Subscribe
The latest psychology and neuroscience discoveries.
My Account
  • Mental Health
  • Social Psychology
  • Cognitive Science
  • Psychopharmacology
  • Neuroscience
  • About
No Result
View All Result
PsyPost
PsyPost
No Result
View All Result
Home Exclusive Social Psychology Political Psychology

Study suggests authoritarianism can make people less prejudice towards minorities

by David Hayward
November 18, 2015
in Political Psychology
Photo credit: Darren Ho

Photo credit: Darren Ho

Share on TwitterShare on Facebook
Don't miss out! Follow PsyPost on Bluesky!

Whether people with a highly conformist personality type are more prejudiced towards minority groups or more accepting of them depends on the political culture they live in, according to a report published in Psychological Science.

Authoritarianism refers to a set of personality traits held by people who place a great deal of importance on obedience to authority and conformity to social conventions and rules. A long history of research on people with this authoritarian personalities has consistently found that they are more prejudiced views towards minorities and other groups that they see as deviating from social norms. This research has primarily been conducted in Western democratic nations.

A team of researchers led by Arne Roets, of Ghent University, tested whether people with authoritarian personalities would still show greater prejudice when they lived in a society where a strong central authority explicitly promotes tolerance and inclusion of minority groups. Their study compared 245 college students from Belgium, which has a democratic government, with 249 college students from Singapore, which has a longstanding single-party government that has acted to strongly enforce minority rights and tolerance.

Students in both countries responded to questions measuring authoritarian personality traits, their values about multiculturalism and their tolerance of minority groups in their countries, and their views of their governments’ official position on treatment of minority groups.

Among Belgians, as others have previously found in studies of residents of Western nations, people with more authoritarian personalities tended to have more negative views of minority groups, and to be more opposed to the values of multiculturalism in general. Among Singaporeans, however, the results were exactly the opposite. People with more authoritarian personalities were both more supportive of multicultural values and had more favorable views of minority groups.

The authors of the study followed up these findings by using a technique called mediation analysis to determine whether these differences in the effects of authoritarian personality on people’s personal values might be due to differences in their views of official government policy.

In Singapore, people with more authoritarian personality traits were the most likely to think that the government was in favor of multiculturalism, and viewing the government as pro-multiculturalist was in turn strongly related to personally valuing multiculturalism and being tolerant towards minority groups. In Belgium, perceptions of the government’s official position had no influence on either of these sets of personal values.

Although authoritarian personality traits are still believed to have a generally negative impact on values related to acceptance of minority groups, this study raises the possibility that certain types of government can take advantage of authoritarian people’s needs for obedience and conformity to promote values of tolerance and understanding.

TweetSendScanShareSendPinShareShareShareShareShare

RELATED

Scientists discover weak Dems have highest testosterone — but there’s an intriguing twist
Political Psychology

Scientists discover weak Dems have highest testosterone — but there’s an intriguing twist

July 10, 2025

What if the key to swaying a swing voter lies in their biology? New research found giving testosterone to weakly affiliated Democratic men made them less loyal to their party and more open to Republicans, revealing a potential hormonal link to political persuasion.

Read moreDetails
People with psychopathic traits fail to learn from painful outcomes
Narcissism

National narcissism linked to emotional impairments and dehumanization, new study finds

July 7, 2025

A new study suggests that people who see their nation as uniquely important often struggle with recognizing emotions and experience more anger and contempt—factors that may help explain why they’re more likely to dehumanize both outsiders and fellow citizens.

Read moreDetails
Fascinating study reveals how Trump’s moral rhetoric diverges from common Republican language
Donald Trump

Viral AI-images highlight how Trump engages in “victimcould,” scholar argues

July 6, 2025

How can one of the world's most powerful men also be its biggest victim? A new paper argues it’s a political strategy based on hypothetical, not actual, harm—a concept the author calls “victimcould” used to justify present-day aggression.

Read moreDetails
New study suggests Donald Trump’s “fake news” attacks are backfiring
Political Psychology

Scientists are uncovering more and more unsettling facts about our politics

July 5, 2025

Why has politics become so personal? The answers may lie in our minds. These 13 studies from the new science of political behavior reveal the hidden psychological forces—from personality to primal fear—that are driving us further apart.

Read moreDetails
These common sounds can impair your learning, according to new psychology research
Political Psychology

Despite political tensions, belief in an impending U.S. civil war remains low

July 4, 2025

A new national survey finds that only a small fraction of Americans believe civil war is likely or necessary.

Read moreDetails
Racial and religious differences help explain why unmarried voters lean Democrat
Political Psychology

Student loan debt doesn’t deter civic engagement — it may actually drive it, new research suggests

July 3, 2025

Americans with student loan debt are more likely to vote and engage in political activities than those without debt, likely because they see government as responsible and capable of addressing their financial burden through policy change.

Read moreDetails
Scientists just uncovered a surprising illusion in how we remember time
Mental Health

New research suggests the conservative mental health advantage is a myth

July 3, 2025

Do conservatives really have better mental well-being than liberals? A new study suggests the answer depends entirely on how you ask. The well-known ideological gap disappears when "mental health" is replaced with the less-stigmatized phrase "overall mood."

Read moreDetails
New psychology study sheds light on mysterious “feelings of presence” during isolation
Political Psychology

People who think “everyone agrees with me” are more likely to support populism

July 1, 2025

People who wrongly believe that most others share their political views are more likely to support populist ideas, according to a new study. These false beliefs can erode trust in democratic institutions and fuel resentment toward political elites.

Read moreDetails

SUBSCRIBE

Go Ad-Free! Click here to subscribe to PsyPost and support independent science journalism!

STAY CONNECTED

LATEST

Scientists discover weak Dems have highest testosterone — but there’s an intriguing twist

Can sunshine make you happier? A massive study offers a surprising answer

New study links why people use pornography to day-to-day couple behavior

Virtual reality meditation eases caregiver anxiety during pediatric hospital stays, with stronger benefits for Spanish speakers

Fascinating new advances in psychedelic science reveal how they may heal the mind

Dysfunction within the sensory processing cortex of the brain is associated with insomnia, study finds

Prenatal exposure to “forever chemicals” linked to autistic traits in children, study finds

Ketamine repairs reward circuitry to reverse stress-induced anhedonia

         
       
  • Contact us
  • Privacy policy
  • Terms and Conditions
[Do not sell my information]

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password?

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In

Add New Playlist

Subscribe
  • My Account
  • Cognitive Science Research
  • Mental Health Research
  • Social Psychology Research
  • Drug Research
  • Relationship Research
  • About PsyPost
  • Contact
  • Privacy Policy