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Grounded in the theoretical framework of the dual-process motivational model of ideology and politics, we investigated the mediational role of RWA and SDO on the relationship between voting for populist parties and conspiracy beliefs; the moderation of political interest was also explored. Collapsing different convenience samples gathered after the European election (2014/2015) and the General National Election (2018/2019) allowed us to analyse two datasets (Study 1, n = 4141; Study 2, n = 2301). We hypothesised that populist voters would report higher conspiracy beliefs, RWA, and SDO, compared to non-populist voters and abstainers, and that populist voters would report more conspiracy beliefs through indirect pathways running through RWA and SDO. Furthermore, we hypothesised that such direct and indirect associations would be stronger for individuals with high rather than low political interest. Analyses of variance and moderated mediation models mostly confirmed our expectations, although RWA, and not SDO, mediated the relationships in the expected directions.

A growing body of work has highlighted the importance of political beliefs and attitudes in predicting endorsement and engagement in prosocial behavior. Individuals with right-wing political orientation are less likely to behave prosocially than their left-wing counterparts due to high levels of Right-wing authoritarianism (RWA). Here, we aimed to extend prior work by testing how political values relate to COVID-19 discretionary behavioral intentions (i.e., prosocial and non-mandatory behaviors aimed at controlling the spread of the pandemic). Furthermore, we tested whether identification with the national group would influence the relationship between RWA and prosocial behavior. A cross-sectional study conducted on 350 Italian participants showed that right-wing political orientation had a negative effect on COVID-19 discretionary behavioral intentions via RWA. Furthermore, a moderated mediation model revealed that this effect was only significant for participants who are lowly identified with the national group. The results suggest that highlighting group belongingness might effectively motivate more conservative individuals to engage in prosocial behavior.

Previous studies have found that Right-Wing Authoritarianism (RWA) factors partially mediate the relationship between religiosity and attitudes towards homosexuals. Most of these studies have been conducted in the USA, which has distinct characteristics from countries such as Brazil, which is collectivistic and mostly composed of Catholics. Therefore, the objective of this study was to investigate differential mediator effects of RWA factors in the path between religiosity and prejudice towards sexual and gender diversity. Five hundred and seven individuals between 18 and 79 years old (M = 39.30; SD = 17.91) participated in the study, 60.4% of whom were male. Instruments used were the Brazilian version of RWA which is composed by the factors Traditionalism (TR); Authoritarianism (AT); Submission to Authority (SA); Contestation to Authority (CA); and the Prejudice towards Sexual and Gender Diversity – R (PSGDR) scale. RWA factors SA, CA and AT partially mediated the investigated path whereas TR fully mediated it. The results stress that interventions that aim to reduce this sort of prejudice should target support to traditional values rather than religiosity per se. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using data from Turkey and Belgium, this study investigated the relationships of right‐wing authoritarianism and social dominance orientation with ambivalent sexism, homophobia, and subtle racism. First, we predicted that men are more prejudiced than women. This hypothesis was confirmed in the Turkish but not in the Belgian sample. Second, Muslims were higher in authoritarianism and homophobia than people belonging to other (or no) religious groups. Third, Muslims also showed more hostile sexism toward both men and women. Fourth, negative associations of education with authoritarianism, sexism, and homophobia were expected and found. Fifth, in both countries, authoritarianism was positively related to homophobia and sexism, and social dominance orientation was positively associated with racism. Finally, groups comparing both samples, we found that Turks' authoritarianism and prejudice was higher than Belgians'. Implications for theory and practice are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

