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Sensitive liberals and unfeeling conservatives? Interoceptive sensitivity predicts political liberalism

Ruisch, Benjamin C., Mohr, Mariana Von, Naber, Marnix, Tsakiris, Manos, Fazio, Russell H, Scheepers, Daan T (2023) Sensitive liberals and unfeeling conservatives? Interoceptive sensitivity predicts political liberalism. Politics and the Life Sciences, 41 (2). pp. 256-275. ISSN 1471-5457. (doi:10.1017/pls.2022.18) (KAR id:100549)

Abstract

The stark divide between the political right and left is rooted in conflicting beliefs, values, and personality-and, recent research suggests, perhaps even lower-level physiological differences between individuals. In this registered report, we investigated a novel domain of ideological differences in physiological processes: interoceptive sensitivity-that is, a person's attunement to their own internal bodily states and signals (e.g., physiological arousal, pain, and respiration). We conducted two studies testing the hypothesis that greater interoceptive sensitivity would be associated with greater conservatism: one laboratory study in the Netherlands using a physiological heartbeat detection task and one large-scale online study in the United States employing an innovative webcam-based measure of interoceptive sensitivity. Contrary to our predictions, we found evidence that interoceptive sensitivity may instead predict greater political liberalism (versus conservatism), although this association was primarily limited to the American sample. We discuss implications for our understanding of the physiological underpinnings of political ideology.

Item Type: Article
DOI/Identification number: 10.1017/pls.2022.18
Uncontrolled keywords: Ideology; interoception; physiology; politics
Subjects: B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > BF Psychology
Divisions: Divisions > Division of Human and Social Sciences > School of Psychology
SWORD Depositor: JISC Publications Router
Depositing User: JISC Publications Router
Date Deposited: 24 Mar 2023 12:43 UTC
Last Modified: 08 May 2024 03:15 UTC
Resource URI: https://kar.kent.ac.uk/id/eprint/100549 (The current URI for this page, for reference purposes)

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