The relationship between need for cognitive closure and political orientation: The mediating role of authoritarianism.

By Antonio Chirumbolo. 2002

127 citations recorded by the source corpus.

As regards the relationship between cognitive style, authoritarianism and politics, no secure conclusion can be drawn and the debate is still alive. This contribution explores the relationship between need for closure, authoritarianism and political orientation. One hundred and seventy-eight Italian participants were administered the Italian version of the Need for Cognitive Closure scale, an Italian version of the authoritarianism scale and a measure of political orientation. Results show that both need for closure and authoritarianism are associated with a right wing political orientation, and that this relationship is linear. Moreover, authoritarianism seems to mediate the influence of need for closure on political orientation.

Subfields: Experimental and Cognitive Psychology, Social Psychology, Sociology and Political Science

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/a0f0c9e8e24a83f0eb443844c87a534d8604fb1f

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In Experimental and Cognitive Psychology

In Social Psychology

In Sociology and Political Science

Citations in the corpus

“Elective Affinities”: On the Psychological Bases of Left–Right Differences (2009, unknown): “with Burke, Marx, and their contemporaries over the issue of social change, the position taken by Wildavsky (1989) and Greenberg and Jonas (2003) that leftists and rightists are equally desirous of change ignores a veritable mountain of psychological data documenting major differences between libera”
Political conservatism as motivated social cognition. (2003, background): “Some studies we review measured self-reported political orientation directly (Chirumbolo, 2002; Fibert & Ressler, 1998; Golec, 2001; Jost et al., 1999; Kemmelmeier, 1997; Tetlock, 1984), and others measured conservative voting records (Gruenfeld , 1995; McCann, 1997; Tetlock, 1983; Tetlock,…”
The Impact of Cognitive Styles on Authoritarianism Based Conservatism and Racism (2006, background): “Recent contributions by Chirumbolo (2002), Jost et al. (2003), Kemmelmeier (1997), Kossowska and Van Hiel (2003), and Van Hiel, Pandelaere, and Duriez BASIC AND APPLIED SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY, 28(1), 37–50 Copyright © 2006, Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc. Correspondence should be addressed to Ilse…”
Political Conservatism, Need for Cognitive Closure, and Intergroup Hostility (2010, background): “…of political beliefs to satisfy the psychological need to avoid cognitively complex or ambiguous environments i.e. need for cognitive closure (Jost, et al, 2003; see also Chirumbolo, 2002; Golec, 2001, 2002a, 2002b; Jost, Kruglanski, & Simon, 1999; Kemmelmeier, 1997; Kossowska & Van Hiel, 2003).”
Extreme Political Beliefs Predict Dogmatic Intolerance (2017, background): “…instance, it has been argued and found that political conservatism is associated with feelings of fear and uncertainty, prompting for instance authoritarianism and closed mindedness (e.g., Altemeyer, 1998; Chirumbolo, 2002; Kemmelmeier, 2007; Stone, 1980; for an overview, see Jost et al., 2003b).”
The closed mind: ‘Experience’ and ‘cognition’ aspects of openness to experience and need for closure as psychological bases for right–wing attitudes (2011, background): “Previous studies also reported relationships between NFC and (right-wing) political party preferences in Germany (Kemmelmeier, 1997) and Italy (Chirumbolo, 2002).”
Three decades of lay epistemics: The why, how, and who of knowledge formation (2009, background): “Chirumbolo and Leone (2008) also found in two election studies (the 2004 European elections and the 2005 Italian Regional elections) that need for closure was linearly (and positively) related to voting along the left right continuum. Finally, Chirumbolo, Areni, and Sensales (2004) found that Italia”
Destructive Leadership: A Critique of Leader-Centric Perspectives and Toward a More Holistic Definition (2016, background): “…contrast, those marked by authoritarianism and cognitive rigidity (authoritarians) may comply with flawed leaders due to hierarchical values that prescribe a duty to obey authorities unconditionally (Altemeyer 1981) and a preference for leaders who exemplify order and discipline (Chirumbolo 2002).”
The Association of Cognitive Ability with Right–Wing Ideological Attitudes and Prejudice: A Meta–Analytic Review (2015, background): “Of interest, NFC is more strongly related to authoritarianism than other types of ideological attitudes, like conservatism (Chirumbolo, 2002; Crowson, Thoma & Hestevold, 2005; Van Hiel, Pandelaere & Duriez, 2004).”
Exceptions That Prove the Rule - Using a Theory of Motivated Social Cognition to Account for Ideological Incongruities and Political Anomalies: Reply to Greenberg and Jonas (2003) (2003, unknown): “Chirumbolo (2002, p. 607) in Italy examined ideological differences related to the need for cognitive closure, and both yielded evidence of significant linear effects and no evidence of quadratic trends.”
Ideological Asymmetries and the Essence of Political Psychology (2017, background): “*Chirumbolo, A. (2002). The relationship between need for cognitive closure and political orientation: The mediating role of authoritarianism.”