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If They Can’t Change, Why Support Change? Implicit Theories About Groups, Social Dominance Orientation and Political Identity

Kahn, Dennis T. LU ; Tagar, Michal Reifen ; Halperin, Eran ; Bäckström, Martin LU ; Vitriol, Joseph A. and Liberman, Varda (2018) In Journal of Social and Political Psychology 6(1).
Abstract
In three studies across three cultures (U.S., Sweden, and Israel), we examine whether implicit theories about groups are associated with political identity and whether this relationship is mediated by Social Dominance Orientation (SDO). Study 1 found that raising the salience of entity beliefs leads to increased right-wing political self-identification on social issues, although no such effect was found regarding general or economic political identity. In Study 2, we found that the more participants endorsed entity beliefs about groups (vs. incremental beliefs about groups), the more they identified as political rightists (vs. leftists) in the U.S., Sweden, and Israel. SDO mediated this relationship in the U.S. and Swedish samples, but not... (More)
In three studies across three cultures (U.S., Sweden, and Israel), we examine whether implicit theories about groups are associated with political identity and whether this relationship is mediated by Social Dominance Orientation (SDO). Study 1 found that raising the salience of entity beliefs leads to increased right-wing political self-identification on social issues, although no such effect was found regarding general or economic political identity. In Study 2, we found that the more participants endorsed entity beliefs about groups (vs. incremental beliefs about groups), the more they identified as political rightists (vs. leftists) in the U.S., Sweden, and Israel. SDO mediated this relationship in the U.S. and Swedish samples, but not in the Israeli sample – a political setting in which political identity is largely determined by attitudes regarding the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Study 3 showed that SDO mediated the relationship between implicit theories about groups and Israelis’ political identity regarding social/economic issues, but did not have such a mediating role with respect to political identity regarding the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed. (Less)
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author
; ; ; ; and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
implicit theories about groups, group malleability, political identity, political ideology, social dominance orientation, political psychology
in
Journal of Social and Political Psychology
volume
6
issue
1
publisher
PsychOpen
external identifiers
  • scopus:85065252604
ISSN
2195-3325
DOI
10.5964/JSPP.V6I1.752
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
14bdec0c-bf66-4ca3-b240-5c6f5afff50c
alternative location
https://jspp.psychopen.eu/article/view/752
date added to LUP
2019-04-05 12:55:28
date last changed
2022-04-25 22:35:19
@article{14bdec0c-bf66-4ca3-b240-5c6f5afff50c,
  abstract     = {{In three studies across three cultures (U.S., Sweden, and Israel), we examine whether implicit theories about groups are associated with political identity and whether this relationship is mediated by Social Dominance Orientation (SDO). Study 1 found that raising the salience of entity beliefs leads to increased right-wing political self-identification on social issues, although no such effect was found regarding general or economic political identity. In Study 2, we found that the more participants endorsed entity beliefs about groups (vs. incremental beliefs about groups), the more they identified as political rightists (vs. leftists) in the U.S., Sweden, and Israel. SDO mediated this relationship in the U.S. and Swedish samples, but not in the Israeli sample – a political setting in which political identity is largely determined by attitudes regarding the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Study 3 showed that SDO mediated the relationship between implicit theories about groups and Israelis’ political identity regarding social/economic issues, but did not have such a mediating role with respect to political identity regarding the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.}},
  author       = {{Kahn, Dennis T. and Tagar, Michal Reifen and Halperin, Eran and Bäckström, Martin and Vitriol, Joseph A. and Liberman, Varda}},
  issn         = {{2195-3325}},
  keywords     = {{implicit theories about groups; group malleability; political identity; political ideology; social dominance orientation; political psychology}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{1}},
  publisher    = {{PsychOpen}},
  series       = {{Journal of Social and Political Psychology}},
  title        = {{If They Can’t Change, Why Support Change? Implicit Theories About Groups, Social Dominance Orientation and Political Identity}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.5964/JSPP.V6I1.752}},
  doi          = {{10.5964/JSPP.V6I1.752}},
  volume       = {{6}},
  year         = {{2018}},
}