The Role Of Emotion In Politics
Tuesday September 16, 2008
A friend sent me this (in my opinion) interesting essay on the role of emotion in political orientation. It's mistitled "What Makes People Vote Republican?" It could just as easily been titled "What Makes People Vote Democratic?"
The author, a University of Virginia psychologist, describes the social contract needed for society -- social life -- to work. And he explains that parts of this contract include foundational concepts of fairness, harm, authority, purity, loyalty. According to his research, people who identify as Republican "endorse statements related to all five foundations more or less equally... Democrats generally use a much smaller part of the spectrum than do Republicans." I'll add that Democrats seem to value "the individual" over "society."
Read the essay. Then test yourself at YourMorals.org. And join the discussion on the USP Forum.
Feel free to share your score ... if several folks do, I'll start a gallery. With mine first, of course.