The Effect of Life Events on Personality, Authoritarianism, - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

The Effect of Life Events on Personality, Authoritarianism, Conservatism, and Language:

Developing a Model of Beliefs across Cultures

Mark A. Hamilton, University of Connecticut and Chulalongkorn University Jirayudh Sinthuphan, Chulalongkorn University Shaw Hong Ser, Chulalongkorn University

The Problem

• In the West, conservatives

are known for their verbal aggressiveness

• Right-wing media such as

Fox News, NewsMax, and WorldNetDaily are populated by personalities like Rush Limbaugh, Morning Joe, Imus in the Morning, and Glenn Beck

Strident Personalities

• These personalities often go

beyond staking out their traditionalist position on issues to zealously savage their political

• pponents.
• Such conservative media attacks

fit the definition of verbal aggression (Infante & Wigley, 1986).

Conservative Aggression

• Campaign positioning by Republican

Presidential candidates in this year’s primary race are rife with aggressive rhetoric against minorities

• Donald Trump’s invectives against

Mexicans, Muslims, and the disabled.

• Consequences of broadcast mauling
• f centrist and left-wing political
• pponents are ominous: verbal

aggression has been shown to lead directly to physical aggression

Trend in the West

• Across the West, there has been a

rise in rampage killings (Hamilton, 2016) that are driven by a traditionalist agenda.

• A majority of states in America host

militia movements.

• Armed militias have become a

menace in Oregon, Texas, and other states, leading to armed standoffs or even violent confrontations with the government.

Home Grown Terror

• The Oklahoma City bombings

were carried out by perpetrators with a conservative agenda.

• The Breivik massacres in

Norway are another prime example of right-driven violence.

East on West Aggression

• Conservative assaults are not,

however, confined to the West.

• Islamic extremist groups with an eye

toward instituting sharia law or even establishing a sharia caliphate present a real and present danger to the West.

• Attacks by Islamic State militants

have targeted France, Belgium, England, and the United States.

East on East Violence

• The campaign of terror by Islamic

militants is even more ferocious in the East.

• Daily bombings and attacks occur

throughout the middle-east –in Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan, Israel, Lebanon, Egypt, Turkey, and Libya.

• Such bombings or rampage killings have

also occurred further south and east -- in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Malaysia, Indonesia, China, and of course Thailand.

Research Questions

RQ1: Why is there persistent, global covariation between conservatism and verbal aggression (along with subsequent physical aggression)? RQ2: Do different aspects of conservatism differentially influence verbal aggression?

The Positive Correlation

• It could be a sign of a spurious relationship between

conservatism and verbal aggression

• It could be a sign of a causal relationship in which

conservatism increases verbal aggression

Conservatism Verbal Aggression Conservatism Verbal Aggression

Cultural Conservatism

• People form their beliefs based on

interpersonal interaction with others first, and then extend those beliefs to groups of

• thers, finally extending those beliefs to

more general policy for organizations and cultures

• It is plausible, even likely, that these

different aspects of conservatism may not have the same impact on verbal aggressiveness

Interpersonal Experience Group Affiliation Organizational Policy

A Confluence Model

• Based on Belief Systems Theory

(Hamilton, 2012; Hamilton & Hample, 2011; Hamilton & Mineo, 1996, 1999; Hamilton & Tafoya, 2012; Rokeach, 1956, 1958, 1960; Tafoya & Hamilton, 2012)

• Proposes three affect systems

that operate as a physiological substrate for processes that constrain effects across belief systems

The Structure of Beliefs

• Belief systems organized along

a central-peripheral dimension based on degree of neural connectedness

• Personality is the most central,

attitudes the most peripheral with ethno-logics providing a justification of attitudes from personality

Ethnologics Personality

Temperament Self-Concept

Social Consequences

Attitudes & Language Behaviors Authoritarian Justification Emotional Justification Critical Justification Competencies

Affect Systems

• Individualistic: gives rise to selfish,

negative emotions

• Cooperative: gives rise to prosocial,

positive emotions

• Homeostatic: governs homeostasis of

basic physiological process and by extension emotional balance

Ethnologics Personality

Temperament Self-Concept

Social Consequences

Attitudes & Language Behaviors Competencies Rational Justification Emotional Justification Authoritarian Justification

Individualistic Affect System Cooperative Affect System Homeostatic Affect System

The Impact of Life Events

• Stress is a trigger for the

individualistic affect system

• Achievement is a trigger

for the cooperative affect system

• Background context serves

as a basis for the homeostatic affect system

Stressors

Life Events

Variable Chains

• Individualistic affect: depression to schizotypy to hostility to

verbal aggression

• Cooperative affect: pride to empathy to social bonding to verbal

immediacy

• Buffered individualistic: neuroticism to egocentrism to anxiety to

equivocation

• Buffered cooperative: self-esteem to narcissism to contentment

to verbal collaboration

Ethnologics Personality

Temperament Self-Concept

Social Consequences

Attitudes & Language Behaviors Stressors Achievements Background Context

Life Events

Rational Justification Emotional Justification Authoritarian Justification

Physical Aggression Verbal Aggression Depression Hostility Ethnocentrism Social Bonding Affection Verbal Immediacy Pride Economic Conservatism Anxiety Avoidance Equivocation Neuroticism Religious Conservatism Verbal Collaboration Negotiation Contentment Self Esteem Political Conservatism

