Some of them definitely are, and those ones are being led by the nose by psychopaths who won’t stop at anything to have absolute power.
Conservatism as a belief system is attractive to either psychopaths who want power and to hurt the Other with impunity, or – in a word – idiots who can’t handle complexity and need a society that’s hierarchical and with clearly defined roles for everyone (and these two aren’t necessarily exclusive: someone can be a stupid psychopath.)
In the present research (N = 675), we focus on the relationship between the dark side of human personality and political orientation and extremism, respectively, in the course of a presidential election where the two candidates represent either left-wing or right-wing political policies. Narcissism, Machiavellianism, psychopathy, and everyday sadism were associated with right-wing political orientation, whereas narcissism and psychopathy were associated with political extremism. Moreover, the relationships between personality and right-wing political orientation and extremism, respectively, were relatively independent from each other.
We found eleven significant correlations between conservative [Moral Intuition Survey] judgments and the Dark Triad – [narcissism, Machiavellianism, psychopathy,] all at significance level of p<.00001 – and no significant correlations between liberal [Moral Intuition Survey] judgments and the Dark Triad. We believe that these results raise provocative moral questions about the personality bases of moral judgments. In particular, we propose that because the Short-D3 measures three “dark and antisocial” personality traits, our results raise some prima facie worries about the moral justification of some conservative moral judgments
I ran a follow-up study testing the Dark Triad against conservative and liberal judgments on 15 additional moral issues. The new issues examined include illegal immigration, abortion, the teaching of “intelligent design” in public schools, the use of waterboarding and other “enhanced interrogation techniques” in the war on terrorism, laws defining marriage as the union of one man and one woman, and environmentalism. 1154 participants […] Twenty-two significant correlations were observed between “conservative” judgments and the Dark Triad (all of which were significant past a Bonferonni-corrected significance threshold of p = .0008), compared to seven significant correlations between Dark Triad and “liberal” judgments (only one of which was significant past p = .0008).
Results [of a nationally representative survey of U.S. adults (N = 1557)] revealed that conservatives were less supportive of political equality and legal rights and guarantees and more willing to defect from democratic “rules of the game” and vote for anti-democratic candidates, even after adjusting for political extremism. Mediational analyses suggested that conservatives’ anti-democratic tendencies were partially attributable to higher levels of right-wing authoritarianism and social dominance orientation. […] [C]onservatism and identification with the Republican Party were positively correlated with willingness to […] use political violence
[Psychopathic] Interpersonal-affective (Boldness and Meanness) traits were higher in Republicans compared to Democrats. Moreover, Boldness was associated with conservative opinions on economic issues, while Meanness evinced stronger relations to conservative opinions on social issues. Triarchic domains also evidenced unique associations to issues concerning minorities or discrimination. Further, empathy mediated relations between Meanness and decreased support for certain issues (e.g., affirmative action). Overall, psychopathy, particularly the interpersonal-affective traits, appear pertinent to political attitudes, while empathy deficits may statistically account for unique effects of Meanness.
[…]
Consistent with prior research on conservatism (Jonason, 2014; Lilienfeld et al., 2014), psychopathic traits (boldness and meanness) were higher in Republicans compared to Democrats.
This study examined the relationship between personality traits and political attitudes in a study of college-students (N = 1389) and an MTurk sample (N = 281) from America. […] Narcissism, extraversion, psychopathy, contentiousness, and [paradoxically] honesty were associated with political conservatism. Machiavellianism was associated with low rates of political liberalism.
Right-wing authoritarianism (RWA) is regularly implicated as a potential risk factor of abusive behavior, whereas social dominance orientation (SDO) is not. […] It is argued that more work is needed to map the overlap between RWA and SDO, and that understanding of contextual factors is vital when making specific predictions regarding whether SDO, RWA, or both might lead to abusive behaviors.
[…]
[Right-wing authoritarianism] was related to both the legitimization of and hypothetical self-involvement in abusive methods […]. Similar significant relationships with abuse were also found concerning [social dominance orientation].
Despite their important implications for interpersonal behaviors and relations, cognitive abilities have been largely ignored as explanations of prejudice. We proposed and tested mediation models in which lower cognitive ability predicts greater prejudice, an effect mediated through the endorsement of right-wing ideologies (social conservatism, right-wing authoritarianism) and low levels of contact with out-groups. In an analysis of two large-scale, nationally representative United Kingdom data sets (N = 15,874), we found that lower general intelligence (g) in childhood predicts greater racism in adulthood, and this effect was largely mediated via conservative ideology. A secondary analysis of a U.S. data set confirmed a predictive effect of poor abstract-reasoning skills on antihomosexual prejudice, a relation partially mediated by both authoritarianism and low levels of intergroup contact. All analyses controlled for education and socioeconomic status. Our results suggest that cognitive abilities play a critical, albeit underappreciated, role in prejudice. Consequently, we recommend a heightened focus on cognitive ability in research on prejudice and a better integration of cognitive ability into prejudice models.
We report longitudinal data in which we assessed the relationships between intelligence and support for two constructs that shape ideological frameworks, namely, right-wing authoritarianism (RWA) and social dominance orientation (SDO). Participants (N = 375) were assessed in Grade 7 and again in Grade 12. Verbal and numerical ability were assessed when students entered high school in Grade 7. RWA and SDO were assessed before school graduation in Grade 12. After controlling for the possible confounding effects of personality and religious values in Grade 12, RWA was predicted by low g (β = -.16) and low verbal intelligence (β = -.18). SDO was predicted by low verbal intelligence only (β = -.13). These results are discussed with reference to the role of verbal intelligence in predicting support for such ideological frameworks and some comments are offered regarding the cognitive distinctions between RWA and SDO.
Conservatism and cognitive ability are negatively correlated. The evidence is based on 1254 community college students and 1600 foreign students seeking entry to United States’ universities. At the individual level of analysis, conservatism scores correlate negatively with SAT, Vocabulary, and Analogy test scores. At the national level of analysis, conservatism scores correlate negatively with measures of education (e.g., gross enrollment at primary, secondary, and tertiary levels) and performance on mathematics and reading assessments from the PISA (Programme for International Student Assessment) project. They also correlate with components of the Failed States Index and sever
You’d expect, statistically speaking, they’d get something right every now and again. Alas…
If they were acting randomly yeah, but unfortunately even though they sometimes seem like they are, there’s very much a plan here.
They want to burn the world down to rule the ashes.
Personally I think they’re just that stupid
Some of them definitely are, and those ones are being led by the nose by psychopaths who won’t stop at anything to have absolute power.
Conservatism as a belief system is attractive to either psychopaths who want power and to hurt the Other with impunity, or – in a word – idiots who can’t handle complexity and need a society that’s hierarchical and with clearly defined roles for everyone (and these two aren’t necessarily exclusive: someone can be a stupid psychopath.)
sources
conservatism and antisocial personality traitsa
conservatism and cognitive ability