New analysis in Utilized Cognitive Psychology explores the connection between postmodern beliefs, psychological misery, and left-wing authoritarianism. The examine discovered that people with sturdy postmodern beliefs usually tend to exhibit authoritarian tendencies, notably when their ranges of psychological misery are low.
The examine was motivated by rising political polarization and the rising prevalence of authoritarian tendencies throughout the ideological spectrum. Whereas right-wing authoritarianism has been extensively studied, left-wing authoritarianism has acquired comparatively little consideration. The researchers aimed to deal with this hole by analyzing how psychological components, equivalent to misery, intersect with postmodern beliefs—characterised by skepticism of common truths—to foster authoritarian attitudes.
For his or her examine, the researchers recruited 365 contributors from various backgrounds utilizing an internet platform known as Prolific. The contributors have been aged 18 to over 65 and represented varied areas, together with North America, Europe, and Africa. To make sure a broad illustration, the pattern included people with totally different ranges of training, employment statuses, and political orientations.
Members accomplished an internet survey, which included a number of standardized psychological measures. These measures have been chosen to evaluate postmodern beliefs, authoritarian tendencies, psychological misery, and social dominance orientation.
The Postmodern Beliefs Scale was used to judge contributors’ alignment with each liberal and conservative postmodern concepts. Whereas classical postmodernism critiques the idea of goal reality, liberal postmodernism emphasizes that data is formed by subjective expertise inside particular historic and social contexts. In distinction, conservative postmodernism adopts an analogous skepticism towards goal reality however applies it selectively to problem areas equivalent to local weather science and public well being initiatives.
For instance, contributors have been requested to charge the extent to which they agreed with statements equivalent to “There may be an excessive amount of emphasis in increased training on logic and rational considering,” “There is no such thing as a absolute reality, everybody’s reality is exclusive,” and “All dad and mom ought to have the fitting to maintain their youngsters from being vaccinated.”
The Left-Wing Authoritarianism Index captured authoritarian attitudes related to progressive ideologies, together with assist for censorship and revolutionary measures. For instance, gadgets included “Political violence could be constructive when it serves the reason for social justice,” “Eliminating inequality is extra necessary than defending the so-called ‘proper’ to free speech,” and “If I may remake society, I might put individuals who at the moment have essentially the most privilege on the very backside.”
Psychological misery was measured utilizing the Kessler Psychological Misery Scale, which requested contributors to charge the frequency of distress-related signs over the previous 4 weeks, together with feeling drained, nervous, nugatory, hopeless, and unhappy.
The findings revealed a big relationship between postmodern beliefs and left-wing authoritarianism. Members who strongly endorsed liberal postmodern concepts have been extra prone to exhibit authoritarian tendencies aligned with progressive ideologies.
“Liberal postmodernism was related to left-wing authoritarianism,” the researchers wrote. “This can be a stark comparability to the postmodernism of the Sixties and Nineteen Seventies that rejected any type of authority in artwork, tradition or politics. Regardless of this, these outcomes are in line with the findings of different students who’ve famous this iteration of postmodernism is selective in what constitutes energy.”
Curiously, psychological misery performed a nuanced function on this relationship. Whereas misery was positively correlated with left-wing authoritarianism, its moderating impact was counterintuitive. The connection between postmodern beliefs and authoritarian tendencies was stronger amongst people with decrease ranges of psychological misery.
This discovering challenged the researchers’ preliminary speculation that misery would amplify the connection between postmodern beliefs and authoritarian attitudes. As a substitute, it advised that different components, equivalent to group identification and a need for certainty, would possibly drive the event of authoritarian tendencies amongst people with sturdy postmodern beliefs.
Whereas the examine gives invaluable insights, it has a number of limitations. The reliance on self-reported information introduces the potential for social desirability bias, notably when contributors are requested about their adherence to egalitarian or authoritarian rules. Moreover, the examine’s cross-sectional design makes it troublesome to determine causal relationships between psychological misery, postmodern beliefs, and authoritarian tendencies.
Future analysis may discover the function of group identification in moderating the connection between postmodern beliefs and authoritarianism. Group identification could present people with a way of certainty and function, decreasing misery and fostering ideological rigidity. Longitudinal research may additionally study how these relationships evolve over time and in response to exterior occasions, equivalent to political or social crises.
The examine, “The Moderating Position of Psychological Misery within the Relationship Between Postmodernism and Left-Wing Authoritarianism,” was authored by Sebastian Deverson, Paul Delfabbro, and Neophytos Georgiou.
