Abstract
Publisher Summary The purpose of this chapter is to examine the empirical evidence on the role of self-interest in forming and maintaining sociopolitical attitudes. Psychoanalytic theory highlighted the persisting effects of early experience and the influence of unconscious motives. Behaviorism focused especially on mindless conditioning and on the resistance to change of ingrained habits even in quite changed circumstances. The Conflict theory highlighted the unusual power of fear and irrationalities such as displaced aggression. The Gestalt theories emphasized perceptual biases introduced by the human's effort to achieve a coherent perceptual organization of the world. Priming an accessible construct has been demonstrated in several ways to give an impact over other attitudes, judgments, and behavior. Self-interest has had quite a specific meaning, focusing on the conjunction of egoism, materialism, and rationality. The chapter examined attitudes toward racial policies and black candidates, economic policy issues, pocketbook voting, and attitudes toward political violence. Self-interest ordinarily does not have much effect upon the ordinary citizen's sociopolitical attitudes.
Published Version
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