Science Daily February 21, 2021
Using an unprecedented number of cognitive tasks and personality surveys, along with data-driven analyses including drift-diffusion and Bayesian modelling, an international team of researchers (UK, USA – Stanford University) has uncovered the specific psychological signatures of political, nationalistic, religious, and dogmatic beliefs. Cognitive and personality assessments consistently outperformed demographic predictors in accounting for individual differences in ideological preferences by 4 to 15-fold. The data-driven analyses revealed that individuals’ ideological attitudes mirrored their cognitive decision-making strategies. Conservatism and nationalism were related to greater caution in perceptual decision-making tasks and to reduced strategic information processing, while dogmatism was associated with slower evidence accumulation and impulsive tendencies. Religiosity was implicated in heightened agreeableness and risk perception. Together these findings suggest that ideological worldviews may be reflective of low-level perceptual and cognitive functions…read more. Open Access TECHNICAL ARTICLE