Dangerous Worldview and Perceived Sociopolitical Control: Two Mechanisms to Understand Trust in Authoritarian Political Leaders in Economically Threatening Contexts

Abstract

In this research we analyzed the relationship between threatening economic contexts (i.e., undergoing the economic crisis and having low socioeconomic status) and trust in authoritarian ideologies and leaders, regardless of the left–right political axis. Based on two theoretical approaches (i.e., the dual-process model and the compensatory control model), we argue that this relationship is mediated by dangerous worldview and low perceived sociopolitical control. We conducted two correlational studies with samples of the general population. In Study 1 (N = 185), we found that perceived threat from the economic crisis and low socioeconomic status were correlated with a higher dangerous worldview, which resulted in a more authoritarian ideology (i.e., authoritarianism) and finally in greater trust in an authoritarian political leader. In Study 2 (N = 413), we replicated the findings of Study 1 and demonstrated that low perceived sociopolitical control was associated with higher authoritarianism. Moreover, low perceived sociopolitical control partially mediated the relationship between dangerous worldview and authoritarianism. Overall, our results show that two economically threatening contexts (i.e., the economic crisis and low socioeconomic status) promote authoritarianism and trust in authoritarian leaders (with unspecified political orientation) through psychological processes (i.e., perception of the social world and perceived control). These results are useful to understand and combat the rise of authoritarianism in our societies during financially difficult times such as economic crises.

Neuroanatomical correlates of system-justifying ideologies: a pre-registered voxel-based morphometry study on right-wing authoritarianism and social dominance orientation

“…This is important to acknowledge, given that recent research into the structure of RWA demonstrates that the three dimensions can be viewed as separate subscales (e.g. [ 79 , 80 ]). In addition, Arikin & Sekercioglu [ 81 ] also argue that the construct of authoritarianism may be better conceptualized as a predisposition as opposed to a stable trait.…”

Desires of technocracy in pandemic times: A multilevel study

“…Consistent with Kay et al.’s (2011) compensatory control mechanism (CCM), people who feel unable to exert such control directly may turn to secondary sources of control that provide order and predictability to the world, such as religion (Sibley and Bulbulia 2012), political (Oneal and Bryan 1995) and super partes (Cavazza et al. 2022) institutions, and even anti‐democratic governments (Torres‐Vega, Ruiz, and Moya 2021). This was also the case in the context of the COVID‐19 pandemic, which beyond the expected rally effect consisting of an increase in trust in democratic institutions (Bol et al.…”

“…When feeling vulnerable, people perceive a loss of control over their lives, which lowers their psychological well-being and serves as a motivational drive to restore perceived control (Landau, Kay, and Whitson 2015). Consistent with Kay et al's (2011) compensatory control mechanism (CCM), people who feel unable to exert such control directly may turn to secondary sources of control that provide order and predictability to the world, such as religion (Sibley and Bulbulia 2012), political (Oneal and Bryan 1995) and super partes (Cavazza et al 2022) institutions, and even anti-democratic governments (Torres-Vega, Ruiz, and Moya 2021). This was also the case in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, which beyond the expected rally effect consisting of an increase in trust in democratic institutions (Bol et al 2021), triggered the approval of anti-democratic governments and policies (Amat et al 2020;Roccato et al 2020).…”