At least since 2016, distorted news published in populist alternative media outlets have raised global concerns about the effects of distorted news on democratic process such as opinion formation and voting. Not all individuals are equally susceptible to distorted news. In three experimental studies (total N = 1,024), we demonstrate that (a) distorted alternative news are seen as less credible compared to journalist news; (b) the perceived credibility of distorted news is greater among right-wing authoritarians and conspiracy-minded individuals; (c) exposure to distorted news can bias these types of individuals' attitudes about an unknown political candidate; and (d) distorted news leads people in general to develop less favorable attitudes toward the targeted candidate as compared to journalist news. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Some individuals may be internationally displaced by climate change. We surveyed two independent samples of New Zealanders to understand attitudes towards climate aid. Participants were relatively less supportive of financial aid policies, though the majority supported climate refugee policy. We assessed whether those ideological barriers commonly used to predict prejudice and policy support related to this acceptance in meaningful ways. Interestingly, we show that approval or rejection of climate refugee policy was largely predicated on views regarding how hierarchically society ought to be ordered. Our research suggests that those opposing climate refugee policy are motivated by anti-egalitarianism and concerns about their own economic welfare to a greater extent than concerns about differences in culture, values, and norms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Researchers interested in intimate partner violence (IPV) have focused primarily on male-against-female cases. We conducted two experimental investigations to examine the influence of moral evaluation, attribution of responsibility, and right-wing authoritarianism (RWA) on the willingness of bystanders to provide help to the victim in an IPV case involving a same-sex couple. Study 1 (N = 195) surveyed a heterosexual participant sample, and Study 2 (N = 120) surveyed a sample of gay and lesbian participants. In both studies, participants read a fictitious article describing an alleged IPV episode that occurred either in a male–male or a female–female couple. Each participant read an article describing one of two versions of a case of IPV: In one account, the victim admitted to infidelity and in the other, the victim did not confess to infidelity. The participants subsequently evaluated the victim and expressed their willingness (or lack thereof) to support and provide help to the injured party. In both studies, participants in the condition that included the admission of infidelity assessed the victim to be less moral and more responsible for the violent episode. Consequently, participants of both studies expressed lesser willingness to provide help to the victim. Moreover, in Study 1, the relationship between the admission of infidelity and the respondents' willingness to support the victim was moderated by RWA. Particularly, the admission of infidelity by the victim reduced the respondents' willingness to extend support only when they reported a medium to a high level of RWA ideology. By focusing specifically on same-sex IPV cases, this study contributes to a more comprehensive understanding of the reactions of witnesses with regard to IPV. Furthermore, it provides evidence about the underlying mechanisms mitigating the intervention of bystanders in such cases and identifies boundary conditions that exacerbate their (un)willingness to intervene. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The debate "Person vs. Situation" in Psychology has a long history, crosses the entire disciplinary field and remains current. Considering this debate is relevant because it refers to two important questions: a) the nature of the behaviors that need to be explained, and b) the nature of the theories offered to explain them. The methodological designs also affect the results, affecting the weight of personal, situational factors or the interaction between them. In the field of Political Psychology, this debate is of interest because it is raised in relation to different key constructs that explain attitudes towards different political objects and complex behaviors (political participation, discrimination, link with political institutions). Such is the case of the Orientation to Social Dominance (SDO), Right Authoritarianism (RWA) and Causal Attributions. There is a certain consensus that they are not stable provisions of individuals. From this position it is possible to recognize several options regarding what is assumed as "situation"; this makes the scenario of knowledge production even more complex. In turn, the stability over time of the most used measures for these constructs is variable. In some studies, a stability of 15 years is registered, in others of five months and in experimental investigations, there is evidence of variation depending on the manipulation of situational factors of very different levels. In the future, it is important to advance in: a) approximate taxonomies, develop measurement methods and improve the conceptualization of the relevant situational factors; b) establish which personality traits affect which sub-dimensions of the RWA and the SDO and c) know what conditions affect their "stabilization" and how a certain sustainability over time would be conceptually linked to the theories of social / group identity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since the summer of 2020, Indian farmers have been protesting three laws that aim to liberalize agricultural markets and encourage contract farming. In doing so, they have also mounted the largest challenge to an authoritarian Hindu nationalist government to date. The contributions to this JPS Forum provide deep and diverse insights into these farmer protests, including their social composition and political character, as well as their roots in long-term transformations in markets, ecology, and agrarian—and non-agrarian—political economy. In this introduction, we put these contributions into dialogue with older debates in JPS over India's 'new farmers' movements,' which reached their zenith in the 1980s, in order to throw into relief what has changed in rural India and in agrarian studies over the subsequent decades. We argue that the polarized terms of the earlier debates—between Marxists and populists—are no longer adequate for the transformed agrarian milieu of the twenty-first century, which is increasingly defined by agrarian distress, ecological crisis, semi-proletarianization and diversification of occupations amidst jobless and exclusionary growth. This new agrarian reality, combined with the significance of the protests in challenging an authoritarian regime, helps to explain not only the broad coalition behind the current farmers' protests, but their far more sympathetic treatment by agrarian scholars. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The COVID-19 pandemic has posed an enormous challenge in medical, economic, and political terms during the past months. The threat of disease, the more or less authoritarian biopolitics of the states, the concept of social distancing, dictate the need to examine the consequences of the pandemic on an ideological level. Making use of data collected before the pandemic (N = 82) as a point of reference, the aim of the present study was to test the hypothesis that right-wing authoritarianism (Authoritarianism – Conservatism – Traditionalism; ACT; Duckitt et al., 2010) increases under conditions of threat salience (Adorno et al., 1950; Sales, 1973), while appraising the possible moderating role of cultural liberalism. Furthermore, the hypothesis that threat predicts prejudice (e.g., Florack et al., 2003) was examined. Data were collected during three phases of the pandemic in Greece: the first weeks (N = 85), the lockdown (N = 131) and the lifting of the lockdown measures (N = 126). Results confirmed our hypotheses. An increase was found in Conservatism and Traditionalism, especially among less liberal participants, whereas more liberals appeared to express reduced levels of right-wing authoritarianism during the lifting of lockdown measures compared to the pre-COVID-19 period. A progressive expression of prejudice was also found, with cultural liberalism playing a limited but still moderating role in all three phases. Implications of the pandemic for the ideological level are discussed.

The present research examined whether the associations that the assertive/extraverted, antagonistic/disagreeable, and vulnerable/neurotic aspects of narcissism had with ideological attitudes were mediated by social worldviews. The assertive/extraverted and antagonistic/disagreeable aspects of narcissism had similar associations with the competitive social worldview which, in turn, mediated their associations with certain ideological attitudes. In contrast, social worldviews did not mediate the tendency for vulnerable/neurotic narcissism to be characterized by the rejection of right-wing ideological attitudes and the endorsement of left-wing ideological attitudes. These results suggest that these aspects of narcissism diverged in their associations with ideological attitudes and that the competitive social worldview played an important role in the associations that the assertive/extraverted and antagonistic/disagreeable aspects of narcissism had with ideological attitudes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The growth of social competition and modern trends of economic and social integration in the world encourage the study of the discriminatory attitudes of individuals and groups as a significant barrier in the implementation of these processes. Despite the search for various grounds and factors for the development of discriminatory attitudes, studies of specific attitudes and values towards specific and generalized discriminated groups remain relevant. The aim of this research is to study the role of individual values and ideological attitudes in predicting the prejudice against Others. The study involved 217 people (men - 36 %), mean age M = 28.9; SD = 11.2.Aquestionnaire aimed at assessing the severity of the discriminatory attitude towards the representatives of a number of groups was used. The expression of values is determined by the Sh. Schwartz method. To assess the ideological attitudes of the right-wing authoritarianism, social domination, and belief in a dangerous and competitive world, we used a short version of J. Duckitt’s methodology by D.S. Grigoriev. As a result of the confirmatory factor analysis, four generalized discriminated groups were identified: socially unprotected, dissident, outsider groups and social status groups. The data characterizing the ratio of ideological attitudes and the severity of discrimination of individual groups, as well as generalized groups was obtained. Based on structural modeling the common and specific values for each generalized discriminated group were identified.

