"Our Country Needs a Strong Leader Right Now": Economic Inequality Enhances the Wish for a Strong Leader.

Clicks: 248
ID: 84896
2019
Article Quality & Performance Metrics
Overall Quality Improving Quality
0.0 /100
Combines engagement data with AI-assessed academic quality
AI Quality Assessment
Not analyzed
Abstract
Societal inequality has been found to harm the mental and physical health of its members and undermine overall social cohesion. Here, we tested the hypothesis that economic inequality is associated with a wish for a strong leader in a study involving 28 countries from five continents (Study 1, = 6,112), a study involving an Australian community sample (Study 2, = 515), and two experiments (Study 3a, = 96; Study 3b, = 296). We found correlational (Studies 1 and 2) and experimental (Studies 3a and 3b) evidence for our prediction that higher inequality enhances the wish for a strong leader. We also found that this relationship is mediated by perceptions of anomie, except in the case of objective inequality in Study 1. This suggests that societal inequality enhances the perception that society is breaking down (anomie) and that a strong leader is needed to restore order (even when that leader is willing to challenge democratic values).
Reference Key
sprong2019ourpsychological Use this key to autocite in the manuscript while using SciMatic Manuscript Manager or Thesis Manager
Authors Sprong, Stefanie;Jetten, Jolanda;Wang, Zhechen;Peters, Kim;Mols, Frank;Verkuyten, Maykel;Bastian, Brock;Ariyanto, Amarina;Autin, FrÊdÊrique;Ayub, Nadia;Badea, Constantina;Besta, Tomasz;Butera, Fabrizio;Costa-Lopes, Rui;Cui, Lijuan;Fantini, Carole;Finchilescu, Gillian;Gaertner, Lowell;Gollwitzer, Mario;Gómez, Ángel;Gonzålez, Roberto;Hong, Ying-Yi;Jensen, Dorthe Høj;Jasinskaja-Lahti, Inga;Karasawa, Minoru;Kessler, Thomas;Klein, Olivier;Lima, Marcus;MÊgevand, Laura;Morton, Thomas;Paladino, Paola;Polya, Tibor;Renvik, Tuuli Anna;Ruza, Aleksejs;Shahrazad, Wan;Shama, Sushama;Smith, Heather J;Torres, Ana Raquel;van der Bles, Anne Marthe;Wohl, Michael J A;
Journal psychological science
Year 2019
DOI 10.1177/0956797619875472
URL
Keywords
economic inequality leadership preregistered anomie authoritarianism populism subjective and objective inequality

Citations

No citations found. To add a citation, contact the admin at info@scimatic.org

Comments

No comments yet. Be the first to comment on this article.