Low-Effort Thought Promotes Political ConservatismLow-Effort Thought Promotes Political Conservatism
Scott Eidelman [email protected]
Christian S. Crandall
Jeffrey A. Goodman
John C. Blanchar
Abstract
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.
Of course, I only understand like maybe 6% of the abstract.
The full "scientific" article is here (for free): Low-Effort Thought Promotes Political Conservatism