Authoritarianism

New psychology research sheds light on why some people embrace authoritarian values. The findings, published in PLOS One, indicate that expressions of authoritarian ideology can enhance a person's sense of meaning in life. "Authoritarianism is a real-world problem," said Jake...

Scientists have uncovered a cluster of psychological characteristics associated with people who refuse to comply with COVID-19 safety regulations. Their new findings, published in the journal PLOS One, shed light on the individual factors and attitudes underlying deviant behavior during...

In a new study published in the Journal of Social Psychology, researchers get one step closer to understanding the psychological processes behind support for former U.S. president Donald Trump. The study found that narcissism was related to increased support for...

People who feel more connected to nature also tend to hold more egalitarian views, according to new research published in the journal Environment and Behavior. The study provides some preliminary evidence that exposure to nature can reduce social dominance orientation,...

In a study published in Frontiers in Psychology, researchers looked for psychological traits that might explain the maladjusted behaviors witnessed at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. They found that Italians who were higher in right-wing authoritarianism and negative affectivity...

New research published in Group Processes & Intergroup Relations provides evidence that political ideology is one of the most important factors when it comes to predicting distrust of climate science among Americans. The findings indicate that ideology even trumps partisan...

Right-wing authoritarianism is a well-studied personality construct characterized by adherence to conventional values, submission to authority, and aggression towards those who deviate from social norms. New research provides evidence that a similar construct could help to explain authoritarian attitudes and...

There are a number of studies which demonstrate a critical link between endorsement of right-wing ideologies and poorer performance on cognitive tasks. This has led researchers to conclude that, broadly, individuals holding right-wing beliefs are less likely to think about...

New research suggests that existential threat brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic can spur the expression of anti-immigrant and nationalist beliefs among authoritarians. The findings were published in Social Psychological and Personality Science. The authoritarian personality is a well-studied psychological...

Across three humor production tasks, including one that involved coming up with funny cartoon captions, people who scored high in right-wing authoritarianism created responses that were rated as much less funny compared to their counterparts. The research was published in...

Psychology is one of the foremost scientific methods for understanding the phenomenon of organized religion and its cognitive, emotional, moral and social dimensions. To explore how these psychological elements map onto and mediate the subjective religious experience, an international team...

A recent French study in the journal Emotion has drawn a new link between right-wing authoritarianism (RWA), social dominance orientation (SDO) and heart rate variability (HRV). RWA is measured by submissive, uncritical attitudes towards authorities; tendencies to condemn, reject or...

A study published in The Leadership Quarterly sheds new light on why company leaders tend to be disproportionately narcissistic. Among a sample of Italian CEOs, those who were highly narcissistic had advanced to CEO more quickly in their careers than...

A recent study found evidence that ideological views tend to shape a person’s political party support, but that party support can also lead to modest changes in a person’s views. The findings were published in the British Journal of Social...

Masculine insecurity predicts endorsement of aggressive politics and support for Donald Trump, according to research published in the Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin. The researchers propose that masculine insecurity can lead men to adopt aggressive politics — like those of...