Are conservatives more
obedient and agreeable than their liberal counterparts?
Over the last few years,
we've seen increasing dissent among liberals and conservatives on important
issues such as gun control, health care and same-sex marriage.
Both sides often
have a difficult time reconciling their own views with their opposition, and
many times it appears that liberals are unable to band together under a
unifying platform.
Why do conservatives
appear to have an affinity for obeying leadership? And why do conservatives
perceive greater consensus among politically like-minded others? Two studies
publishing in Personality and
Social Psychology Bulletin shed light on these questions.
Loyalty to leadership
Historically,
conservatives are viewed as being more obedient and more respectful of
leadership. Whereas, liberals tend to be associated with protests and blatant
acts of rebellion.
Previous research has
seemed to suggest that the act of obedience is divisive, and that this cultural
war among liberals and conservatives may stem from the fact that obedience
elicits different emotional responses. Researchers at the University of
Winnipeg delved further into this perception of obedience to authority with
three studies, and found that liberals and conservatives are more similar than
they may appear.
Lead researcher Jeremy
Frimer explains that "beneath the surface of some of these ideological
debates is a fundamental need to belong to a group that has a strong leader.
Both sides feel the need. And both sides believe that people should do as their
leader tells them to do. The difference between the groups is not whether they
value obedience to authority. Rather, the difference is about which authority
they think is worthy of obedience."
In surveying
participants, the researchers found that the act of obedience itself elicits
similar moral sentiments from both conservatives and liberals; the differences
sparked only when participants perceived the authorities to advance a political
agenda.
Testing the
participants’ perceptions proved trickier than expected, because the
researchers found that the concepts of authority and obedience automatically
elicit thoughts of a conservative authority.
This finding may explain why
obedience to authority appears to be a concept conservatives favor over
liberals.
Once researchers were
able to move beyond the cognitive baggage of the term 'authority' in the first
two studies, the third and final study illustrates that liberals and
conservatives do value obedience equally.
Authorities with a
conservative agenda, such as religious leaders and commanding military
officers, elicit a positive moral response from participants who are
politically conservative.
Authorities with
liberal agendas, such as environmentalists and civil rights activists, elicited
positive moral sentiment from liberal participants.
Neutral leaders, like
office managers and janitors, were equally positive for both liberals and
conservatives. Obedience itself is not ideologically divisive, but rather
depends on how similar the authority is in their viewpoints and opinions, and
conservatives will call for rebellion when the authorities are from the 'other
team.'
Agreement and consensus
Researchers at New York
University and the University of Toronto explored the concept that
conservatives desire to share reality more strongly than liberals. The
perception of in-group consensus can help mobilize group members toward
collective efforts and a stronger intention to vote in a particular election.
"Individuals can
attain a sense of shared reality through perceiving that other people hold
similar beliefs as they personally do," lead researcher Chadly Stern
explains. "For example, we found that conservatives, more than liberals,
perceived that politically like-minded others made similar judgments concerning
whether a target person was born in November or December, simply based on
seeing a picture of the person. Even though this judgment was devoid of
political meaning, conservatives' perceptions of similarity were associated
with the feeling that they "shared reality" with other
conservatives."
The findings suggest
that perceiving consensus on non-political judgments, like guessing someone's
birth month, has implications for outcomes that are politically meaningful.
Liberals appear to be more motivated to perceive their beliefs as relatively
unique, which can undermine the development of a cohesive movement. A stronger
desire for shared reality among conservatives may be why the Tea Party gained
more momentum than the Occupy Wall Street movement.
Story Source:
The above story is
based on materials provided by Society for Personality and Social Psychology. Note: Materials may be edited for
content and length.
Journal
References:
1.
Frimer, J.A., Gaucher, D., Schaefer, N.K. Political Conservatives'
Affinity for Obedience to Authority is Loyal, Not Blind. Personality and Social Psychology
Bulletin, 2014 DOI: 10.1177/0146167214538672
2.
Stern, C., West, T.V., Jost, J.T., Rule, N.O. "Ditto Heads": Do
Conservatives Perceive Greater Consensus Within their Ranks than Liberals? Personality and Social Psychology
Bulletin, 2014
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Society for Personality
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27 June 2014.
