Abstract
The 2016 European Union (EU) refugee crisis exposed a fundamental distinction in political attitudes between the political left and right. Previous findings suggest, however, that besides political orientation, ideological strength (i.e., political extremism) is also relevant to understand such distinctive attitudes. Our study reveals that the political right is more anxious, and the political left experiences more self-efficacy, about the refugee crisis. At the same time, the political extremes—at both sides of the spectrum—are more likely than moderates to believe that the solution to this societal problem is simple. Furthermore, both extremes experience more judgmental certainty about their domain-specific knowledge of the refugee crisis, independent of their actual knowledge. Finally, belief in simple solutions mediated the relationship between ideology and judgmental certainty, but only among political extremists. We conclude that both ideological orientation and strength matter to understand citizens’ reactions to the refugee crisis.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 143-150 |
| Number of pages | 8 |
| Journal | Social Psychological & Personality Science |
| Volume | 9 |
| Issue number | 2 |
| Early online date | 3 Oct 2017 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - Mar 2018 |
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Keywords
- EU refugee crisis
- ideology
- judgmental certainty
- political extremism
- right-wing attitudes
Cite this
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Ideological responses to the EU refugee crisis : The left, the right, and the extremes. / van Prooijen, Jan Willem; Krouwel, André P.M.; Emmer, Julia.
In: Social Psychological & Personality Science, Vol. 9, No. 2, 03.2018, p. 143-150.Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article › Academic › peer-review
TY - JOUR
T1 - Ideological responses to the EU refugee crisis
T2 - The left, the right, and the extremes
AU - van Prooijen, Jan Willem
AU - Krouwel, André P.M.
AU - Emmer, Julia
PY - 2018/3
Y1 - 2018/3
N2 - The 2016 European Union (EU) refugee crisis exposed a fundamental distinction in political attitudes between the political left and right. Previous findings suggest, however, that besides political orientation, ideological strength (i.e., political extremism) is also relevant to understand such distinctive attitudes. Our study reveals that the political right is more anxious, and the political left experiences more self-efficacy, about the refugee crisis. At the same time, the political extremes—at both sides of the spectrum—are more likely than moderates to believe that the solution to this societal problem is simple. Furthermore, both extremes experience more judgmental certainty about their domain-specific knowledge of the refugee crisis, independent of their actual knowledge. Finally, belief in simple solutions mediated the relationship between ideology and judgmental certainty, but only among political extremists. We conclude that both ideological orientation and strength matter to understand citizens’ reactions to the refugee crisis.
AB - The 2016 European Union (EU) refugee crisis exposed a fundamental distinction in political attitudes between the political left and right. Previous findings suggest, however, that besides political orientation, ideological strength (i.e., political extremism) is also relevant to understand such distinctive attitudes. Our study reveals that the political right is more anxious, and the political left experiences more self-efficacy, about the refugee crisis. At the same time, the political extremes—at both sides of the spectrum—are more likely than moderates to believe that the solution to this societal problem is simple. Furthermore, both extremes experience more judgmental certainty about their domain-specific knowledge of the refugee crisis, independent of their actual knowledge. Finally, belief in simple solutions mediated the relationship between ideology and judgmental certainty, but only among political extremists. We conclude that both ideological orientation and strength matter to understand citizens’ reactions to the refugee crisis.
KW - EU refugee crisis
KW - ideology
KW - judgmental certainty
KW - political extremism
KW - right-wing attitudes
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85041614499&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85041614499&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1177/1948550617731501
DO - 10.1177/1948550617731501
M3 - Article
VL - 9
SP - 143
EP - 150
JO - Social Psychological & Personality Science
JF - Social Psychological & Personality Science
SN - 1948-5506
IS - 2
ER -