression; (4) pessimism, disgust, and contempt.
One of the authors of the study does say some good things about the conservative mindset. Apparently conservatives are also more likely to be loyal, decisive and committed.
Comments
Analyzing political conservatism as motivated social cognition integrates theories of personality (authoritarianism, dogmatism-intolerance of ambiguity), epistemic and existential needs (for closure, regulatory focus, terror management), and ideological rationalization (social dominance, system justification). A meta-analysis (88 samples, 12 countries, 22,818 cases) confirms that several psychological variables predict political conservatism: death anxiety (weighted mean r = .50); system instability (.47); dogmatism-intolerance of ambiguity (.34); openness to experience (-.32); uncertainty tolerance (-.27); needs for order, structure, and closure (.26); integrative complexity (-.20); fear of threat and loss (.18 ); and self-esteem (-.09). The core ideology of conservatism stresses resistance to change and justification of inequality and is motivated by needs that vary situationally and dispositionally to manage uncertainty and threat.
I downloaded the study and will report back
For those of you that are US Americans friggin vote, cuz this nihilistic crap don't change nuthin. And don't stop there either, protest, go and register voters, start education programs, etc...
I'll tell you the big difference 'tween the lil' people and the big people is nuts. Either you got em or you don'. The big people get to screw the lil' people cuz they rollover. You think the big people rollover when someone tries to screw them, no they put up a fight.
This is not a fight about liberal vs conservative, nor left vs right. It is friggin' class war, the haves vs the have nots, and the have nots are losin'. SO WAKE UP AND KICK THE SHIT OUTTA THE STATUS QUO, cuz if you don' do nuthin, ain't no one else gonna come by and fix the mess.
Originally posted by pig
Pig . . I think I know you . . . is your name Ken by any chance?
But seriously folks . . . . isn't this all common knowledge.
Americans have recently embraced Conservatism the same way we embraced feathered hair and bell bottoms: its a fad . . . well funded and organized propaganda machine-fad.
... part of its appeal is that the people who are embracing it know about everything that the study says and they simply have given in: "authoritarianism?! sure, why not. too tired to balance options . . ." the problem is is that this kind of thinking leads from "too tired to examine complexity" all the way to " too tired for freedom, go ahead make my decisions for me"
Originally posted by pfflam
Pig . . I think I know you . . . is your name Ken by any chance?
Funny, I was just wondering if my brother had joined AI...
I think some of the points Pig makes are valid (this USA Today article is one of the saddest things I've read in a while), although the class war rhetoric makes it easier for right-wingers to dismiss / ignore them.
Originally posted by pfflam
pfflam long time no see. I've got a question for you. Check your PMs.
But what drives the psychologists? George Will, a Washington Post columnist who has long suffered from ingrained conservatism, noted, tartly: "The professors have ideas; the rest of us have emanations of our psychological needs and neuroses."
Damned wily-eyed, liberal academics!
Shorter George F. Will:
Theories Of Right Thinking
Pretentious professors of Psychology, no matter how nuanced and well-documented the studies they produce, will never convince me that conservatives tend to be close-minded and resistant to change.
George has much to say on this subject. Most of it showing how psychotic these professors are themselves.
A few tasty bites...
The professors write, "One is justified in referring to Hitler, Mussolini, Reagan, and Limbaugh as right-wing conservatives . . . because they all preached a return to an idealized past and favored or condoned inequality in some form."
Until the professors give examples of political people who do not favor or condone equality in any form, it is fair to conclude that, for all their pretensions to scientific rigor, they are remarkably imprecise. And they are very political people, who would be unlikely ever to begin a sentence: "One is justified in referring to Stalin, Mao, Franklin Roosevelt and the editors of the New York Times as left-wing liberals because . . . . "
More..
But it is difficult to take the professors' seriousness seriously when they say, in an essay responding to a critique of their paper, that Ronald Reagan's "chief accomplishment, in effect, was to roll back both the New Deal and the 1960s." His "accomplishment"? So that is why Social Security and Medicare disappeared.
More...
The professors note, "The practice of singling out political conservatives for special study began . . . [with a 1950] study of authoritarianism and the fascist potential in personality." The industry of studying the sad psychology of conservatism is booming. It began with a European mixture of Marxism and Freudianism. It often involves a hash of unhistorical judgments, including the supposedly scientific, value-free judgment that conservatives are authoritarians, and that fascists -- e.g., the socialist Mussolini and Hitler, the National Socialist who wanted to conserve nothing -- were conservatives.
The German Workers' Party name was changed by Hitler to include the term National Socialist. Thus the full name was the National Socialist German Workers' Party (Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei or NSDAP) called for short, Nazi. Yep, socialism = conservatism... no agenda there folks.
Nick
Interestingly, General Franco of spain commissioned psychiatric studies on the mentality of of communists marxist sympathisers... total bunk of course..
Just like the studies conducted by Goebels...
But my two cents worth. Sweeping generalizations..but who cares ?
So,
Conservatives are more likely to be over 35.
Males are more likely to vote conservative than women.
Conservative tends to be associated with "steady a she goes " & don't rock to boat " Conservatives don't like to protest on the streets as much as liberals..
Liberals on the other hand tend to be younger ( under 35 ), highly educated and more women vote liberal than conservative. Liberals tend to fall into the " change the world " & " live for causes " type. Liberals are also more likely to go out and protest than conservatives..
Both groups are subject to illusions of self importance.
Both groups have their share of myths & conspiracies to believe in.
Both groups are righteous ( or lefteous )...
Originally posted by BuonRotto
Frankly, I think people at either end of the political spectrum, be it über-"liberal" or über-"conservative," follow the pathology described in the articles. Both sets are populated with self-righteous, intolerant, and dogmatic people. Some dogs too.
I agree.
Originally posted by trumptman
George has much to say on this subject. Most of it showing how psychotic these professors are themselves.
Two things...
1. you apparently completely missed the irony of the will quote Shawn posted. Good job.
2. I think it is really, really, really telling how you obviously have not read the study and yet are so ready to rush to judgment.
I'm not defending the study (I haven't yet read it, but have downloaded it and will). I'm just pointing out how your identification with an idology has you constructing a world view based on guesses rather than actual fact. Have fun riding your unicorn to inside-out land.
Originally posted by trumptman
Ah George Will, one of the few people on the planet that make me still reach for a dictionary a couple times a year...
You had to look up close-minded too?
Originally posted by giant
Two things...
1. you apparently completely missed the irony of the will quote Shawn posted. Good job.
2. I think it is really, really, really telling how you obviously have not read the study and yet are so ready to rush to judgment.
I'm not defending the study (I haven't yet read it). I'm just pointing out how your identification with an idology has you constructing a world view based on guesses rather than actual fact. Have fun riding your unicorn to inside-out land.
I understood it. However if someone repeated over and over that the moon is made of cheese, my unwillingness to believe that would not be closemindedness and unwillingness to change.
That is exactly what the Will quote is getting at. Likewise it shows exactly what Will claims which is liberals think their beliefs "enlightened truth" and believe conservatives suffering from a psychosis.
It is only "ironic" if you happen to believe that. I don't. If anything most liberals treats their views as religious with conservatives being "da devil." Religion is probably the most closeminded and unwilling to change institution of all, which is why Will noted that folks like Mao and Stalin felt justified in just killing those that disagreed with them rather than "converting them."
Laugh your head off....
Nick
Originally posted by Aquafire
Sounds akin to Phrenology...and just as laughable.
Phrenology rocks!
Originally posted by trumptman
I understood it. However if someone repeated over and over that the moon is made of cheese, my unwillingness to believe that would not be closemindedness and unwillingness to change.
Now you've joined the ranks of will with obvious closemindedness by CONTINUING to make judgements about a study you HAVE NOT READ. You really are on a roll here, bud.
Do yourself a favor, hop yourself over to a library and ILL the study, read it and then think about it.
Originally posted by giant
Now you've joined the ranks of will with obvious closemindedness by CONTINUING to make judgements about a study you HAVE NOT READ. You really are on a roll here, bud.
If having a differing opinion makes one close-minded, then we're all guilty.
Originally posted by Eugene
You had to look up close-minded too?
Yep and amazingly enough it sounded like most liberal notions regarding change.
Intolerant of the beliefs and opinions of others; stubbornly unreceptive to new ideas.
If you want to see some closed-mindedness around here. Visit my threads on Men's Choice, speech codes, etc. There is plenty of closemindedness from the liberal side of issues.
Nick
Originally posted by Eugene
If having a differing opinion makes one close-minded, then we're all guilty.
Maybe you were responding to someone else and quoted me on accident, because I can't figure out how my criticism of trumptman's inability to inform himself before making judgements leads you to the interpretation above.
Originally posted by trumptman
If you want to see some closed-mindedness around here. Visit my threads on Men's Choice, speech codes, etc. There is plenty of closemindedness from the liberal side of issues.
That's right. Try to divert attention away from the fact you are judging something before knowing anything about it. Is there anything more ignorant than that?