The Role of Ideological Attitudes in Responses to COVID-19 Threat and Government Restrictions in Australia

Abstract

Many government strategies to reduce the spread of Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) involved unprecedented restrictions on personal movement, disrupting social and economic norms. Although generally well-received in Australia, some community frustration regarding these restrictions appeared to diverge across political lines. Therefore, we examined the unique effects of the ideological subfactors of Right-Wing Authoritarianism (RWA; Aggression, Submission and Conventionalism) and Social Dominance Orientation (SDO; Dominance and Anti-Egalitarianism) in predicting levels of COVID-19 threat, support for and reactance to restrictions in Australian residents (N = 451, 227 male, 217 female, 7 non-binary; Mage = 32.12, SDage = 10.99). Anti-Egalitarianism predicted lower COVID-19 threat (β = -.22) and support for restrictions (β = -.22); Dominance predicted lower support for restrictions (β = -.17) and higher reactance (β = .24); Submission predicted higher support for restrictions (β = .15) and lower reactance (β = -.20); and Conventionalism predicted higher reactance (β = .14).

Politics of COVID-19 vaccine mandates: Left/right-wing authoritarianism, social dominance orientation, and libertarianism

“…Then, hierarchical regression models investigated whether the four ideologies predicted support for vaccine mandates and the punishment of unvaccinated individuals, with or without the inclusion of COVID-19 concern and vaccine acceptance. In prior research, these two factors are associated with ideological variables such as SDO, RWA, and libertarianism ( Bilewicz & Soral, 2021 ; Choma et al, 2021 ; Clarke et al, 2021 ; Murphy et al, 2021 ; Peng, 2022 ) as well as support for vaccine mandates ( Gagneux-Brunon et al, 2021 ). An inspection of the predicted probability plots and the residuals vs. predictor plots suggested that the assumptions for regression analyses were not violated.…”

“…SDO reflects a preference for hierarchical intergroup relationships, justification of group-based dominance, and less empathy toward disadvantaged groups ( Pratto et al, 2013 ; Pratto, Sidanius, Stallworth, & Malle, 1994 ). SDO frequently predicts less concern about COVID, less adherence to public health guidelines, and less support for government measures ( Choma et al, 2021 ; Clarke, Klas, & Dyos, 2021 ; Fischer et al, 2020 ; Peng, 2022 ). Recent research also finds that SDO predicts more hesitancy against COVID-19 vaccines ( Bilewicz & Soral, 2021 ; Murphy et al, 2021 ).…”

Barriers and facilitators of willingness to vaccinate against COVID-19: Role of prosociality, authoritarianism and conspiracy mentality. A four-wave longitudinal study

“…An important limitation of our study was the use of an abbreviated RWA scale; therefore, future studies would need to determine whether the results are confirmed using the full version of the scale. Also, it would be worthwhile to include a measure of social dominance orientation - the second facet of political ideology, emphasizing a preference for hierarchy and high-status group dominance (see e.g., Clarke et al, 2021 ).…”

COVID-19 conspiracy theories and compliance with governmental restrictions: The mediating roles of anger, anxiety, and hope

“…This is a noteworthy finding, given the long-standing debate as to whether conspiracy theorizing is inherently connected with ideological predispositions (e.g., Sutton & Douglas, 2020b). Some have shown that susceptibility to conspiracy beliefs is higher amongst conservatives (see e.g., Enders & Smallpage, 2019; van der Linden et al, 2021), and reactance to COVID-19 government restrictions is predicted by various right-wing ideology subfactors (Clarke et al, 2021). Others argue that conspiracy beliefs are strongest amongst both extreme ends of the ideological spectrum, expressed to a similar extent by extreme right- and left-wing ideologues (van Prooijen et al, 2015).…”