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The Effect of Life Events on Personality, Authoritarianism, Conservatism, and Language:
Developing a Model of Beliefs across CulturesMark A. Hamilton, University of Connecticut and Chulalongkorn University
Jirayudh Sinthuphan, Chulalongkorn University
Shaw Hong Ser, Chulalongkorn University
The Problem• In the West, conservatives
are known for their verbal aggressiveness
• Right-wing media such as Fox News, NewsMax, and WorldNetDaily are populated by personalities like Rush Limbaugh, Morning Joe, Imus in the Morning, and Glenn Beck
Strident Personalities
• These personalities often go beyond staking out their traditionalist position on issues to zealously savage their political opponents.
• Such conservative media attacks fit the definition of verbal aggression (Infante & Wigley, 1986).
Conservative Aggression• Campaign positioning by Republican
Presidential candidates in this year’s primary race are rife with aggressive rhetoric against minorities
• Donald Trump’s invectives against Mexicans, Muslims, and the disabled.
• Consequences of broadcast mauling of centrist and left-wing political opponents are ominous: verbal aggression has been shown to lead directly to physical aggression
Trend in the West• Across the West, there has been a
rise in rampage killings (Hamilton, 2016) that are driven by a traditionalist agenda.
• A majority of states in America host militia movements.
• Armed militias have become a menace in Oregon, Texas, and other states, leading to armed standoffs or even violent confrontations with the government.
Home Grown Terror
• The Oklahoma City bombings were carried out by perpetrators with a conservative agenda.
• The Breivik massacres in Norway are another prime example of right-driven violence.
East on West Aggression• Conservative assaults are not,
however, confined to the West.
• Islamic extremist groups with an eye toward instituting sharia law or even establishing a sharia caliphate present a real and present danger to the West.
• Attacks by Islamic State militants have targeted France, Belgium, England, and the United States.
East on East Violence• The campaign of terror by Islamic
militants is even more ferocious in the East.
• Daily bombings and attacks occur throughout the middle-east –in Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan, Israel, Lebanon, Egypt, Turkey, and Libya.
• Such bombings or rampage killings have also occurred further south and east -- in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Malaysia, Indonesia, China, and of course Thailand.
Research Questions
RQ1: Why is there persistent, global covariation between conservatism and verbal aggression (along with subsequent physical aggression)?RQ2: Do different aspects of conservatism differentially influence verbal aggression?
The Positive Correlation
• It could be a sign of a spurious relationship between conservatism and verbal aggression
• It could be a sign of a causal relationship in which conservatism increases verbal aggression
ConservatismVerbal
Aggression
ConservatismVerbal
Aggression
Cultural Conservatism• People form their beliefs based on
interpersonal interaction with others first, and then extend those beliefs to groups of others, finally extending those beliefs to more general policy for organizations and cultures
• It is plausible, even likely, that these different aspects of conservatism may not have the same impact on verbal aggressiveness
InterpersonalExperience
GroupAffiliation
Organizational Policy
A Confluence Model
• Based on Belief Systems Theory (Hamilton, 2012; Hamilton & Hample, 2011; Hamilton & Mineo, 1996, 1999; Hamilton & Tafoya, 2012; Rokeach, 1956, 1958, 1960; Tafoya & Hamilton, 2012)
• Proposes three affect systems that operate as a physiological substrate for processes that constrain effects across belief systems
The Structure of Beliefs
• Belief systems organized along a central-peripheral dimension based on degree of neural connectedness
• Personality is the most central, attitudes the most peripheral with ethno-logics providing a justification of attitudes from personality
EthnologicsPersonality
TemperamentSelf-Concept
Social Consequences
Attitudes & Language BehaviorsAuthoritarianJustification
EmotionalJustification
CriticalJustification
Competencies
Affect Systems
• Individualistic: gives rise to selfish, negative emotions
• Cooperative: gives rise to prosocial, positive emotions
• Homeostatic: governs homeostasis of basic physiological process and by extension emotional balance
EthnologicsPersonality
TemperamentSelf-Concept
Social Consequences
Attitudes & Language BehaviorsCompetencies
RationalJustification
EmotionalJustification
AuthoritarianJustification
Individualistic Affect System
Cooperative Affect System
Homeostatic Affect System
The Impact of Life Events
• Stress is a trigger for the individualistic affect system
• Achievement is a trigger for the cooperative affect system
• Background context serves as a basis for the homeostatic affect system
Stressors
Life Events
Variable Chains
• Individualistic affect: depression to schizotypy to hostility to verbal aggression
• Cooperative affect: pride to empathy to social bonding to verbal immediacy
• Buffered individualistic: neuroticism to egocentrism to anxiety to equivocation
• Buffered cooperative: self-esteem to narcissism to contentment to verbal collaboration
EthnologicsPersonality
TemperamentSelf-Concept
Social Consequences
Attitudes & Language BehaviorsStressors
Achievements
Background Context
Life Events
RationalJustification
EmotionalJustification
AuthoritarianJustification
PhysicalAggression
VerbalAggression
Depression Hostility Ethnocentrism
SocialBonding
AffectionVerbal
ImmediacyPride
EconomicConservatism
Anxiety AvoidanceEquivocationNeuroticismReligious
Conservatism
VerbalCollaboration
NegotiationContentmentSelf
Esteem
PoliticalConservatism
Stressors
+
+
+
Achievements
-
Trauma
NeedHindrance
SocialUndermining
Triumph
NeedFacilitation
SocialSupport
Background
MediaExposure
Setting
Life Events
Age
MaleSex
Maturation
-
U
-.19
Depression
SelfEsteem
Neuroticism
.40
Pride
-.30-.57
-.16
.21
.45
+
+ +
+
Simplified Model
SocialUndermining
VerbalAggression
SocialUndermining
VerbalAggression
PhysicalAggression
PhysicalAggression
Trauma
Trauma
Person A
Person B
EthnologicsPersonality
TemperamentSelf-Concept
Social Consequences
Attitudes & Language Behaviors
PhysicalAggression
VerbalAggression
Depression HostilitySchizotypy
AnxietyEgocentrism
.35
.59
.67
AvoidanceEquivocation
SocialBonding
AffectionVerbal
Immediacy
VerbalCollaboration
NegotiationExtraversion
.78
.49
.16
.26
.38
-.20
-.50
SelfEsteem +Narcissism
.82
+
-.55 -.36-.44-.47
-.54
Neuroticism .40
.40
.40
.49
Pride Empathy+
Note. Path coefficient estimates based on past studies.
