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Personality’s cross-national impact across EU attitude dimensions

Curtis, K. Amber and Nielsen, Julie Hassing LU (2020) In Research and Politics 7(4).
Abstract

Studies increasingly suggest that personal predispositions affect political attitudes, including those towards the European Union (EU). Yet little is known about the extent to which personality effects on EU support generalize across European countries or attitude domains. We use original survey data from five EU member states (Denmark, Germany, Poland, Sweden, and the United Kingdom) to investigate how the Big Five (B5) traits affect four different facets of public opinion toward the EU (support for further EU unification, views on EU membership, trust in EU institutions and support for using the euro). While we find that each of the B5 matters in at least one place, we find little consistency in personality’s effects across countries.... (More)

Studies increasingly suggest that personal predispositions affect political attitudes, including those towards the European Union (EU). Yet little is known about the extent to which personality effects on EU support generalize across European countries or attitude domains. We use original survey data from five EU member states (Denmark, Germany, Poland, Sweden, and the United Kingdom) to investigate how the Big Five (B5) traits affect four different facets of public opinion toward the EU (support for further EU unification, views on EU membership, trust in EU institutions and support for using the euro). While we find that each of the B5 matters in at least one place, we find little consistency in personality’s effects across countries. Neither does any pattern emerge across most dimensions of EU support. Our results underscore the importance of isolating the contextual factors that might condition personality’s impact. They further call for greater theoretical development regarding why and how only certain national environments appear to lend themselves to personality effects. At a minimum, they suggest scholars should be wary of drawing conclusions about the B5’s impact from single cases.

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author
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organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
Big Five personality traits, contextual effects, EU support, European integration, Euroscepticism, political psychology
in
Research and Politics
volume
7
issue
4
publisher
SAGE Publications
external identifiers
  • scopus:85096961607
ISSN
2053-1680
DOI
10.1177/2053168020972812
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
dded279b-4a31-4bab-8835-641a1153ded0
date added to LUP
2020-12-14 10:43:46
date last changed
2022-04-19 02:45:45
@article{dded279b-4a31-4bab-8835-641a1153ded0,
  abstract     = {{<p>Studies increasingly suggest that personal predispositions affect political attitudes, including those towards the European Union (EU). Yet little is known about the extent to which personality effects on EU support generalize across European countries or attitude domains. We use original survey data from five EU member states (Denmark, Germany, Poland, Sweden, and the United Kingdom) to investigate how the Big Five (B5) traits affect four different facets of public opinion toward the EU (support for further EU unification, views on EU membership, trust in EU institutions and support for using the euro). While we find that each of the B5 matters in at least one place, we find little consistency in personality’s effects across countries. Neither does any pattern emerge across most dimensions of EU support. Our results underscore the importance of isolating the contextual factors that might condition personality’s impact. They further call for greater theoretical development regarding why and how only certain national environments appear to lend themselves to personality effects. At a minimum, they suggest scholars should be wary of drawing conclusions about the B5’s impact from single cases.</p>}},
  author       = {{Curtis, K. Amber and Nielsen, Julie Hassing}},
  issn         = {{2053-1680}},
  keywords     = {{Big Five personality traits; contextual effects; EU support; European integration; Euroscepticism; political psychology}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{4}},
  publisher    = {{SAGE Publications}},
  series       = {{Research and Politics}},
  title        = {{Personality’s cross-national impact across EU attitude dimensions}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/2053168020972812}},
  doi          = {{10.1177/2053168020972812}},
  volume       = {{7}},
  year         = {{2020}},
}