Abstract
Conservatives and liberals have previously been shown to differ in the propensity to view socially-transmitted information about hazards as more plausible than that concerning benefits. Given differences between conservatives and liberals in threat sensitivity and dangerous-world beliefs, correlations between political orientation and negatively-biased credulity may thus reflect endogenous mindsets. Alternatively, such results may owe to the political hierarchy at the time of previous research, as the tendency to see dark forces at work is thought to be greater among those who are out of political power. Adjudicating between these accounts can inform how societies respond to the challenge of alarmist disinformation campaigns. We exploit the consequences of the 2016 U.S. elections to test these competing explanations of differences in negatively-biased credulity and conspiracism as a function of political orientation. Two studies of Americans reveal continued positive associations between conservatism, negatively-biased credulity, and conspiracism despite changes to the power structure in conservatives’ favor.
Highlights
Most American parents do not allow their children to collect unwrapped Halloween candy, believing falsely that malicious agents sometimes give out poisoned treats [1]
What underlies variation in the propensity to believe various types of information, a dimension of individual difference that powerfully ramifies through the personal, social, and political domains of contemporary life? One account holds that such variation stems from intrinsic psychological differences in the assessment of threats versus opportunities; another account instead suggests the pattern is a reaction to impermanent features of the political power structure
The 2016 U.S federal elections resulted in a dramatic inversion of the positions of the two principal political parties in the power structure, allowing us to test between two competing study term b
Summary
Most American parents do not allow their children to collect unwrapped Halloween candy, believing falsely that malicious agents sometimes give out poisoned treats [1]. What underlies variation in the propensity to believe various types of information, a dimension of individual difference that powerfully ramifies through the personal, social, and political domains of contemporary life? One account holds that such variation stems from intrinsic psychological differences in the assessment of threats versus opportunities; another account instead suggests the pattern is a reaction to impermanent features of the political power structure. When the world is dangerous, it generally pays to be highly cognizant of hazards, and to stick to tried and true behavioral patterns. When the world is safe, it often pays to reduce vigilance and to experiment with new behaviors; when dangers emerge, this approach exacerbates
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