Personality and Political Views

Introduction to Personality and Political Views

• Link between personality models and human activities.
• Focus on creativity, and transition to political ideas and views.

Theoretical Perspectives

• Divergence among psychologists regarding the relationship between personality and political views.
• Some argue fixed nature of personality vs. variability of political views.
• Others assert that political attitudes are part of personality.
• Specifically mention Carney's perspective.

Historical Context

• The concept of linking personality traits with political views dates back to early $20^{th}$ century.
• Application of Freud's theories to politics and political ideology.

Freud's Anal Personality Theory

• Freud identified the anal personality in relation to the anal stage of psychosexual development, particularly during potty training.
• If a child experiences too strict potty training, they may develop specific personality traits:
  • Orderliness: Tendency toward bodily cleanliness and conscientiousness in small duties.
  • Parsimony: May manifest as extreme stinginess or avarice.
  • Obstinacy: Possible rebellion and defiance, linked to rage and revengefulness.
• Both Freud and later researchers found that these personality traits tend to cluster together.

Fromm's Interpretation

• Fromm extends Freud's theories to political viewpoints with the concept of hoarding orientation:
  • Preference for order and rigidity as a defense mechanism against a threatening external world.
  • Fortress Mentality: The individual attempts to find security by building a metaphorical wall around what they possess (money, feelings, thoughts) while viewing the outside world as a source of potential loss.
  • Cognitive rigidity, dislike of ambiguity, seeing things in black-and-white terms.
  • Individuals with hoarding personality prefer authoritarian political views for clear, rigid frameworks.

Escape from Freedom

• Fromm's book discusses:
  • Negative vs. Positive Freedom: Distinction between "freedom from" (liberation from traditional constraints) and "freedom to" (the ability to act spontaneously and creatively).
  • Some individuals find the burden of "freedom from"—the resulting isolation and powerlessness—unbearable, seeking comfort in escape mechanisms.
  • Mechanisms of Escape:
  • Authoritarianism: Seeking to merge oneself with a powerful outside force to gain strength.
  • Destructiveness: An attempt to destroy the objects or people that cause feelings of powerlessness.
  • Automaton Conformity: Losing the individual self by adopting the personality offered by the cultural group, similar to how a chameleon changes color to blend into its environment.
  • Sadomasochistic Character Traits:
  • Masochistic submission to authority figures (e.g., strong leaders) due to a desire for order and a sense of belonging.
  • Sadistic aggression towards dissenters and non-conformists as a way to assert power over perceived inferiors.

Adorno's Authoritarian Personality

• Adorno explores how personality traits may predispose individuals to accept authoritarian political views:
  • Developed the F scale (Fascism scale) to measure susceptibility to authoritarianism through $9$ specific dimensions.
  • Projectivity: The disposition to believe that wild and dangerous things go on in the world; the projection of outward unconscious emotional impulses.
  • Power and Toughness: Preoccupation with the dominance-submission, strong-weak, leader-follower dimension; identification with power-figures.
  • Key characteristics of the authoritarian personality:
  • Conventionalism: Rigid adherence to conventional, middle-class values.
  • Authoritarian submission: Submissive, uncritical attitude toward idealized moral authorities of the in-group.
  • Authoritarian aggression: Tendency to be on the lookout for, and to condemn, reject, and punish people who violate conventional values.
  • Anti-intraception: Opposition to the subjective, the imaginative, and the tender-minded; a distrust of psychological insight or imagination.

Maslow's Contributions

• Maslow similarly identified the authoritarian character structure:
  • Views the world as a "jungle" where people are inherently dangerous and life is a zero-sum game of "eat or be eaten."
  • Hierarchy of Power: Perception of interpersonal relationships solely in terms of power, where one must either dominate or be dominated; there is no middle ground of equality.
  • Security Needs: This worldview is often driven by an unfulfilled need for safety (the $2^{nd}$ level of Maslow's hierarchy), leading the individual to seek absolute authority to provide security against perceived threats.
  • Associated with hostility towards others and a preference for rigid hierarchies where everyone has a fixed, unchangeable rank.

Rokeach's Dogmatism

• Rokeach expands the concept of authoritarianism to include dogmatism:
  • Defined as a closed-minded cognitive style where the internal belief system is protected from external reality.
  • Developed the D-scale to measure "general authoritarianism," which applies to any ideology regardless of whether it is left-wing or right-wing.
  • Belief-Disbelief Systems: Dogmatic individuals have a high degree of isolation between their beliefs, allowing them to hold contradictory ideas if supported by an authority.
  • Features dichotomous thinking (viewing the world in absolute opposites) and significant intolerance for differing opinions.

Connection to Tolerance

• Studies relate high self-esteem and cognitive flexibility with higher political tolerance.
• Higher psychological insecurity often correlates with lower tolerance for differing views.
• Dogmatic individuals often perceive others as threats, shying away from ambiguity.

Personality Models and Political Views

• Examination of the Big Five Personality Traits ($5$ core dimensions):
  • Openness to Experience: The strongest trait-based predictor of political orientation. High openness involves curiosity and unconventionality, which correlates strongly with liberal or progressive views ($r \approx 0.3$ to $0.4$).
  • Conscientiousness: Specifically the facet of Orderliness, which correlates with conservative views and a preference for traditional social structures.
  • Agreeableness: Often linked to support for social welfare and community-oriented policies due to a focus on compassion and cooperation.
  • Extraversion: Correlates with political participation and leadership, but does not consistently favor one side of the ideological spectrum.
  • Emotional Stability (Neuroticism): High levels can lead to political withdrawal or, in some cases, radicalization due to heightened threat perception.

Arousal and Political Views

• Research indicates a relationship between emotional arousal and endorsement of political views:
  • Negativity Bias: Physiological studies suggest that individuals with conservative views often exhibit stronger reactions to aversive or threatening stimuli (e.g., loud noises or startling images).
  • Amygdala Activity: Brain imaging has shown a correlation between larger amygdala volume—an area associated with processing fear—and conservative political leanings.
  • Cognitive Freezing: Under high emotional arousal or stress, cognitive flexibility decreases. This leads to a preference for simpler, more certain perspectives and a rejection of complex or ambiguous information.

Dark Triad of Personality

• The dark triad involves three distinct but overlapping antisocial traits:
  • Narcissism: Characterized by grandiosity and self-importance; individuals may support radical movements to gain status or feel "special."
  • Machiavellianism: Focuses on strategic manipulation and a cynical disregard for morality; linked to a "the ends justify the means" approach to politics.
  • Psychopathy: Defined by impulsivity, thrill-seeking, and a lack of empathy; often associated with aggressive foreign policy views or the rejection of democratic norms.
  • Extremism Correlation: Research shows that individuals scoring high in dark triad traits are more likely to endorse both far-left and far-right extremist ideologies, while moderate views show little to no correlation with these traits.

Recent Developments in Research

• Notable polarization in political opinions observed, especially in the U.S.
• Dark triad traits correlate with both left and right extremism but not with moderate views.
• Connection between personality, especially authoritarian traits, and dichotomous thinking explaining extremes in political ideology.

Conclusion

• Complexity in the relationship between personality characteristics and political views.
• Factors include education, environment, and emotional arousal, which impact individual responses to political ideas.