Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-s2hrs Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-09T22:28:47.221Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

How encompassing is the effect of negativity bias on political conservatism?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 June 2014

Ariel Malka
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, Yeshiva University, New York, NY 10033. [email protected]://www.yu.edu/faculty/pages/Malka-Ariel
Christopher J. Soto
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology Colby College, Waterville, ME 04901. [email protected]://www.colby.edu/directory_cs/cjsoto/

Abstract

We argue that the political effects of negativity bias are narrower than Hibbing et al. suggest. Negativity bias reliably predicts social, but not economic, conservatism, and its political effects often vary across levels of political engagement. Thus the role of negativity bias in broad ideological conflict depends on the strategic packaging of economic and social attitudes by political elites.

Type
Open Peer Commentary
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2014 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Carney, D. R., Jost, J. T., Gosling, S. D. & Potter, J. (2008) The secret lives of liberals and conservatives: Personality profiles, interaction styles, and the things they leave behind. Political Psychology 29(6):807–40.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Crowson, H. M. (2009) Are all conservatives alike? A study of the psychological correlates of cultural and economic conservatism. The Journal of Psychology: Interdisciplinary and Applied 143(5):449–63.Google Scholar
Duckitt, J. & Sibley, C. G. (2009) A dual-process motivational model of ideology, politics, and prejudice. Psychological Inquiry 20:98109.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Feldman, S. & Johnston, C. D. (2014) Understanding the determinants of political ideology: Implications of structural complexity. Political Psychology 35:337–58.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gerber, A. S., Huber, G. A., Doherty, D., Dowling, C. M. & Ha, S. E. (2010) Personality and political attitudes: Relationships across issue domains and political contexts. American Political Science Review 104(01):111–33.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Golec, A. (2002) Need for cognitive closure and political conservatism: Studies on the nature of the relationship. Polish Psychological Bulletin 33:512.Google Scholar
Hatemi, P. K., Eaves, L. & McDermott, R. (2012) It's the end of ideology as we know it. Journal of Theoretical Politics 24:345–69.Google Scholar
Inbar, Y., Pizarro, D. A. & Bloom, P. (2009a) Conservatives are more easily disgusted than liberals. Cognition and Emotion 23(4):714–25.Google Scholar
Johnson, S. & Tamney, J. (2001) Social traditionalism and economic conservatism: Two conservative political ideologies in the United States. The Journal of Social Psychology 141(2):233–43.Google Scholar
Johnston, C. D. (2013) Dispositional sources of economic protectionism. Public Opinion Quarterly 77:574–85.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Malka, A. & Soto, C. J. (2011) The conflicting influences of religiosity on attitude toward torture. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin 37:1091–103.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Oxley, D. R., Smith, K. B., Alford, J. R., Hibbing, M. V., Miller, J. L., Scalora, M., Hatemi, P. K. & Hibbing, J. R. (2008) Political attitudes vary with physiological traits. Science 321(5896):1667–70.Google Scholar
Smith, K. B., Oxley, D. R., Hibbing, M. V., Alford, J. R. & Hibbing, J. R. (2011) Disgust sensitivity and the neurophysiology of left-right political orientations. PloS ONE 6(10):19.Google Scholar
Stenner, K. (2005) The authoritarian dynamic. Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Treier, S. & Hillygus, D. S. (2009) The nature of political ideology in the contemporary electorate. Public Opinion Quarterly 73:679703.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Van Hiel, A. & Mervielde, I. (2004) Openness to experience and boundaries in the mind: Relationships with cultural and economic conservative beliefs. Journal of Personality 72(4):659–86.Google Scholar
Zaller, J. (1992) The nature and origins of mass opinion. Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar