#leftwingauthoritarian — Public Fediverse posts
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DATE: September 28, 2026 at 06:00AM
SOURCE: PSYPOST.ORG** Research quality varies widely from fantastic to small exploratory studies. Please check research methods when conclusions are very important to you. **
-------------------------------------------------TITLE: Dogmatic beliefs about sex and gender are linked to authoritarianism on both the left and the right
A new study published in Archives of Sexual Behavior indicates that rigid, dogmatic thinking about sex and gender exists on both ends of the political spectrum. The research suggests that while viewing gender as strictly binary and fixed is tied to conservative authoritarianism, believing gender is fluid and nonbinary is similarly associated with progressive authoritarianism.
In the social sciences, “sex” generally refers to biological characteristics like chromosomes and anatomy, while “gender” describes an individual’s psychological identity and social role. People tend to hold differing beliefs about how these two concepts interact. Some view sex and gender as firmly binary and permanently fixed at birth, viewing male and female as the only options. Others see gender as a spectrum that can change and operates independently of biological sex.
Previous research investigating the psychology behind these views has often linked a strictly binary perspective to right-wing authoritarianism. For instance, a 2021 study found that people who strongly favor submitting to traditional societal authorities also tend to hold rigid beliefs about traditional gender roles. This body of work painted a picture of conservative ideology as a primary driver of dogmatic views on gender.
“We found that, to date, there have been several empirical studies regarding the relationship between right-wing authoritarianism and beliefs regarding whether human sex or gender are binary or not,” Alex Bertrams, a researcher at the University of Bern, told PsyPost. “However, what had been completely absent until now were studies examining how sex/gender beliefs are related to left-wing authoritarianism.”
However, separate psychological research points out that authoritarian tendencies can also occur on the political left. A 2020 study established a model of left-wing authoritarianism, noting a specific urge among some progressives to aggressively enforce unconventional norms. This aligns with a study covered by PsyPost in 2025, which identified anti-conventionalism as a distinct component of left-wing authoritarian beliefs, characterized by a demand for political homogeneity and the absolute rejection of conservative values.
Bertrams and Ann Krispenz conducted the new study to connect these two lines of research, suspecting that authoritarianism plays a role in modern gender debates regardless of which side someone takes. “In addition, we noticed that certain ideological circles (also within universities) label those beliefs toward sex and gender which do not align with their own progressive views as ‘authoritarian’ or even ‘fascist,'” the researchers said. “However, certain morally overbearing forms of advocacy for progressive sex/gender beliefs may also be authoritarian – but left-wing authoritarian.”
The research team set out to test whether an anti-conventional, progressive view of gender is just as linked to left-wing authoritarianism as traditional gender views are to right-wing authoritarianism. “It is not a secret that the social sciences, including psychology, are ideologically biased these days by progressive views,” they added. “Part of our motivation was the desire to counteract this questionable situation, even if only a little, by conducting respective empirical research. In our view, it is not an appropriate role for publicly funded universities to one-sidedly provide material for the rhetorical manipulation of the population.”
To investigate this, the researchers conducted two separate online surveys. In the first study, they recruited 1,431 adults from the United States. Participants answered questions to measure their beliefs about sex and gender on a continuous scale, and they also answered a simple question about whether there are only two genders. In this sample, 57 percent stated there are only two genders, and 43 percent stated there are more than two.
The participants also completed psychological assessments measuring two specific types of authoritarianism. The first was right-wing authoritarian conventionalism, which is the desire to force everyone in society to comply with traditional moral standards. The second was left-wing authoritarian anti-conventionalism, which is the desire to force everyone to adopt progressive values while treating conservative views as inherently immoral.
The researchers found a strong relationship between the participants’ gender beliefs and their authoritarian tendencies. Believing that gender is binary and fixed was strongly associated with right-wing conventionalism. Believing that gender is nonbinary and changeable was strongly associated with left-wing anti-conventionalism. These relationships remained robust even after the researchers accounted for demographic differences like age, income, and general political orientation.
“We generally found strong associations between the sex/gender beliefs and the investigated forms of left- and right-wing authoritarianism,” the researchers noted. “Given the conceptual proximity of the sex/gender beliefs on the one hand and the ideological underpinnings of these authoritarianism forms on the other hand, this was not particularly surprising. After all, our goal was not to investigate something particularly sensational but something obvious for the purpose of filling a gap in research that had not been addressed until now.”
In the second study, the researchers recruited 1,390 adults from the United Kingdom to see if the pattern held in a different culture. They used the same measures for gender beliefs, right-wing conventionalism, and left-wing anti-conventionalism. In this British sample, 68 percent of participants endorsed a binary view of gender, and 32 percent endorsed a nonbinary view.
This second study also measured additional authoritarian traits, including social dominance orientation, right-wing aggression, left-wing anti-hierarchical aggression, and the desire for top-down censorship. The findings mirrored the first study, showing that binary beliefs were strongly linked to right-wing conventionalism and nonbinary beliefs were strongly linked to left-wing anti-conventionalism. The researchers noted that conventionalism and anti-conventionalism were the strongest predictors of gender beliefs, standing out above the other authoritarian traits like aggression or the desire for censorship.
This replication across datasets was a key part of the team’s methodology. “In contrast to many psychological studies conducted to date, our study (including the hypotheses as well as the methodology and data analysis) was pre-registered and adheres to open science standards,” they explained. “In addition, our study includes two independent samples from different countries, meaning that the findings from the first sample were replicated in a second sample.”
The findings are in line with research covered by PsyPost in 2020, which found that right-leaning ideology is strongly linked to holding rigid, binary beliefs about sex and gender. The new research adds depth to this by demonstrating a parallel relationship on the political left, while looking specifically at right-wing authoritarian conventionalism rather than general political conservatism.
“From our perspective, our study can help to counter misleading rhetoric,” the researchers noted. “If certain people label a particular belief about sex and gender as the viewpoint of (right-wing) authoritarians—and in doing so imply that their own position is therefore the only correct option—one can counter this viewpoint by citing our study results which contradict this characterization. Our findings suggest that very different, even contradicting, views on sex and gender can be held by authoritarian individuals on the left and the right. It is therefore inappropriate to make a one-sided association between a particular sex/gender belief and authoritarianism.”
As with all research, there are a few caveats to consider. The study measured correlations, meaning it cannot determine whether holding a specific gender belief makes someone more authoritarian, or if naturally authoritarian people just gravitate toward strict rules about gender. The researchers also caution against assuming that any specific belief about gender is inherently authoritarian on its own.
Many people hold binary or nonbinary views on gender without having any desire to force those views on others. The study simply indicates that people who do possess highly controlling, authoritarian personalities tend to attach themselves strongly to these distinct gender ideologies. “Whatever one believes about the binary or non-binary nature of sex and gender and whether or not people can freely determine their own sex and gender, one can also express and advocate for the respective view in a non-authoritarian way,” the researchers clarified.
Future work will need to explore whether these patterns appear in countries outside the United States and the United Kingdom, and whether deeper personality traits like narcissism help explain why some people adopt highly authoritarian approaches to gender debates. “Our research is not specifically focused on sex/gender beliefs, but rather on the diverse phenomena that could be explained by the dark-ego-vehicle principle,” the researchers said.
“According to this approach, individuals with dark (e.g., narcissistic or psychopathic) personalities tend to use ideologies and activism as vehicles to satisfy their dark needs (e.g., expressing supposed moral superiority over others, acting out aggression at protests),” they explained.
“We have already found some evidence that authoritarianism may be useful for dark personalities in this regard,” they continued. “In a study that was just published, we also found evidence that ideologically completely opposed stances may be useful vehicles for dark personalities. In this new study, antagonistic narcissism was associated with abortion-related radicalization intention, that is, the intention to also use illegal and violent means.”
This willingness to use extreme tactics was present regardless of the cause. “The key point is that this was true for both the individuals of the pro-choice as well as the pro-life group,” the researchers noted. “We believe that political activism on sex/gender issues is also a useful way to investigate the dark-ego-vehicle principle in terms of opposing ideological perspectives in future studies.”
The study, “Sex/Gender Beliefs are Strongly Related to Either Right‑Wing Authoritarian Conventionalism or Left‑Wing Authoritarian Anti‑Conventionalism,” was authored by Alex Bertrams and Ann Krispenz.
-------------------------------------------------
Private, vetted email list for mental health professionals: https://www.clinicians-exchange.org
Unofficial Psychology Today Xitter to toot feed at Psych Today Unofficial Bot @PTUnofficialBot
-------------------------------------------------
#psychology #counseling #socialwork #psychotherapy @psychotherapist @psychotherapists @psychology @socialpsych @socialwork @psychiatry #mentalhealth #psychiatry #healthcare #depression #psychotherapist #SexAndGender #GenderBeliefs #Authoritarianism #RightWingAuthoritarian #LeftWingAuthoritarian #BinaryVsNonbinary #GenderPolitics #SocialScienceResearch #OpenScience #PsyPostStudy
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DATE: September 28, 2026 at 06:00AM
SOURCE: PSYPOST.ORG** Research quality varies widely from fantastic to small exploratory studies. Please check research methods when conclusions are very important to you. **
-------------------------------------------------TITLE: Dogmatic beliefs about sex and gender are linked to authoritarianism on both the left and the right
A new study published in Archives of Sexual Behavior indicates that rigid, dogmatic thinking about sex and gender exists on both ends of the political spectrum. The research suggests that while viewing gender as strictly binary and fixed is tied to conservative authoritarianism, believing gender is fluid and nonbinary is similarly associated with progressive authoritarianism.
In the social sciences, “sex” generally refers to biological characteristics like chromosomes and anatomy, while “gender” describes an individual’s psychological identity and social role. People tend to hold differing beliefs about how these two concepts interact. Some view sex and gender as firmly binary and permanently fixed at birth, viewing male and female as the only options. Others see gender as a spectrum that can change and operates independently of biological sex.
Previous research investigating the psychology behind these views has often linked a strictly binary perspective to right-wing authoritarianism. For instance, a 2021 study found that people who strongly favor submitting to traditional societal authorities also tend to hold rigid beliefs about traditional gender roles. This body of work painted a picture of conservative ideology as a primary driver of dogmatic views on gender.
“We found that, to date, there have been several empirical studies regarding the relationship between right-wing authoritarianism and beliefs regarding whether human sex or gender are binary or not,” Alex Bertrams, a researcher at the University of Bern, told PsyPost. “However, what had been completely absent until now were studies examining how sex/gender beliefs are related to left-wing authoritarianism.”
However, separate psychological research points out that authoritarian tendencies can also occur on the political left. A 2020 study established a model of left-wing authoritarianism, noting a specific urge among some progressives to aggressively enforce unconventional norms. This aligns with a study covered by PsyPost in 2025, which identified anti-conventionalism as a distinct component of left-wing authoritarian beliefs, characterized by a demand for political homogeneity and the absolute rejection of conservative values.
Bertrams and Ann Krispenz conducted the new study to connect these two lines of research, suspecting that authoritarianism plays a role in modern gender debates regardless of which side someone takes. “In addition, we noticed that certain ideological circles (also within universities) label those beliefs toward sex and gender which do not align with their own progressive views as ‘authoritarian’ or even ‘fascist,'” the researchers said. “However, certain morally overbearing forms of advocacy for progressive sex/gender beliefs may also be authoritarian – but left-wing authoritarian.”