Right-wing ideology and cognitive ability, including objective numeracy, have been found to relate negatively. Although objective and subjective numeracy correlate positively, it is unclear whether subjective numeracy relates to political ideology in the same way. Replicating and extending previous research, across two samples of American adults (ns= 455, 406), those who performed worse on objective numeracy tasks scored higher on right-wing authoritarianism (RWA) and social dominance orientation (SDO), and they self-identified as more conservative on general, social, and economic continua. Controlling for objective numeracy, subjective numeracy related positively to measures of right-wing ideologies. In other words, those who strongly (vs. weakly) endorsed right-wing ideologies believed they are good with numbers yet performed worse on numeracy tasks. We discuss implications for the opposing direction of associations between ideology with objective versus subjective numeracy and similarities with literature on overconfidence.

Two studies examined the ability of Identification with all Humanity to predict attitudes in the United States regarding support for refugees and tolerance for civilian casualties in the war on terrorism. We expected identification with humanity to predict more support for refugees and less tolerance of civilian casualties in the war on terrorism. Moreover, we expected these effects to hold even when taking into account more frequently studied predictors of intergroup attitudes. In Study 1, 202 people (143 women, Age M = 26.62) completed an online survey, assessing Identification with all Humanity, social dominance orientation, right-wing authoritarianism, political orientation, and religiosity. In Study 2, the same measures were administered in person to a sample of 126 university students (91 women, Age M = 18.92). Identification with all Humanity was associated with more support for refugees in both studies and less support for extreme counter-terrorism measures in Study 1, even when controlling for other variables.

COVID-19 conspiracy theories have proliferated during the global pandemic, and their rapid spread among certain groups may jeopardize the public health response (e.g., undermining motivation to engage in social distancing and willingness to vaccinate against the virus). Using survey data from two waves of a nationally representative, longitudinal study of life in lockdown in the United Kingdom (N = 1,406), we analyze the factors associated with belief in three origin theories related to COVID-19, namely that it 1) originated in a meat market in Wuhan, China; 2) was developed in a lab in Wuhan, China; and 3) is caused by 5G mobile networks. Our findings suggest that political-psychological predispositions are strongly associated with belief in conspiracy theories about the virus, though the direction and effect sizes of these predictors vary depending on the specific content of each origin theory. For instance, belief in the Chinese lab conspiracy theory is strongly associated with right-wing authoritarianism (RWA), social dominance orientation (SDO), and general conspiracy ideation, as well as less reliable news sources, distrust in scientists, and anxiety about the pandemic. Belief in the 5G network conspiracy theory is strongly associated with SDO, distrust in scientists, while less strongly with conspiracy ideation and information from social networks/media; RWA is strongly negatively associated with belief in the 5G conspiracy theory, with older and more wealthy individuals somewhat less likely to endorse it. The meat market origin theory is predicted by intolerance of uncertainty, ethnocentrism, COVID-19 anxiety, and less so by higher income, while distrust in scientists is negatively associated with this origin story. Finally, belief in COVID-19 conspiracy theories is associated with negative public health behaviors such as unwillingness to social distance and vaccinate against the virus. Crucially, our findings suggest that the specific content of COVID-19 conspiracy theories likely determines which individuals may be most likely to endorse them.

Religious ideology and extremism have had an increasing influence on political agendas in the United States and much of the developed world in the past 60 years, with right-wing ideology becoming more prevalent this decade. This article serves as a review of studies investigating the correlations between political ideology, religiosity, right-wing authoritarianism, ingroups/outgroups, and prejudice in an attempt to describe and understand the well-established links between these dimensions. We discuss several group-level theories including Terror Management Theory, Social Identity Theory, Realistic Group Conflict Theory among others to frame the intercorrelations of these constructs in an effort to better understand the underlying mechanisms that drive individuals to embody religious and political beliefs. We then discuss individual-level cognitive and psychological differences such as intelligence, cognitive flexibility, and specific biological and neurological limitations of brain function that may influence people to adopt certain religious and political beliefs. Through a more comprehensive understanding of the underlying mechanisms of religious and political extremism, we may be better equipped to assuage the fear and denigration that is associated with many of these beliefs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

