Personality by political ideology

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Abstract
Political conservatism has been characterized by resistance to change and acceptance of inequality, with liberalism characterized
by the polar opposite of these values. Political attitudes are heritable and may be influenced by basic personality traits. In
previous research, conservatism (vs. liberalism) has been associated positively with Conscientiousness and negatively with
Openness-Intellect, consistent with the association of conservatism with resistance to change. Less clear, however, are the
personality traits relating to egalitarianism. In two studies, using a personality model that divides each of the Big Five into
two aspects, the present research found that one aspect of Agreeableness (Compassion) was associated with liberalism and
egalitarianism, whereas the other (Politeness) was associated with conservatism and traditionalism. In addition, conservatism
and moral traditionalism were positively associated with the Orderliness aspect of Conscientiousness and negatively with
Openness-Intellect. These findings contribute to a more nuanced understanding of personality’s relation to political attitudes
and values.

So, my personality is "all f***ed up", therefore my political views just follow from that?

I think I'd break their ideas. My personality is fairly in line with Conservatives, and yet I am mostly Liberal.

I also have a personality more in line with a conservative's, yet I'm far to radical to be content calling myself a liberal. [Sigh] Why are most of the other ecosocialists such hippies?

Sounds like rubbish, politcally motivated pop psychology to me.

I take it you're left-wing? A trip to Wikipedia to find a political label that fits may beckon for you.

Link doesn't work.

We …find that cognitive abilities, educational attainment, and some personality traits indirectly
a¤ect ideological preferences through changes in income. The direct and indirect e¤ects of
personality traits on ideology operate in the same direction. However, the indirect e¤ects of
cognitive abilities and education often o¤set the direct e¤ects of these variables on ideological
preferences. That is, higher levels of cognitive ability and education signi…cantly increase income,
which reduces the tendency of individuals to express leftist preferences. These indirect e¤ects are
in some cases sizeable relative to direct e¤ects. The indirect e¤ects of cognitive abilities through
income overwhelm the direct e¤ects such that increasing IQ increases rightwing preferences.
For ideological preferences over economic policy the indirect e¤ects of advanced education also
overwhelm the direct e¤ects, such that individuals with higher education are more likely to
express rightwing preferences than those with lower education.

Discussion
Our analysis demonstrates that income serves to varying degrees as a mediating or suppressing
variable between the e¤ects of personality traits, cognitive abilities, and educational attainment
and their e¤ects on ideological preferences. We make the following discoveries: First, we …nd
that personality traits have signi…cant, albeit small, indirect e¤ects on ideological preferences
through their e¤ects on income. Speci…cally, we …nd that individuals who have higher levels
of Emotional Stability are more likely to make higher incomes which indirectly leads these
individuals to express more rightwing preferences. We …nd weaker evidence that Agreeableness
has an indirect e¤ect through income on ideological preferences; as expected individuals who
are more agreeable make lower incomes and this indirectly leads them to express more leftist
preferences. And we …nd that Conscientiousness has an indirect e¤ect through income on
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our economic policy measures of ideology; individuals who are more conscientious make higher
incomes which leads them to express more rightwing views on economic policies. However,
these e¤ects are small relative to the direct e¤ects of these variables on ideological preferences
and in the same direction. These results are largely consistent with theoretical expectations
and previous empirical research.
Second, we …nd that intelligence has a signi…cant negative indirect e¤ect on ideological
preferences through its e¤ect on income. Controlling for income the direct e¤ect of intelligence
on ideological preferences is not signi…cant, so the indirect e¤ect is equivalent to the total
e¤ect and thus we …nd that increasing intelligence increases rightist preferences. This result
is contrary to theoretical expectations and previous empirical research. However, the size of
the e¤ect is small relative to the direct e¤ects of personality traits on ideology and the direct
and indirect e¤ects of educational attainment on ideology. Third, we …nd that achievement
of advanced education also has signi…cant negative indirect e¤ects on ideological preferences
through their e¤ects on income. These e¤ects are large in comparison to the direct e¤ects and
in the opposite direction. This result is consistent with theoretical expectations and previous
empirical research.
Our analysis provides new insights into how personality traits, cognitive abilities, and educa-
tional attainment a¤ect ideology. In particular, our analysis shows that studies measuring the
e¤ects of these individualized characteristics on ideology should take into consideration the role
played by income as a mediating or suppressing variable, otherwise the size (and with respect to
intelligence, the direction) of these e¤ects may be incorrectly estimated. Our results showing
that intelligence through its e¤ect on income can indirectly lead to more rightist preferences
calls into question previous theoretical and empirical work that intelligence leads to more leftist
ideological preferences. And our research on the indirect e¤ects of variation in educational
attainment on ideology through income demonstrates that treating education and income as
separate independent variables in analyses of ideological preferences can lead to problematic
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conclusions. Finally, our analysis of the e¤ects of the personality traits of Openness, Con-
scientiousness, and Emotional Stability also show that the previous work on the relationship
between personality and ideology has external validity–is robust to consideration by di¤erent
subject pools and to strong veri…ed income data. Our results on Agreeableness support the
contention of Gerber et al. (2010) that contextual di¤erences may complicate the relationship
between personality traits and ideological preferences.

And we …nd that Conscientiousness has an indirect e¤ect through income on
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our economic policy measures of ideology; individuals who are more conscientious make higher
incomes which leads them to express more rightwing views on economic policies.