Is the personal always political? Education and political knowledge strengthen the relationship between openness and conservatism

Danny Osborne, Yannick Dufresne, Gregory Eady, Jennifer Lees-Marshment, Cliff Van Der Linden

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

5 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Research demonstrates that the negative relationship between Openness to Experience and conservatism is heightened among the informed. We extend this literature using national survey data (Study 1; N = 13,203) and data from students (Study 2; N = 311). As predicted, education - a correlate of political sophistication - strengthened the negative relationship between Openness and conservatism (Study 1). Study 2 employed a knowledge-based measure of political sophistication to show that the Openness × Political Sophistication interaction was restricted to the Openness aspect of Openness. These studies demonstrate that knowledge helps people align their ideology with their personality, but that the Openness × Political Sophistication interaction is specific to one aspect of Openness - nuances that are overlooked in the literature.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)133-143
Number of pages11
JournalJournal of Individual Differences
Volume38
Issue number3
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Jul 2017
Externally publishedYes

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