The Impact of Cognitive Styles on Authoritarianism Based Conservatism and Racism

Abstract

In this study, we investigated in a Flemish undergraduate sample (N = 418) the impact of cognitive style, right-wing authoritarianism (RWA) and social dominance orientation (SDO) on conservative beliefs and racism. A model in which the effect of cognitive style on conservatism and prejudice is mediated by RWA and SDO showed superior fit to a model in which the effect of RWA and SDO on the target variables is mediated by cognitive style. Further, despite the inclusion of a variety of cognitive-style measures, only desire for order and predictability is related substantially and equally strong to submissive-based and dominance-based authoritarianism, which mediated the effects on conservatism and racism. These results suggest that the "motivated cognition" account of conservative ideology certainly applies to the Need for Order facet scale of the Need for Closure Scale (Webster & Kruglanski, 1994) but that cognitive-style variables in general are less predictive of right-wing ideology.