During the 2016–2017 season, several NFL players started kneeling during the national anthem as a protest against institutional racism. These actions sparked considerable public controversy and polarized attitudes toward the protests. Two explanations were raised in the media for differences in attitudes: sensitivity to racial inequality and respect for tradition. We examined the extent to which these explanations, as assessed by ethnocentrism and right-wing authoritarianism (RWA), respectively, accounted for attitudes toward the protests in a sample of white, U.S. college students (N = 294). When examined as simultaneous predictors, RWA, but not ethnocentrism, predicted more negative attitudes toward the protests. These findings suggest that attitudes toward the protests may have been based more on how the protest was enacted (respect for tradition), rather than the topic of the protest (racial inequality). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The authors have underlined the influence of issues of power and ideology on the stigma of schizophrenia. The dual‐process cognitive‐motivational model of ideology and prejudice has shown that for deviant and derogated groups, such as people with schizophrenia, both authoritarianism and social dominance orientation can predict prejudice. However, this model has not been tested in relation to the stigma of schizophrenia. In this paper, we apply the Dual Process Model to the study of stigmatizing attitudes, in two contexts where the model has not been tested before, France (N = 224), and Greece (N = 238). We tested the relation of the model's two pathways (dominance‐competitiveness and authoritarianism‐dangerousness) to stigmatizing attitudes, while making the hypothesis that both would be associated with the latter since people with schizophrenia are perceived as both derogate/subordinate and deviant/threatening. Our results show that the models adequately fit the data and partly confirm the pathways predicted by previous research. However, for the Greek sample, the dominance‐competitiveness component was not significantly associated with stigmatizing attitudes, suggesting that for this sample, people with schizophrenia are mainly stigmatized in terms of deviance/threat. Our results provide evidence for the DPM's application to the study of the stigma of schizophrenia in two contexts where the model has never been applied and underline the importance of ideological and socio‐cognitive factors for community interventions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Some scholars view guanxi as having an important role in social transactions in Chinese societies, while others view guanxi as a problematic practice associated with unfairness and inequality. We propose that the belief in guanxi is a societal norm that is part of the social system in Chinese society, and that belief in guanxi as a social norm is associated with Chinese people's system-justifying beliefs. Chinese university students completed scales on guanxi belief, meritocratic ideology (MI), social dominance orientation (SDO), right-wing authoritarianism (RWA) and their subjective socioeconomic status. Regression analysis indicated that guanxi belief has significant positive relationships with the other three system-justifying ideologies, supporting the proposal that guanxi belief is part of the societal systems supported by people who hold hierarchy-enhancing ideologies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study aims to identify contextual and psychological factors of proneness to radicalization and violent extremism (RVE) operationalized through the Militant Extremist Mindset scale (MEM) consisting of three distinct aspects: Proviolence (PV), Vile World beliefs (VW), and trust in Divine Power (DP). A community sample of 271 high school students (72% females) from Belgrade and Sandžak regions in Serbia completed: (1) a 24-item MEM scale; (2) contextual measures including a 6-item scale of family dysfunction (FDys) and a 4-item composite measure capturing exposure to a harsh school environment and peer abuse (HSE); (3) psychological measures including the 9-item Right-Wing Authoritarianism scale (RWA), the 5-item Social Dominance Orientation scale (SDO), and the 20-item UCLA Loneliness scale (LON). A path analysis was conducted with contextual factors on the first and psychological factors on the second level of the model predicting the three factors of MEM. LON was positively predicted by FDys and HSE, SDO by HSE only, while RWA was positively predicted by FDys only. Contextual and psychological factors accounted for 27% of the variance in PV (LON, SDO), 15% of the variance in VW (FDys, SDO), and 31% of the variance in DP (RWA). Obtained findings reveal a complex interplay of contextual and psychological drivers in the prediction of different aspects of RVE and build upon existing knowledge on risk factors associated with RVE.

During the first phase of the COVID-19 outbreak, Italy experienced problems of public order and maladjusted behavior. This study assessed the role of negative affectivity, right-wing authoritarianism, and anxiety of COVID-19 infection in explaining a variety of the maladjusted behaviors (i.e., “China-phobic” discrimination, panic buying) observed with an Italian sample. Specifically, we examined the effect of Negative Affectivity and Right-Wing Authoritarianism on maladjusted behaviors, and the moderating role of anxiety of infection. Seven hundred and fifty-seven Italian participants completed an online survey between March 3rd to the 7th 2020, which was immediately before the lockdown. A moderated-mediation model was tested using a structural equation modeling approach. Results indicated that both Negative Affectivity and Right-Wing Authoritarianism were positively associated with COVID-19-related maladjusted behavior, and that Right-Wing Authoritarianism mediated the relationship between Negative Affectivity and maladjusted behavior. Furthermore, the effect of Right-Wing Authoritarianism on maladjusted behavior was greater for those with high anxiety of infection, and the indirect effect of Negative Affectivity on maladjusted behavior through Right-Wing Authoritarianism was moderated by infection anxiety. Findings highlight potential psychological paths that may inform communication strategies and public health initiatives aimed at promoting healthy behavior during an outbreak.

Besides the ‘on the table’ rules which could be openly discussed such as laws and other social norms, there are also another series of rules which is called Hidden Rule ( 潛規則 in Chinese), that only could be discussed ‘under the table’ about how to interact with others in Chinese society, that constituting dual rule structure along with the ‘on the table’ social order. In the view of functioning, individuals’ preference towards Hidden Rule could maintain the social order on the surface while benefit individuals’ self-interest with the methods under-table, which has the functional correspondence with the two level of conservatism presented by Right-Wing Authoritarianism and Social Dominance Orientation. This research begins with the phenomena of hidden rule in daily life, then backtracks the traditional Chinese philosophical and historical origin. During the empirical study, we use the concept of ‘rule preference’ to construct the measurement of hidden rule preference, and establish the reliability and validity of the new measurement by using other measurements and behavior indexes. The result shows that 1) the new constructed measurement has good reliability, 2) the hidden rule preference and other measurements, including Right-Wing Authoritarian, Social Dominance Orientation, are interrelated but different concepts with each other, 3) and the hidden rule behavior indexes are significant related to the hidden rule preference, presenting the good validity of the hidden rule preference scale. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examined the relationship between an inability to identify COVID-19 fake news, right-wing authoritarianism (RWA), sociodemographic factors (i.e., race, biological sex), and the level of xenophobia along with anti-Asian American sentiment. Participants included 100 male and female college students. Participants answered questions about their social media usage and were asked to identify social media news posts as either false or accurate. Participants also completed a series of measures regarding their attitudes toward Asian Americans and xenophobia. Sociodemographic variables of race and sex were examined as well as participants levels of RWA. Participants were frequent social media users, with many having multiple social media accounts. Almost twenty-one percent of participants were unable to identify COVID-19 fake news. Higher rates of xenophobia were found among White participants. Male, compared to female, participants were more likely to report experiencing kinship with Asian Americans. Both RWA and an inability to identify COVID-19 fake news was associated with increased prejudicial attitudes. Implications and directions for future research are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

