Dr. Scott Eidelman on “Low-Effort Thought Promotes Political Conservatism.”

Psychological Research Stories

As you know from previous episodes, ideology is a topic that I find to be completely intriguing. It is a construct that can play incredible roles in the ways we see our identities and those around us. There are multitudes of differing and often conflicting theories related to these constructs. Scientific explorations of these topics can be extremely enlightening and insightful. An example could be the topic we looked at last week, which was whether liberals or conservatives are more emotion driven. I might argue that the questions being investigated in the paper we will be discussing today is just as thought provoking if not more so.

Those interested in decision making from a psychological perspective should be familiar with the dual process model, which I think is explained well in Daniel Kahneman’s book titled “Thinking Fast and Slow.” Dual-process theory “provides an account of how a phenomenon can occur in two different ways, or as a result of two different processes. Often, the two processes consist of an implicit (automatic), unconscious process and an explicit (controlled), conscious process.” The research being discussed in this episode is about the question of whether conservative ideology is more associated with intuitive and low-effort thinking processes.

In this episode, I am pleased to present a conversation that I had with Dr. Scott Eidelman about his article titled “Low-Effort Thought Promotes Political Conservatism.” Thank you so much for listening, and please feel free to share feedback and questions in the comment section below.

Abstract from the Discussed Article

The authors test the hypothesis that low-effort thought promotes political conservatism. In Study 1, alcohol intoxication was measured among bar patrons; as blood alcohol level increased, so did political conservatism (controlling for sex, education, and political identification). In Study 2, participants under cognitive load reported more conservative attitudes than their no-load counterparts. In Study 3, time pressure increased participants’ endorsement of conservative terms. In Study 4, participants considering political terms in a cursory manner endorsed conservative terms more than those asked to cogitate; an indicator of effortful thought (recognition memory) partially mediated the relationship between processing effort and conservatism. Together these data suggest that political conservatism may be a process consequence of low-effort thought; when effortful, deliberate thought is disengaged, endorsement of conservative ideology increases.

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