The research team set out to test whether an anti-conventional, progressive view of gender is just as linked to left-wing authoritarianism as traditional gender views are to right-wing authoritarianism. “It is not a secret that the social sciences, including psychology, are ideologically biased these days by progressive views,” they added. “Part of our motivation was the desire to counteract this questionable situation, even if only a little, by conducting respective empirical research. In our view, it is not an appropriate role for publicly funded universities to one-sidedly provide material for the rhetorical manipulation of the population.”
To investigate this, the researchers conducted two separate online surveys. In the first study, they recruited 1,431 adults from the United States. Participants answered questions to measure their beliefs about sex and gender on a continuous scale, and they also answered a simple question about whether there are only two genders. In this sample, 57 percent stated there are only two genders, and 43 percent stated there are more than two.
The participants also completed psychological assessments measuring two specific types of authoritarianism. The first was right-wing authoritarian conventionalism, which is the desire to force everyone in society to comply with traditional moral standards. The second was left-wing authoritarian anti-conventionalism, which is the desire to force everyone to adopt progressive values while treating conservative views as inherently immoral.
The researchers found a strong relationship between the participants’ gender beliefs and their authoritarian tendencies. Believing that gender is binary and fixed was strongly associated with right-wing conventionalism. Believing that gender is nonbinary and changeable was strongly associated with left-wing anti-conventionalism. These relationships remained robust even after the researchers accounted for demographic differences like age, income, and general political orientation.
“We generally found strong associations between the sex/gender beliefs and the investigated forms of left- and right-wing authoritarianism,” the researchers noted. “Given the conceptual proximity of the sex/gender beliefs on the one hand and the ideological underpinnings of these authoritarianism forms on the other hand, this was not particularly surprising. After all, our goal was not to investigate something particularly sensational but something obvious for the purpose of filling a gap in research that had not been addressed until now.”
In the second study, the researchers recruited 1,390 adults from the United Kingdom to see if the pattern held in a different culture. They used the same measures for gender beliefs, right-wing conventionalism, and left-wing anti-conventionalism. In this British sample, 68 percent of participants endorsed a binary view of gender, and 32 percent endorsed a nonbinary view.
This second study also measured additional authoritarian traits, including social dominance orientation, right-wing aggression, left-wing anti-hierarchical aggression, and the desire for top-down censorship. The findings mirrored the first study, showing that binary beliefs were strongly linked to right-wing conventionalism and nonbinary beliefs were strongly linked to left-wing anti-conventionalism. The researchers noted that conventionalism and anti-conventionalism were the strongest predictors of gender beliefs, standing out above the other authoritarian traits like aggression or the desire for censorship.
This replication across datasets was a key part of the team’s methodology. “In contrast to many psychological studies conducted to date, our study (including the hypotheses as well as the methodology and data analysis) was pre-registered and adheres to open science standards,” they explained. “In addition, our study includes two independent samples from different countries, meaning that the findings from the first sample were replicated in a second sample.”
The findings are in line with research covered by PsyPost in 2020, which found that right-leaning ideology is strongly linked to holding rigid, binary beliefs about sex and gender. The new research adds depth to this by demonstrating a parallel relationship on the political left, while looking specifically at right-wing authoritarian conventionalism rather than general political conservatism.
“From our perspective, our study can help to counter misleading rhetoric,” the researchers noted. “If certain people label a particular belief about sex and gender as the viewpoint of (right-wing) authoritarians—and in doing so imply that their own position is therefore the only correct option—one can counter this viewpoint by citing our study results which contradict this characterization. Our findings suggest that very different, even contradicting, views on sex and gender can be held by authoritarian individuals on the left and the right. It is therefore inappropriate to make a one-sided association between a particular sex/gender belief and authoritarianism.”
As with all research, there are a few caveats to consider. The study measured correlations, meaning it cannot determine whether holding a specific gender belief makes someone more authoritarian, or if naturally authoritarian people just gravitate toward strict rules about gender. The researchers also caution against assuming that any specific belief about gender is inherently authoritarian on its own.
