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Individual differences in ideological attitudes and prejudice: evidence from peer-report data
J Christopher Cohrs1, Nicole Kämpfe-Hargrave, Rainer Riemann
1School of Psychology, David Keir Building, Queen's University Belfast, Belfast, Northern Ireland BT7 1NN, United Kingdom. c.cohrs@qub.ac.uk
Journal of Personality and Social Psychology
|May 31, 2012
Summary
Peer reports confirm personality
Area of Science:
- Psychology
- Social Psychology
- Personality Psychology
Background:
- Self-reports dominate research on personality, ideology, and prejudice.
- Overreliance on self-reports may limit understanding of these complex relationships.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the personality basis of ideological attitudes and prejudice using both self-report and peer-report data.
- To assess the incremental validity of peer reports in predicting these constructs.
Main Methods:
- Two studies (N=193, N=424) utilized Big Five personality, Right-Wing Authoritarianism (RWA), Social Dominance Orientation (SDO), and prejudice measures.
- Data collected via self-report and peer-report (1-2 peers per participant).
- Analyses included correlational, regression, and structural equation modeling.
Main Results:
- Associations between personality, ideology, and prejudice were consistent across self- and peer-reports.
- Right-Wing Authoritarianism (RWA) and prejudice showed comparable self-peer agreement to personality traits.
- Independent methods largely replicated known associations; peer reports offered incremental predictive validity.
- Openness to Experience and Agreeableness directly predicted prejudice, beyond RWA and SDO.
Conclusions:
- Peer reports offer valuable, independent insights into the personality underpinnings of ideology and prejudice.
- Findings support the validity of RWA and SDO as individual-difference constructs.
- Personality dimensions have direct and indirect links to prejudice, highlighting the complexity of these relationships.
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