Can’t we just get along? A n investigation into the symmetry of aggressive responses towards outgroup members by Liberals and Conservatives in a context neutral environment.

Persistent URL of this record https://hdl.handle.net/1887/3480505

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Psychology (MSc)

Ferrer González, Josep Bernardo (2022)

Can’t we just get along? A n investigation into the symmetry of aggressive responses towards outgroup members by Liberals and Conservatives in a context neutral environment.

Master thesis | Psychology (MSc)

With the increase in polarization worldwide, the danger of democracies not working anymore and societies breaking apart has become an increasingly real prospect. Previous research concluded that, in general, Rightists tend to be more aggressive towards outgroup members than Leftists; recent studies, however, have challenged this by proposing affective responses are symmetrical in both groups. 200 Leftists and 200 Rightists were recruited from the United Kingdom and the United States with the aim of finding differences in aggression directed to ingroup and outgroup members. Using the Attacker-Defender Contest to assure context-neutrality and a mixed ANOVA to test for interactions between political ideology and aggression, results showed an increased rate of aggression towards outgroup members by Leftists only. Furthermore, a statistically significant interaction between political ideology and aggression was found.

Author: Ferrer González, Josep Bernardo

Faculty: Faculty of Social & Behavioural Sciences

Specialisation: Economic and Consumer Psychology

Supervisors: Pliskin, R.

ECTS Credits: 20

Language: en

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Can’t we just get along? A n investigation into the symmetry of aggressive responses towards outgroup members by Liberals and Conservatives in a context neutral environment.