During the first phase of the COVID-19 outbreak, Italy experienced problems of public order and maladjusted behavior. This study assessed the role of negative affectivity, right-wing authoritarianism, and anxiety of COVID-19 infection in explaining a variety of the maladjusted behaviors (i.e., "China-phobic" discrimination, panic buying) observed with an Italian sample. Specifically, we examined the effect of Negative Affectivity and Right-Wing Authoritarianism on maladjusted behaviors, and the moderating role of anxiety of infection. Seven hundred and fifty-seven Italian participants completed an online survey between March 3rd to the 7th 2020, which was immediately before the lockdown. A moderated-mediation model was tested using a structural equation modeling approach. Results indicated that both Negative Affectivity and Right-Wing Authoritarianism were positively associated with COVID-19-related maladjusted behavior, and that Right-Wing Authoritarianism mediated the relationship between Negative Affectivity and maladjusted behavior. Furthermore, the effect of Right-Wing Authoritarianism on maladjusted behavior was greater for those with high anxiety of infection, and the indirect effect of Negative Affectivity on maladjusted behavior through Right-Wing Authoritarianism was moderated by infection anxiety. Findings highlight potential psychological paths that may inform communication strategies and public health initiatives aimed at promoting healthy behavior during an outbreak. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study aims to identify contextual and psychological factors of proneness to radicalization and violent extremism (RVE) operationalized through the Militant Extremist Mindset scale (MEM) consisting of three distinct aspects: Proviolence (PV), Vile World beliefs (VW), and trust in Divine Power (DP). A community sample of 271 high school students (72% females) from Belgrade and Sandžak regions in Serbia completed: (1) a 24-item MEM scale; (2) contextual measures including a 6-item scale of family dysfunction (FDys) and a 4-item composite measure capturing exposure to a harsh school environment and peer abuse (HSE); (3) psychological measures including the 9-item Right-Wing Authoritarianism scale (RWA), the 5-item Social Dominance Orientation scale (SDO), and the 20-item UCLA Loneliness scale (LON). A path analysis was conducted with contextual factors on the first and psychological factors on the second level of the model predicting the three factors of MEM. LON was positively predicted by FDys and HSE, SDO by HSE only, while RWA was positively predicted by FDys only. Contextual and psychological factors accounted for 27% of the variance in PV (LON, SDO), 15% of the variance in VW (FDys, SDO), and 31% of the variance in DP (RWA). Obtained findings reveal a complex interplay of contextual and psychological drivers in the prediction of different aspects of RVE and build upon existing knowledge on risk factors associated with RVE. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Until vaccines or treatments are widely available and used, behavioral change (e.g. social distancing) on an unparalleled collective scale is the chief way to curb the spread of COVID-19. Relying on ideology and collective action models as conceptual frameworks, in the present study the role of ideological and psychological factors in COVID-19-related opinions, health compliance behaviors, and collective action were examined in three countries. Results, examining country as a moderator, showed some politically conservative orientations, especially social dominance orientation, relate to less collective action, less support of measures to manage COVID-19, and lower compliance. Variables, including empathy for those affected by COVID-19 and group efficacy also predicted COVID-19-related attitudes and behavior. Belief in science and perceived risk also emerged as key factors to impact compliance-related attitudes and behaviors. Implications for motivating collective compliance are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article focuses on contemporary spiritual warfare discourse and on the apparent affinity to right-wing authoritarianism of Christians related to it. Drawing on material from the Philippines, I investigate the role of scholarship in fostering said affinity by reading Christians, who seem to be connected to the spiritual warfare discourse, through the lens of prominent U.S.-American dominionists. I argue that the approach of global religious history helps to critique the Anglo-Eurocentric and elitist biases underlying current research about Christianity in the majority world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present research aimed to replicate and extend findings by Murrar and Brauer (2018), who demonstrated that an entertainment education intervention (a music video) effectively reduced US residents' anti-Muslim prejudice. Using a German sample (N = 203), we confirmed that watching the video significantly reduced recipients' prejudice toward Muslims compared to a control condition and two alternative interventions. Unlike in Murrar and Brauer, however, the intervention's advantageous effect was driven by recipients' feelings of intergroup anxiety and perceptions of outgroup malleability rather than their identification with Muslims. Extending Murrar and Brauer's findings, our results also suggest for whom entertainment education interventions may work best, namely for recipients high in right-wing authoritarianism. The findings' theoretical and practical implications are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Greater mobility in human societies has resulted in more interactions and contact with immigrants. In the current research, we investigated how viewing the world as flexible, changing, and paradoxical (i.e., naïve dialecticism and an incremental theory) may predict one’s authoritarian beliefs and in turn predict one’s attitudes toward immigrants. To test the generalizability of our findings, we recruit comparable samples (i.e., college students) from two societies that are largely different (Russia and Taiwan). Great cultural similarities were observed. Naïve dialecticism and an incremental theory appeared as two distinctive constructs. People who were higher on naïve dialecticism and an incremental over entity theory had lower support for authoritarian beliefs (i.e., right-wing authoritarianism and social dominance orientation) and, in turn, had more favorable attitudes toward immigrants. Some cultural differences were also observed. Taiwanese participants’ negative attitudes toward immigrants were entirely ideology-based, whereas Russian participants’ negative attitudes toward immigrants were partly based on presumably personal experiences. Pan-cultural and culturally specific mechanisms in predicting attitudes toward immigrants were further discussed and explored.

Adopting a differentiated threat approach, we investigated the relationship between cultural, economic, and criminal threat on attitudes toward four different ethnic minorities in Germany (Muslims, foreigners, refugees, and Sinti and Roma). We hypothesized that the effect of different types of intergroup threats on ethnic prejudice varies with the perceived characteristics of minority groups. Using a representative sample of German adults, we found that cultural and economic threat primarily predicted attitudes toward Muslims and foreigners, while criminal threat played a minor role in attitude formation among the majority population. For refugees and Sinti and Roma, all three types of intergroup threats were found to be equally important for the prediction of attitudes toward these minority groups. These results are only partially in line with the culture-specific threat profiles of these minority groups in the German context. Therefore, we discuss the tenability of the differentiated threat approach to explain the genesis of ethnic prejudice in different cultural contexts.

