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Is Politics Downstream from Personality? The Five Factor Model’s Effect on Political Orientation in Sweden

Löwe, Konstantin Felix LU (2019) STVM25 20191
Department of Political Science
Abstract
Differences in political orientation are partly rooted in personality, with left-wing political attitudes being predicted by Openness to Experience and right-wing attitudes by Conscientiousness. This has been validated across numerous studies from different countries. This essay adds to that body of research by examining whether personality differences between the political sides also exist in the so far understudied Nordic country of Sweden. It finds evidence for the Big Five domains significantly predicting left-right self-placement, albeit with a modest effect. Specifically, the study showed Swedes further to the political right to be lower in Openness, higher in Conscientiousness, and also lower in Neuroticism. These findings concur... (More)
Differences in political orientation are partly rooted in personality, with left-wing political attitudes being predicted by Openness to Experience and right-wing attitudes by Conscientiousness. This has been validated across numerous studies from different countries. This essay adds to that body of research by examining whether personality differences between the political sides also exist in the so far understudied Nordic country of Sweden. It finds evidence for the Big Five domains significantly predicting left-right self-placement, albeit with a modest effect. Specifically, the study showed Swedes further to the political right to be lower in Openness, higher in Conscientiousness, and also lower in Neuroticism. These findings concur with existing research and thereby contribute to broadening the understanding of personality’s relation to political attitudes. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
Löwe, Konstantin Felix LU
supervisor
organization
course
STVM25 20191
year
type
H2 - Master's Degree (Two Years)
subject
keywords
Big Five, Five Factor Model, personality, political attitudes, political orientation, ideology, BFI-10, Femfaktormodellen, personlighet, politiska attityder, ideologi
language
English
id
8992021
date added to LUP
2019-09-06 09:26:19
date last changed
2019-09-06 09:26:23
@misc{8992021,
  abstract     = {{Differences in political orientation are partly rooted in personality, with left-wing political attitudes being predicted by Openness to Experience and right-wing attitudes by Conscientiousness. This has been validated across numerous studies from different countries. This essay adds to that body of research by examining whether personality differences between the political sides also exist in the so far understudied Nordic country of Sweden. It finds evidence for the Big Five domains significantly predicting left-right self-placement, albeit with a modest effect. Specifically, the study showed Swedes further to the political right to be lower in Openness, higher in Conscientiousness, and also lower in Neuroticism. These findings concur with existing research and thereby contribute to broadening the understanding of personality’s relation to political attitudes.}},
  author       = {{Löwe, Konstantin Felix}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  note         = {{Student Paper}},
  title        = {{Is Politics Downstream from Personality? The Five Factor Model’s Effect on Political Orientation in Sweden}},
  year         = {{2019}},
}