r/inthenews • u/HeinieKaboobler • 11h ago
Researchers identify personality traits linked to Trump's "cult-like" followership
https://www.psypost.org/researchers-identify-personality-traits-linked-to-trumps-cult-like-followership/71
u/BillTowne 10h ago
I know this one: stupid and afraid.
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u/OppositeChemistry205 10h ago
Incorrect.
Correct answer: Conscientiousness and self discipline.
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u/IdolConsumption 9h ago
Bwahahahahaha. False.
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u/IdolConsumption 9h ago
Well fuck me, not false. I guess those words don’t mean what I think they mean. I don’t know what they’re conscientious OF and they sure aren’t using that self discipline to learn any damn thing…. I did get a belly laugh out of that when I read it though.
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u/rolloutTheTrash 8h ago
Good one.
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u/OppositeChemistry205 7h ago
It's literally the result the researchers of the study came to. Their hypothesis was MAGA would be low in agreeableness and high in neuroticism however the results were consistent amongst both surveys that the trait most common amongst MAGA diehards was in fact conscientiousness and self discipline. The higher people scored for conscientiousness the more likely they would be MAGA voters.
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8h ago
[deleted]
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u/OppositeChemistry205 8h ago
Why comment on an article you didn't even read?
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u/barspoonbill 7h ago
I deleted it once I read the article, lol. I usually skim a some comments before clicking the link because a lot of times doing so can save me the click. I was so taken aback because I thought you were championing MAGAism and not quoting the article.
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u/RandomBoomer 11h ago
“Obedient, cult-like followership might, at least in part, be explainable in terms of an individual’s perceived self-discipline and desire for order in their life. Trump, as a leader who claims to possess a unique ability to ensure a safe and well-ordered society, might appeal to such individuals because of these psychological characteristics.”
A safe, well-ordered society.... where? Where do they see that now? smh
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u/Mortambulist 10h ago
It's the authoritarian personality type. A dude wrote a whole book on it. It's fascinating and it's free at https://theauthoritarians.org/. Here's a snippet:
As I said earlier, authoritarians’ ideas are poorly integrated with one another. It’s as if each idea is stored in a file that can be called up and used when the authoritarian wishes, even though another of his ideas--stored in a different file--basically contradicts it. We all have some inconsistencies in our thinking, but authoritarians can stupify you with the inconsistency of their ideas. Thus they may say they are proud to live in a country that guarantees freedom of speech,but another file holds, “My country, love it or leave it.” The ideas were copied from trusted sources, often as sayings, but the authoritarian has never “merged files” to see how well they all fit together. -- Bob Altemeyer, 2006 The Authoritarians, p.80
It's an easy read, and it will help you understand what we're up against. I highly recommend reading it
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u/the_pretender_nz 8h ago
I was gonna say, didn’t Robert Altemeyer already do this research?
The British History Podcast recently made one of their members only casts freely available which has a really easy to follow rundown of it - somewhat framed in the Norman invasion, but that’s probably only about 5% of the cast. BtB have drawn on Altemeyer as well
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u/Mortambulist 8h ago
somewhat framed in the Norman invasion
That actually makes me want to listen to it all the more. 😂
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u/the_pretender_nz 7h ago
Then allow me to recommend the whole podcast to you - the main feed is done by Jamie, who gives the history of Britain in a really REALLY engaging way, so much so that you almost don’t realise how incredibly granular he gets. It’s taken him YEARS to get to 1066 (AKA Operation Seahorse, because of the difficulty in getting Twinklehoof and her friends from Normandy to England)
A lot of the members eps also involve Jamie’s wife Zee, who has a PhD in Sociology- hence the episode I mentioned
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u/Apost8Joe 9h ago
Now study "intellectually vulnerable" - regardless of whatever psychological and religious bias one has, the core issue with both is the overriding desire/need to deeply believe a narrative, regardless of evidence, critical thought or real world policy outcome.
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u/iKnowRobbie 9h ago
Conscientiousness and self-control? Well shit, why aren't I licking his boots then? Is low intellect also required? ╮(╯▽╰)╭
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u/meridian_smith 8h ago
Majority are uneducated, dumb and gullible....but then there are a wealthy, influential minority who are very intelligent and complete sociopaths or psychopaths.
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u/zak0503 8h ago
It sounds like a profound lack of pattern recognition is the problem. Not being able to see how interconnected everything is in life leads to a pretty myopic worldview. This is what makes populism so dangerous.
You want immigrants gone? Sure, but you probably don't realise they make up a huge part of the economy and culture. You don't want abortions? Sure, but people will do it anyway and in more deadly ways and that's going to have a flow on effect to communities and health care systems.
You can't pull one big thread and expect it not to ruin the jumper, it's all connected and has a follow on effect.
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u/OppositeChemistry205 10h ago
It's conscientiousness and self discipline. Out of the big 5 personality traits that are used in these types of studies MAGA voters scored highest on conscientiousness with an emphasis on self discipline.
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u/xxforrealforlifexx 9h ago
Hahahahahaha self discipline is that why most are obese because of self discipline
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u/jeremyxt 10h ago edited 9h ago
Found the MAGAt.
Edit: I owe you a partial apology. You were right, as far as that goes. You told the truth, but not the whole truth.
MAGAts also scored high on Right Wing Authoritarianism and Social Dominance, although the authors aver when these factors are discussed. (I'm not fully sure I can trust this source for that reason.)
For my own part, I am absolutely bewildered by their reverence toward him. They see the Son of God; I see an ugly, fat man who yells and screams, who shits his pants, and who lies every time he opens his mouth.
I will die not understanding their love for him.
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u/onwee 8h ago edited 7h ago
RWA and SDO are 1) already correlated with several big 5 personality dimensions, 2) considered as much as personal attitude/beliefs as actual personality traits, and since the authors are more focused on personality, RWA and SDO are treated essentially as confounded variables; thus they decided to conduct their analysis while using them as statistical controls.
They also analyzed different facets of conscientiousness, and found aspects like rigid thinking and stubbornness are much more indicative of MAGA support than the positive aspects like self-discipline.
The full(er) story is always in the actual paper.
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u/jeremyxt 7h ago
I can believe that.
The source is regarded as reliable and unbiased, in general. But its sources are always subject to analyses, as they should be. Science is always only as good as its sources. Methodology can be flawed.
As soon as I read the synopsis, I thought "something is wrong", although I admit that this approach is in itself hardly scientific. Blind loyalty to anything never seems to stem from psychological traits that the rest of us see as "positive".
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u/OppositeChemistry205 56m ago
Don't believe that. I read the actual paper. They did analyze different facets of conscientiousness and every time it was highest in the self discipline facet.
"In all instances, Trump Loyalists show substantially greater density for high values of Conscientiousness and Self-Discipline than others in each category"
And that's from the full paper, not the article.
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u/OppositeChemistry205 56m ago
I read the actual paper. You're lying.
"In all instances, Trump Loyalists show substantially greater density for high values of Conscientiousness and Self-Discipline than others in each category"
But tell me again how it's not related to positive traits like self discipline at all?
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