An Experimental Test of the Validity of Survey-Measured Political Ideology

Abstract

We examine the predictive validity of survey-measured left-right political ideology by testing whether this measure is able to explain observed choices regarding equality versus efficiency. We study this in a real-effort distribution experiment, in which decision-makers allocate money equally or efficiently. We distinguish between decision-makers that receive 'manna-from-heaven' and decision-makers that have earned the money to be distributed in a real effort task. We find that, conditional on entitlement concerns, self-reported right-wing ideology significantly predicts preferences for efficiency. Reported left-wing ideology does not have predictive value in explaining preferences for equality.

The Self-Perception and Political Biases of ChatGPT

“…Biases and Personality Assessments. Different tests and questionnaires that try to gauge an individual's political orientation based on a set of questions covering a variety of political subjects have been developed and standardized over the past decades [20]. These questionnaires usually let the user respond with "yes" or "no" or let them express their agreement on a Likert scale (e.g., from "strongly agree" to "strongly disagree," with some options in between).…”