"Ditto Heads": Do Conservatives Perceive Greater Consensus Within Their Ranks Than Liberals?

Area of Science:

• Social Psychology
• Political Psychology
• Behavioral Science

Background:

• Political ideology influences social perception and group dynamics.
• Understanding motivated reasoning is key to explaining intergroup behavior.
• The desire to share reality may impact perceptions of social consensus.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate if conservatives have a greater desire to share reality than liberals.
• To examine if this desire leads to perceiving greater ingroup consensus on non-political judgments.
• To determine if perceived consensus influences collective efficacy and goal pursuit.

Main Methods:

• Three studies were conducted involving political ideology, perception of ingroup consensus, and collective efficacy.
• Participants estimated ingroup consensus on non-political judgments.
• Experimental manipulations of affiliative motives were employed in one study.

Main Results:

• Conservatives perceived higher ingroup consensus than liberals, irrespective of actual consensus.
• The desire to share reality mediated the link between political ideology and perceived consensus.
• Perceived ingroup consensus predicted collective efficacy, which in turn predicted voting intentions.

Conclusions:

• Political ideology shapes the perception of social reality and ingroup consensus.
• Motivated perceptions of consensus may be a mechanism for enhancing collective efficacy.
• Findings have implications for understanding how political groups pursue shared objectives.