Narcissism and affective polarization
There are increasing concerns about affective polarization between political groups in the US and elsewhere. While most work explaining affective polarization focuses on a combination of social and ideological sorting, we ask whether people’s personalities are associated with friendliness to their p...
| Main Authors: | , |
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| Format: | Journal article |
| Language: | English |
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Springer Nature
2024
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| _version_ | 1817931135252955136 |
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| author | Tilley, J Hobolt, S |
| author_facet | Tilley, J Hobolt, S |
| author_sort | Tilley, J |
| collection | OXFORD |
| description | There are increasing concerns about affective polarization between political groups in the US and elsewhere. While most work explaining affective polarization focuses on a combination of social and ideological sorting, we ask whether people’s personalities are associated with friendliness to their political in-group and hostility to their political out-group. We argue that the personality trait of narcissism (entitled self-importance) is an important correlate of affective polarization. We test this claim in Britain using nationally representative survey data, examining both long-standing party identities and new Brexit identities. Our findings reveal that narcissism, and particularly the ‘rivalry’ aspect of narcissism, is associated with both positive and negative partisanship. This potentially not only explains why some people are more susceptible to affective polarization, but also has implications for elite polarization given that narcissism is an important predictor of elite entry. |
| first_indexed | 2024-09-25T04:19:18Z |
| format | Journal article |
| id | oxford-uuid:ac7bb4ee-1ebf-4b04-b400-d91f144e406f |
| institution | University of Oxford |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-09T03:17:12Z |
| publishDate | 2024 |
| publisher | Springer Nature |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | oxford-uuid:ac7bb4ee-1ebf-4b04-b400-d91f144e406f2024-10-22T13:06:47ZNarcissism and affective polarizationJournal articlehttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_dcae04bcuuid:ac7bb4ee-1ebf-4b04-b400-d91f144e406fEnglishSymplectic ElementsSpringer Nature2024Tilley, JHobolt, SThere are increasing concerns about affective polarization between political groups in the US and elsewhere. While most work explaining affective polarization focuses on a combination of social and ideological sorting, we ask whether people’s personalities are associated with friendliness to their political in-group and hostility to their political out-group. We argue that the personality trait of narcissism (entitled self-importance) is an important correlate of affective polarization. We test this claim in Britain using nationally representative survey data, examining both long-standing party identities and new Brexit identities. Our findings reveal that narcissism, and particularly the ‘rivalry’ aspect of narcissism, is associated with both positive and negative partisanship. This potentially not only explains why some people are more susceptible to affective polarization, but also has implications for elite polarization given that narcissism is an important predictor of elite entry. |
| spellingShingle | Tilley, J Hobolt, S Narcissism and affective polarization |
| title | Narcissism and affective polarization |
| title_full | Narcissism and affective polarization |
| title_fullStr | Narcissism and affective polarization |
| title_full_unstemmed | Narcissism and affective polarization |
| title_short | Narcissism and affective polarization |
| title_sort | narcissism and affective polarization |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT tilleyj narcissismandaffectivepolarization AT hobolts narcissismandaffectivepolarization |