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Political Orientation Predicts Credulity Regarding Putative Hazards
Daniel M T Fessler1,2, Anne C Pisor3,4, Colin Holbrook1,2
11 Department of Anthropology, University of California, Los Angeles.
Psychological Science
|April 1, 2017
Summary
People are more likely to believe warnings about dangers than information about benefits. This negatively biased credulity is stronger in conservatives, potentially explaining their susceptibility to alarmist political claims.
Area of Science:
- Cognitive Psychology
- Social Psychology
- Political Psychology
Background:
- Human information processing requires a degree of credulity, balancing the risks of believing misinformation against the costs of missing accurate information.
- The perceived costs of errors differ between hazard and benefit information, suggesting an adaptive bias in credulity.
- Negativity bias, a tendency to focus on negative information, is a known psychological phenomenon.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the adaptive nature of credulity, specifically the hypothesis of negatively biased credulity towards hazard information.
- To examine the relationship between political orientation (conservatism) and negatively biased credulity.
- To explore how individual differences in threat sensitivity and worldview influence credulity.
Main Methods:
- Two online studies were conducted with American participants.
- Participants' levels of credulity, particularly towards hazard versus benefit information, were assessed.
- Correlation analyses were used to examine the relationship between conservatism and negatively biased credulity.
Main Results:
- Findings supported the prediction that conservatism positively correlates with negatively biased credulity.
- Individuals more sensitive to threats and who perceive the world as more dangerous exhibit higher levels of negatively biased credulity.
- The results suggest that political ideology shapes how individuals process potentially alarming information.
Conclusions:
- People exhibit an adaptive negatively biased credulity, being more inclined to believe information about hazards than benefits.
- Political conservatism is associated with a stronger tendency towards negatively biased credulity.
- This bias may help explain the differential impact of alarmist political rhetoric on various segments of the electorate.