How a cultural revolt against "political correctness" helped launch Trump into the presidency

Donald Trump's 2016 election victory in part reflected deep cultural opposition to Political Correctness (PC) norms. People dislike being told that they are not allowed to speak their mind, and Donald Trump represented a cultural foil to express that frustration. New research from Lucian Gideon Conway III, which studies the 2016 election campaign, shows that a sample of moderate Americans were influenced to support Trump by a brief mention of the PC movement, even though the PC movement was framed positively and the discussion had nothing directly to do with either candidate. Taken together, these results suggest that we need to look beyond simple markers of ideology to understand the Trump phenomenon – part of his support stems from a cultural revolt against Political Correctness

The geography of literacy:Understanding poleward increases in literacy rates

Asian social psychology has often focused on East/West comparisons. However, a latitudinal psychology perspective suggests that cultures will vary in predictable ways along north/south (latitudinal) gradients, rather than along east/west (longitudinal) gradients. We apply this perspective to better understand the geographical placement of literacy rates across the world. We find across 206 nations that latitude shows no linear relationship with worldwide literacy rates, but a significant curvilinear relationship, such that as one moves north from the equator, higher latitudes are associated with more literacy, whereas this relationship reverses as one moves south from the equator. No such curvilinear relationship consistently emerged for longitude. To better understand the geography of literacy, we included four potential explanatory socioecological variables (pathogens, climate, national tightness, and wealth). These analyses revealed that increases in literacy as one moves towards the North and South Poles was partially accounted for by all four variables, but a larger portion of the variance was due to pathogens. These results suggest that latitude—which, taken on its own, is just a set of abstract lines on a map—can help us organize and understand global literacy

An attributional perspective on the communication of norms

Why do some shared beliefs and behaviors spread across a given population and persist over time, whereas other beliefs and behaviors do not? Different perspectives that help provide an answer to this question are critically reviewed. These perspectives fall under two broad headings: those that focus on the degree that norms correspond to some kind of objective reality, and others that focus on the degree that norms correspond to some kind of subjective reality. An attributional perspective is introduced that suggests that whether a norm will likely be communicated in a given context or not is partially determined by the degree that it is perceived to be objectively tied to reality. The present four studies focus on two psychological cues that tend to influence these attributional processes. Across all studies, participants read stories about a normative behavior and then answered questions about those stories. Studies 1 and 2 focused on an "impression management" cue. Study 1 provides evidence that the presence of a member of a positively stereotyped group reduces the intention to communicate a positive impression of that group later on. Study 2 provides weaker evidence that this same process occurs for a negatively stereotyped group. Studies 3 and 4 focus on an authority figure's command cue, both providing evidence that the explicit command of an authority figure can, under some circumstances, decrease the likelihood that persons will endorse a normative behavior. Study 3 suggests that this effect is moderated by the level of control the authority figure has over the participant. Study 4 suggests that this effect is moderated by the expertise of the authority figure in the area of knowledge relevant to the norm. Theoretical and practical implications of the attributional perspective are discussed.Arts, Faculty ofPsychology, Department ofGraduat

Social Psychological Measurements of COVID-19: Coronavirus Perceived Threat, Government Response, Impacts, and Experiences Questionnaires

Major journals have sounded the call for social psychologists to do research on the novel Coronavirus (COVID-19). Such research is only as good as the measurements used. Across three studies (total n = 984), we developed a battery of social psychology-relevant questionnaires to measure COVID-19 phenomena: (1) Perceived Coronavirus Threat Questionnaire, (2) Governmental Response to Coronavirus Questionnaire, (3) Coronavirus Impacts Questionnaire, and (4) Coronavirus Experience Questionnaire. Exploratory (Study 1) and Confirmatory (Studies 2 and 3) Factor Analyses revealed excellent factor structures for the one-factor Perceived Coronavirus Threat, the six-factor Governmental Response Questionnaires, and the three-factor Coronavirus Impacts Questionnaire. The three-factor Coronavirus Experience Questionnaire yielded poorer psychometric properties overall. Given that brevity is often desired for online studies, we further recommend psychometrically sound short versions of each questionnaire. Taken in total, this work offers social psychology researchers a battery of questionnaires to measure Coronavirus-related phenomena for the duration of the pandemic in U.S. participants

Why Are Conservatives Happier Than Liberals in the U.S.? Comparing System Justification and Psychological Adjustment Explanations

Why are conservatives in the U.S. more satisfied with their lives than liberals? Prior work suggests two competing models based in system justification and psychological adjustment. The present study builds on this work by providing additional tests of these two competing models from a social axioms perspective. Results from 608 participants across 5 samples, including both college and national community samples, revealed evidence for both system justification and psychological adjustment models. Consistent with system justification models, the system justification scale was a mediator of the conservatism-life satisfaction relationship. Consistent with psychological adjustment models, both social axioms studied (reward for application and religiosity) were also significant mediators. Further analyses were less favorable to the system justification model. One of the key measurements of system justification of group inequality, social dominance orientation, did not mediate the conservatism-satisfaction relationship at all. Further, the strongest mediators in the dataset were two corollaries of reward for application: Anti-entitlement and perceptions of attained achievement. Taken as a whole, these results suggest, consistent with prior research, that while system justification plays a role in conservative happiness, conservatives are also happier because they believe hard work leads to good results (and as a result, feel they have attained more achievement), and because they are more religious