People who are strongly tied to any particular ideology possess an underlying psychological trait: low levels of cognitive flexibility, a new study shows. “Mental rigidity” was found especially in those with the most fervent beliefs and affiliations on both the left and right of the political divide.
The study of over 700 US citizens, conducted by scientists from the University of Cambridge to investigate whether the more politically “extreme” have a certain “type of mind” through the use of objective psychological testing.
Those with lower cognitive flexibility see the world in more black-and-white terms, and struggle with new and different perspectives. The more inflexible mind may be especially susceptible to the clarity, certainty, and safety frequently offered by strong loyalty to collective ideologies,” said Dr Leor Zmigrod, a Cambridge Gates Scholar and lead author of the study, now published in the Journal of Experimental Psychology.
According to her, “While political animosity often appears to be driven by emotion, we find that the way people unconsciously process neutral stimuli seems to play an important role in how they process ideological arguments.”
The research is the latest in a series of studies from Zmigrod and her Cambridge colleagues, Dr Jason Rentfrow and Professor Trevor Robbins, on the relationship between ideology and cognitive flexibility.