Concordant acculturation expectations and preferences between a host society and its immigrants are important for social cohesion. But perceptions of others' attitudes are often distorted, and may extend to intracultural misperceptions about what others in one's own society expect for immigrants. We test whether attitudinal misperceptions operate in the context of host‐members' acculturation expectations of immigrants—preferences about whether newcomers should embrace the majority culture, or maintain their own cultural heritage. Further, we test whether the conservative dimension of right‐wing authoritarianism (RWA‐C) drives both personal acculturation expectations and distortions about what others expect. We surveyed a representative sample of 2,013 Australian citizens about their own acculturation expectations for immigrants and their perceptions of the expectations of the host society in general. People significantly overestimated the extent to which fellow host society members expect immigrants to embrace the host culture, and underestimated expectations that immigrants retain their own culture. Voting behaviour and RWA‐C were related to personal acculturation expectations and to perceptions of host society consensus with their own views (self–other discrepancy). Moreover, personal acculturation expectations mediated the link between RWA‐C and perceived self–other discrepancy. The psychological bases of these misperceptions, and their potential ramifications for immigrants, are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

When confronted with information that challenges our beliefs, we must often learn from error in order to successfully navigate the world. Past studies in reinforcement learning and educational psychology have linked prediction error, a measure of surprise, to successful learning from feedback. However, there are substantial individual differences in belief-updating success, and the psychological factors that influence belief updating remain unclear. Here, we identify a novel factor that may predict belief updating: right-wing authoritarianism (RWA), which is characterized by a desire for order, structure, and preservation of social norms. We hypothesized that because people who score high on RWA are motivated to preserve entrenched beliefs, they may often fail to successfully update their beliefs when confronted with new information. Using a novel paradigm, we challenged participants' false beliefs and misconceptions to elicit prediction error. In two studies, we found consistent evidence that high-RWA individuals were less successful at correcting their false beliefs. Relative to low-RWA individuals, high-RWA individuals were less likely to revise beliefs in response to prediction error. We argue that RWA is associated with a relatively closed-minded cognitive style that negatively influences belief updating. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Right‐wing authoritarianism (RWA) and social dominance orientation (SDO) predict prejudice and discrimination in adults. To create analogous scales for children, we carried out four studies. First, we gave 112 adults from New Zealand (Study 1) and 146 adults from Turkey (Study 2) novel child‐appropriate measures of RWA and SDO, along with the standard adult measures. The two RWA measures correlated more highly with each other than with the SDO measures, and the two SDO measures correlated more highly with each other than with the RWA measures. Study 3 tested 75 children aged 6 to 12, finding acceptable to good reliability for the two child scales. Child RWA (RWAc) and SDO (SDOc) decreased significantly over age. SDOc correlated with maternal SDO and RWA, and RWAc correlated with children's racial bias. Study 4 examined the RWAc scale with 39 children aged 5 to 11 years. There was good reliability for the RWAc scale and a correlation with anti‐fat prejudice. Overall, the findings indicate that: (a) the scales are reliable, (b) SDOc correlates with parental attitudes, (c) RWAc correlates with children's prejudice, and (d) RWA and SDO are present early in life and decline with age. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study aims at explaining individual differences in self-reported political violence. We integrate key concepts from the field of criminology that are conceptually related to social identity theory (Flemish identity, feelings of group superiority, and ethnocentrism) and the dual process model on prejudice (perceived injustice, perception of threat, and right-wing authoritarianism). In our model, social identity concepts are hypothesized to play a mediating role between mechanisms derived from the dual process model and political violence. To test the integrated model, a model was run for testing the strength of direct and indirect effects of perceived injustice, authoritarianism thrill-seeking behavior, feelings of superiority, Flemish nationalism, ethnocentrism, right-wing extremist beliefs, and exposure to racist peers on political violence. The analyses are based on a web survey (N = 723) among adolescents and young adults in Flanders, Belgium. Results indicate that social identity variables play an important mediation role between perceptions and ideological attitudes related to injustice, and political violence. The main path revealed by our study is that perceived injustice may result in heightened perceptions of threat, which in turn positively influence levels of right-wing authoritarianism. Mediated by ethnocentrism, this variable has a significant and positive effect on right-wing beliefs, which in turn has a positive effect on political violence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study focused on facets of tolerance towards immigrants among Czech adolescents, drawing on data from 9th and 10th graders (n = 2003). The aim of this study was to examine the relationship between tolerance towards immigrants and support for democracy, repression potential, right-wing authoritarianism, and out-group trust. Results showed that tolerance towards immigrants should be treated as a two-dimensional concept: support for equal rights, focused on equality in labour market, housing or access to education, and support for cultural rights, encompassing acceptance of immigrants' rights to practice their culture and religion. We found that Czech adolescents were generally more supportive of equal rights than of cultural rights, and that out-group trust explained most of the variance for both dimensions of tolerance towards immigrants. The study also indicated ambiguous effects in the relationship between right-wing authoritarianism, repression potential and support for equal/cultural rights of immigrants with out-group trust used as moderating variable. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the last twenty years, there has been a renewed interest in dispositional explanations of prejudice. The research traditions of early dispositional and social approaches have faced fierce debate on the role of person vs. situation in developing prejudice throughout the history of prejudice research. Contemporary research practice, however, inclines toward the integration of these approaches. Moreover, there have been empirically established complementarities of the two perspectives. This paper aims to contextualize the dispositional approach to prejudice, to present the basic concepts, theoretical basis and empirical data on the relationship between personality and prejudice, and to shed light onto open questions and future directions. It focuses on the association between personality and prejudice toward various social groups, often appearing under the 'generalized prejudice' construct. This construct is of vital importance for understanding the contributions of dispositional approach to prejudice. The central part of the paper contains the review of Duckitt's dual-process cognitive-motivational theory of ideology and prejudice that is at the base of personality-prejudice relation, with a special emphasis dedicated to the role of right-wing authoritarianism and social dominance orientation, ideological variables which mediate the personality-prejudice relationship. Further on, empirical findings on the association between prejudice and Big Five and HEXACO personality are presented. Openness to experience, agreeableness and honesty-humility stand out as key antecedents of prejudice. The concluding part discusses current disputes in the research on personality-prejudice relation: the status of agreeableness as a predictor of prejudice and the consistency of dispositional correlates of (generalized) prejudice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We integrated models of discrimination of immigrants by combining established approaches to prejudice and discrimination towards immigrants (proximate explanations) using assumptions of Evolutionary-Coalitional Theory (ultimate explanations). Based on this perspective, right-wing authoritarianism (RWA), social dominance orientation (SDO), and multicultural ideology (MCI) were considered as sociofunctional motives for attitudes towards immigrants. We examined relationships between individual differences in beliefs about the social world (dangerous worldview and competitive worldview) as more distal antecedents, and RWA, SDO, and MCI as more proximal antecedents, and the endorsement of discrimination of immigrants in the socioeconomic domain by Russian majority group members as the outcome. Data were collected among 576 participants from 33 regions in Russia, using online social media. MCI predicted endorsement of discrimination of immigrants by Russian majority group members better than did RWA and SDO. SDO predicted only economic aspects of the endorsement of discrimination. The results are discussed within the Russian context, with its ethnically diverse composition of the population and high migration rates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The voting behavior is related to various psychosocial, psychopolitical and contextual factors. The main objective of this research was to study the voting behavior of the citizens of Buenos Aires in the 2015 presidential elections. Therefore, a set of psychosocial variables were analyzed: Authoritarianism, Social Dominance Orientation, political self-positioning, interest in politics and the degree of agreement regarding the indebtedness with the IMF. The study involved 280 undergraduate students between 18 and 65 years old, voters of political parties: Frente de Izquierda, Frente para la Victoria y Cambiemos. The results found indicate that there are significant differences when comparing the groups of voters in the variables studied and in the degree of agreement towards the indebtedness with the IMF. In addition, interest in politics is related, in various ways, to the rest of the variables studied. Based on the results, it is concluded that psychosocial differences can be established in the voting groups depending on the voting behavior. Finally, the differences found for the three groups of voters are discussed and research lines are suggested for future studies on voting behavior. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present research examines the role of right‐wing authoritarianism for the formation of majority members' attitudes towards minority members' contribution to the acculturation process. Previous research has confirmed the link between right‐wing authoritarianism and majority members' acculturation preferences. Nonetheless, a test of their longitudinal relationship was still lacking. Using data from a 3‐wave panel study in Germany, we demonstrate that right‐wing authoritarianism among majority members predicts less support for immigrants' cultural maintenance and less support for the establishment of intergroup relations over time (Study 1, N = 551). Using cross‐sectional survey data, we show that collective threat mediates these relationships (Study 2, N = 817). Data were representative of the German adult population. Our findings indicate that authoritarian majority members oppose integration because they perceive foreigners as threatening. Right‐wing authoritarianism appears to be a meaningful individual difference variable linked to majority members' attitudes towards immigrants' maintenance of their heritage culture and the establishment of intergroup relations over time. Our findings complement recent theorizing about acculturation processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