Stressors

+ + +

Achievements

• Trauma

Need Hindrance Social Undermining Triumph Need Facilitation Social Support

Background

Media Exposure Setting

Life Events

Age Male Sex Maturation

• U
• .19

Depression Self Esteem Neuroticism

.40

Pride

• .30
• .57
• .16

.21 .45

+ + + +

Simplified Model

Social Undermining Verbal Aggression Social Undermining Verbal Aggression Physical Aggression Physical Aggression Trauma Trauma

Person A Person B

Ethnologics Personality

Temperament Self-Concept

Social Consequences

Attitudes & Language Behaviors

Physical Aggression Verbal Aggression Depression Hostility Schizotypy Anxiety Egocentrism

.35 .59 .67

Avoidance Equivocation Social Bonding Affection Verbal Immediacy Verbal Collaboration Negotiation Extraversion

.78 .49 .16 .26 .38

• .20
• .50

Self Esteem

+

Narcissism

.82

+

• .55
• .36
• .44
• .47
• .54

Neuroticism

.40 .40 .40 .49

Pride Empathy

+

• Note. Path coefficient estimates based on past studies.

+

.38

• .64

.27

• .43

Critical Justification Emotional Justification Authoritarian Justification

Authoritarianism Emotionalism Rationalism

+/-

.31

+ + +

Ethnocentrism Political Conservatism Economic Conservatism

.54

• .77

.19 .67 .40 .60 .36 .18

Anti-dogmatism

.15

+

.68 .38 .34

• .37

.30

Sexual Conservatism Religious Conservatism

+

Ethnologics Personality

Temperament Self-Concept

Social Consequences

Attitudes & Language Behaviors

Physical Aggression Verbal Aggression Depression Hostility Schizotypy Anxiety Egocentrism

.35 .59 .67

Avoidance Equivocation Social Bonding Affection Verbal Immediacy Verbal Collaboration Negotiation Extraversion

.78 .49 .16 .26 .38

• .20
• .50

Self Esteem

+

Narcissism

.82

+

• .55
• .36
• .44
• .47
• .54

Neuroticism

.40 .40 .40 .49

Pride Empathy

+

• Note. Path coefficient estimates based on past studies.

+

.38

• .64

.27

• .43

Critical Justification Emotional Justification Authoritarian Justification

Authoritarianism Emotionalism Rationalism

+/-

.31

+ + +

Ethnocentrism Political Conservatism Economic Conservatism

.54

• .77

.19 .67 .40 .60 .36 .18

Anti-dogmatism

.15

+

.68 .38 .34

• .37

.30

Sexual Conservatism Religious Conservatism

+

Sexual Conservatism Ethnocentrism Religious Conservatism

Political Conservatism

Religious Conservatism Sexual Conservatism Economic Conservatism Political Conservatism Ethnocentrism

Cultural Conservatism

Authoritarianism

• 3. Extension of the Cultural Conservatism Model.

.67 .60 .36 .40 .77

Anxiety Hostility

.61

Interpersonal Experience Group Affiliation Organizational Policy

+ + + + +

Verbal Aggressiveness Physical Aggression

.38

Behavioral Rigidity

.69

Dogmatism Tribalism as Stunted Social Bonding

• .15

.54 .31

Sexual Morality

• .38

Religious Conservatism Sexual Conservatism Economic Conservatism Political Conservatism Ethnocentrism

Cultural Conservatism

Authoritarianism

.67 .60 .36 .40 .77

Anxiety Hostility

.61

Interpersonal Experience Group Affiliation Organizational Policy

+ + + + +

Verbal Aggressiveness Physical Aggression

.38

Dogmatism Tribalism as Stunted Social Bonding

• .15

.54 .31

Sexual Morality

• .38

+ + +

Predation

Militarism

+

Behavioral Rigidity Dogmatism Authoritarianism Political Conservatism .74 .78 .69

United States RMSE = .05, c2(3,100) = .91, p = .82 Data from Crano (1970)

Political Conservatism .40 .68 .73 .28 Authoritarianism

Figure 3. The Effect of Authoritarianism on Political Conservatism, from the 1970s Studies.

The Netherlands England New Zealand RMSE = .08, c2(1,279) = 1.74, p = .44 RMSE = .11, c2(1,200) = 1.46, p = .35 RMSE = .11, c2(2,357) = 2.06, p = .36 Data from Wilson (1970) Data from Wilson and Patterson (1970)

Authoritarianism Authoritarianism Political Conservatism Political Conservatism Religious Conservatism Religious Conservatism Religious Conservatism Sexual Conservatism Sexual Conservatism Sexual Conservatism .56 .42 .20 .16 .61 .15 .47 .51 .41 .45 .73 .33 .48 .48 .31 .18