Abstract
The present study investigated the relationship between cognitive development and political and religious ideology, and whether there are gender differences in formal thinking which may be related to right-wing authoritarianism and religious fundamentalism. The conceptual and empirical literature suggests that many aspects of cognition which play a role in the formation of conservative political and religious ideology are also present in those who engage in Piagetian concrete thinking (versus formal thought). The sample consisted of 116 late adolescents and young adults enrolled at a large public university. Results found that only 40% of participants had achieved formal thought on a traditional test of formal thinking, and that women who had lower scores on this test scored higher on measures of right-wing authoritarianism and religious fundamentalism. There was no such relationship for men. The present study shows the value of this approach and suggests the need for a pragmatic test of formal thought focused on political and religious ideologies.
Highlights
With the increasing political and ideological polarization in America (Mundy, 2004; Seyle & Newman, 2006), we thought it was important to try to gain a better understanding of the cognitive variables linked to the conflictHow to cite this paper: Bridges, K
Jackson & Jeffers (1989) observed that individuals with higher grade point averages, reflective of cognitive ability, scored lower in logical positivism. We predicted that those who scored high in right-wing authoritarianism and religious fundamentalism would score higher in logical positivism than social constructivism. This takes on added significance in that Jackson & Jeffers (1989) argued that group differences in personal epistemology can impede communication between groups, which could account in part for the ideological polarization noted above
In our attempt to add to the understanding of the development of individual differences in political and religious ideology, we examined the role of Piagetian cognitive development as a contributing factor
Summary
With the increasing political and ideological polarization in America (Mundy, 2004; Seyle & Newman, 2006), we thought it was important to try to gain a better understanding of the cognitive variables linked to the conflict. How to cite this paper: Bridges, K. Gender Differences in Formal Thinking: Their Impact on RightWing Authoritarianism and Religious Fundamentalism. J. Harnish between political and religious groups, which as Mundy observed are more intractable than ever. As a consequence of the re-emergence of ideology as an important topic of inquiry among personality and social psychologists (Jost, Federico, & Napier, 2009), there is an exciting body of research scattered over a wide range of journals, books, and many subfields of psychology. There does not seem to be a guiding conceptual framework to integrate this research
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