+
.38
-.64 .27 -.43
CriticalJustification
EmotionalJustification
AuthoritarianJustification
Authoritarianism
Emotionalism
Rationalism
+/-
.31
++ +
Ethnocentrism
PoliticalConservatism
EconomicConservatism
.54
-.77
.19
.67
.40
.60
.36
.18 Anti-dogmatism
.15
+
.68
.38
.34- -
.37
.30
SexualConservatism
ReligiousConservatism+
EthnologicsPersonality
TemperamentSelf-Concept
Social Consequences
Attitudes & Language Behaviors
PhysicalAggression
VerbalAggression
Depression HostilitySchizotypy
AnxietyEgocentrism
.35
.59
.67
AvoidanceEquivocation
SocialBonding
AffectionVerbal
Immediacy
VerbalCollaboration
NegotiationExtraversion
.78
.49
.16
.26
.38
-.20
-.50
SelfEsteem +Narcissism
.82
+
-.55 -.36-.44-.47
-.54
Neuroticism .40
.40
.40
.49
Pride Empathy+
Note. Path coefficient estimates based on past studies.
+
.38
-.64 .27 -.43
CriticalJustification
EmotionalJustification
AuthoritarianJustification
Authoritarianism
Emotionalism
Rationalism
+/-
.31
++ +
Ethnocentrism
PoliticalConservatism
EconomicConservatism
.54
-.77
.19
.67
.40
.60
.36
.18 Anti-dogmatism
.15
+
.68
.38
.34- -
.37
.30
SexualConservatism
ReligiousConservatism+
Sexual Conservatism
Ethnocentrism Religious Conservatism
Political Conservatism
ReligiousConservatism
SexualConservatism
EconomicConservatism
PoliticalConservatism
Ethnocentrism
Cultural Conservatism
Authoritarianism
3. Extension of the Cultural Conservatism Model.
.67
.60
.36.40
.77
Anxiety
Hostility
.61
InterpersonalExperience
GroupAffiliation
Organizational Policy
+
+
+
+ +
VerbalAggressiveness
PhysicalAggression
.38
BehavioralRigidity
.69
Dogmatism
Tribalism as Stunted Social Bonding
-.15
.54
.31
Sexual Morality
-.38
ReligiousConservatism
SexualConservatism
EconomicConservatism
PoliticalConservatism
Ethnocentrism
Cultural Conservatism
Authoritarianism
.67
.60
.36.40
.77
Anxiety
Hostility
.61InterpersonalExperience
GroupAffiliation
Organizational Policy
+
+
+
+ +
VerbalAggressiveness
PhysicalAggression
.38
Dogmatism
Tribalism as Stunted Social Bonding
-.15
.54
.31
Sexual Morality
-.38
++
++
++
Predation
Militarism+
-
BehavioralRigidity
Dogmatism
Authoritarianism
PoliticalConservatism
.74
.78
.69
United States
RMSE = .05, c2(3,100) = .91, p = .82
Data from Crano (1970)
PoliticalConservatism
.40 .68 .73
.28
Authoritarianism
Figure 3. The Effect of Authoritarianism on Political Conservatism, from the 1970s Studies.
The NetherlandsEngland New Zealand
RMSE = .08, c2(1,279) = 1.74, p = .44
RMSE = .11, c2(1,200) = 1.46, p = .35
RMSE = .11, c2(2,357) = 2.06, p = .36
Data from Wilson (1970) Data from Wilson and Patterson (1970)
Authoritarianism Authoritarianism
PoliticalConservatism
PoliticalConservatism
ReligiousConservatism
ReligiousConservatism
ReligiousConservatism
SexualConservatism
SexualConservatism
SexualConservatism
.56
.42
.20
.16
.61
.15.47.51
.41 .45
.73
.33.48
.48
.31.18