When international conflicts arise, there are numerous ways of resolving them—1 of which is war. The study of attitudes toward war as a method of conflict resolution can therefore reveal interesting and valuable information. Previous research has shown a strong positive relationship between right-wing authoritarianism and attitudes toward war. However, the relationship between social dominance orientation, which predicts social and political attitudes, and attitudes toward military campaigns varies from 1 research study to another. In this study, we used a modified method of measuring social dominance orientation, taking into account the specifics of international relations. Using the cognitive–motivational dual-process model of prejudices, we hypothesized that dangerous and competitive world beliefs are linked to right-wing authoritarianism and social dominance orientation in international relations, which, in turn, are related to attitudes toward war as a method of international conflict resolution. We measured social worldviews, ideological orientations, and attitudes toward war among Russian adults (N = 897). Structural equation modeling confirmed the hypotheses but also revealed that social worldviews are linked to attitudes toward war not only through ideological orientations but also directly. In addition, it showed that the link between social worldviews, ideological orientations, and attitudes toward war is moderated by the gender and age of the study's participants. The implications of the results for conceptions of the cognitive–motivational dual-process model of prejudices are discussed. Public Significance Statement: The article describes the interaction of social beliefs, ideological orientations and attitudes toward war as a way of international conflicts resolution. It provides insights about the role that social dominance orientations in international relations plays in the approval of military conflicts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The role of prejudice in second-language acquisition has received little attention but may be related to an individual's motivation to learn another language. For instance, learners who express high Social Dominance Orientation or Right-Wing Authoritarianism, constructs reflective of prejudice and worldviews that endorse hostility towards or fear of outgroup members, may be less motivated to learn a second language. Moreover, increased Social Dominance Orientation and/or Right-Wing Authoritarianism scores may be associated with reduced motivation to learn a second language due to the impact of prejudice on Integrativeness, which is the extent to which a person has an interest in learning a second language and in interacting with members who speak that second language. The current study sought to test these associations with a sample of 110 college participants learning French as a second language in a bilingual institution. Integrativeness was found to fully mediate the relations between Social Dominance Orientation, Right-Wing Authoritarianism, and Motivation to learn a second language. Results suggest the importance of examining the role of prejudice in second-language acquisition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Even though economic globalization and foreign trade are major topics in the political discourse of most societies and negative attitudes toward international trade are prevalent, there is a lack of research investigating the ideological roots of protectionist preferences from a psychological perspective. In the present research, we examined the implications of right‐wing authoritarianism (RWA) and social dominance orientation (SDO) for trade attitudes. Using data from two nationally representative samples from the United States (Study 1) and Germany (Study 2), we found that RWA predicted protectionist attitudes above and beyond economic self‐interest. Furthermore, we found that the relationship between RWA and opposition to international trade was moderated by political involvement. The association of SDO with protectionist attitudes was inconsistent across the two studies and was not moderated by political involvement. Taken together, these results emphasize the importance of basic ideological orientations and the psychological dispositions they reflect in explaining public attitudes toward international trade. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite a vast literature documenting motivations for collective action, the role of sociopolitical ideologies, including right‐wing ideologies, in predicting collective action is underresearched. Literature on right‐wing ideological beliefs suggests that those higher in right‐wing authoritarianism (RWA) or social dominance orientation (SDO) hold specific attitudes or endorse specific policies, in part, because of factors such as perceived fear‐based threat or empathy. In the present research, structural equation modeling (SEM) was run on pooled data from a diverse Canadian university sample and two American adult samples (total N = 1,469). Participants completed measures of RWA, SDO, fear‐based threat, empathy, and domain‐specific collective action. Results showed that RWA and SDO both related positively to collective action targeting societal moral breakdown but negatively to collective action aimed at equalizing race relations or fighting climate change. Whereas the indirect effects of right‐wing ideologies via fear‐based threat or empathy were significant in all four domains for SDO, the indirect effect of RWA was only significant in the climate change domain. Implications are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study aims at investigating the role of anti-transgender bias in the psychological assessment of transgender (vs. cisgender) patients. To this purpose, a female sample of licensed psychotherapists (N = 218) was presented with clinical vignettes that described a transgender (vs. cisgender) man (vs. woman) reporting depressive symptoms or anger outbursts. Participants were asked to evaluate the fictitious patient answering questions on their diagnostic impressions (e.g., psychopathological severity). Moreover, the respondents' individual variables (i.e., right-wing authoritarianism) were also assessed. Results revealed that, for high levels of authoritarianism, psychotherapists evaluated cisgender women as more severe than transwomen and cisgender men. Implications for clinical practice are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Adopting a differentiated threat approach, we investigated the relationship between cultural, economic, and criminal threat on attitudes toward four different ethnic minorities in Germany (Muslims, foreigners, refugees, and Sinti and Roma). We hypothesized that the effect of different types of intergroup threats on ethnic prejudice varies with the perceived characteristics of minority groups. Using a representative sample of German adults, we found that cultural and economic threat primarily predicted attitudes toward Muslims and foreigners, while criminal threat played a minor role in attitude formation among the majority population. For refugees and Sinti and Roma, all three types of intergroup threats were found to be equally important for the prediction of attitudes toward these minority groups. These results are only partially in line with the culture-specific threat profiles of these minority groups in the German context. Therefore, we discuss the tenability of the differentiated threat approach to explain the genesis of ethnic prejudice in different cultural contexts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Intergroup contact reduces prejudice against a variety of social outgroups and seems to be particularly effective at reducing prejudice in individuals most prone to it—those high in right-wing authoritarianism (RWA) and social dominance orientation (SDO). The present study examines the moderating roles of RWA and SDO in the contact-prejudice relationship, targeting dissident, dangerous, and derogated outgroups: lesbians and gay men, people with schizophrenia, and Indigenous Australians, respectively. In total, 234 participants self-reported contact and prejudice against these outgroups and completed RWA and SDO scales. Contact predicted less prejudice against lesbians and gay men and Indigenous Australians in participants high in RWA and participants high in SDO. However, contact only predicted less prejudice against people with schizophrenia in participants low in RWA or SDO. The results suggest that the ability for intergroup contact to reduce prejudice in prejudice-prone individuals may depend on the outgroup targeted, specifically the threat they pose and the level of prejudice held against them. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper offers an explanation of the link between grandiose narcissism and support for radical right parties. Drawing on representative data of the GESIS Panel (N = 2827), focusing on support for the German radical right populist party Alternative for Germany in 2016 and treating grandiose narcissism as a two‐dimensional concept, it is shown that the effects of grandiose narcissism are indirect rather than direct. The paper also reveals that it is mainly narcissistic rivalry that accounts for radical right party support, whereas narcissistic admiration has a protecting relationship. Finally, our results indicate that the indirect effects of narcissistic rivalry on radical right party support via right‐wing authoritarianism and social dominance orientation, respectively, are mediated by anti‐immigrant sentiment. All in all, our results suggest that in studies on ideological orientations and voting behaviour, both dimensions of grandiose narcissism should be considered due to their contradictory relationship. Moreover, our findings indicate that the success of radical right parties might be the expression of personality dispositions of some parts of the electorate. © 2020 The Authors. European Journal of Personality published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of European Association of Personality Psychology [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Psychological abuse in relationships is an extremely important social problem and has serious consequences for the victims. The vast majority of women who have suffered from physical violence have also been victims of psychological violence. There is a line of research that seeks to analyse the role played by certain ideologies in the way the different forms of violence against women are perceived. This study analyses the relationship between right-wing authoritarianism and the values proposed by the Schwartz model in the perception of psychological abuse suffered by women in relationships as gender violence. A total of 308 university students participated in the research (206 women and 102 men). The results indicate that right-wing authoritarianism acts as a risk factor and the value of self-transcendence as a protective factor in the perception of psychological abuse as gender violence. In addition, a moderating effect of the value of self-transcendence was found in the relationship between right-wing authoritarianism and the perception of psychological abuse. The data confirm the importance of conservative ideology and values in the perception of gender violence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It has been well-documented that right wing authoritarianism and social dominance orientation as two facets of the authoritarian personality differentially account for a variety of negative intergroup behaviors. Integrating the Dual Process Model (Duckitt, 2001), with the literature on "Moral exclusion" (e.g., Opotow, 1990 ; Tileagă, 2007) we investigated whether or not moral exclusion would mediate such a relationship. Employing survey data (N = 1015), collected from a representative Hungarian sample, we found that moral exclusion mediated the effects of both RWA and SDO on the negative behavioral intentions against Roma as well as Jewish minorities in Hungary. Moreover, we argued that the concept of moral exclusion should be interpreted not as a generalized tendency, but as a mechanism which can be stemmed from distinct social cognitive motivations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]