Many people hold binary or nonbinary views on gender without having any desire to force those views on others. The study simply indicates that people who do possess highly controlling, authoritarian personalities tend to attach themselves strongly to these distinct gender ideologies. “Whatever one believes about the binary or non-binary nature of sex and gender and whether or not people can freely determine their own sex and gender, one can also express and advocate for the respective view in a non-authoritarian way,” the researchers clarified.
Future work will need to explore whether these patterns appear in countries outside the United States and the United Kingdom, and whether deeper personality traits like narcissism help explain why some people adopt highly authoritarian approaches to gender debates. “Our research is not specifically focused on sex/gender beliefs, but rather on the diverse phenomena that could be explained by the dark-ego-vehicle principle,” the researchers said.
“According to this approach, individuals with dark (e.g., narcissistic or psychopathic) personalities tend to use ideologies and activism as vehicles to satisfy their dark needs (e.g., expressing supposed moral superiority over others, acting out aggression at protests),” they explained.
“We have already found some evidence that authoritarianism may be useful for dark personalities in this regard,” they continued. “In a study that was just published, we also found evidence that ideologically completely opposed stances may be useful vehicles for dark personalities. In this new study, antagonistic narcissism was associated with abortion-related radicalization intention, that is, the intention to also use illegal and violent means.”
This willingness to use extreme tactics was present regardless of the cause. “The key point is that this was true for both the individuals of the pro-choice as well as the pro-life group,” the researchers noted. “We believe that political activism on sex/gender issues is also a useful way to investigate the dark-ego-vehicle principle in terms of opposing ideological perspectives in future studies.”
The study, “Sex/Gender Beliefs are Strongly Related to Either Right‑Wing Authoritarian Conventionalism or Left‑Wing Authoritarian Anti‑Conventionalism,” was authored by Alex Bertrams and Ann Krispenz.
-------------------------------------------------
Private, vetted email list for mental health professionals: https://www.clinicians-exchange.org
Unofficial Psychology Today Xitter to toot feed at Psych Today Unofficial Bot @PTUnofficialBot
-------------------------------------------------
#psychology #counseling #socialwork #psychotherapy @psychotherapist @psychotherapists @psychology @socialpsych @socialwork @psychiatry #mentalhealth #psychiatry #healthcare #depression #psychotherapist #SexAndGender #GenderBeliefs #Authoritarianism #RightWingAuthoritarian #LeftWingAuthoritarian #BinaryVsNonbinary #GenderPolitics #SocialScienceResearch #OpenScience #PsyPostStudy
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DATE: September 28, 2026 at 06:00AM
SOURCE: PSYPOST.ORG** Research quality varies widely from fantastic to small exploratory studies. Please check research methods when conclusions are very important to you. **
-------------------------------------------------TITLE: Dogmatic beliefs about sex and gender are linked to authoritarianism on both the left and the right
A new study published in Archives of Sexual Behavior indicates that rigid, dogmatic thinking about sex and gender exists on both ends of the political spectrum. The research suggests that while viewing gender as strictly binary and fixed is tied to conservative authoritarianism, believing gender is fluid and nonbinary is similarly associated with progressive authoritarianism.
In the social sciences, “sex” generally refers to biological characteristics like chromosomes and anatomy, while “gender” describes an individual’s psychological identity and social role. People tend to hold differing beliefs about how these two concepts interact. Some view sex and gender as firmly binary and permanently fixed at birth, viewing male and female as the only options. Others see gender as a spectrum that can change and operates independently of biological sex.
Previous research investigating the psychology behind these views has often linked a strictly binary perspective to right-wing authoritarianism. For instance, a 2021 study found that people who strongly favor submitting to traditional societal authorities also tend to hold rigid beliefs about traditional gender roles. This body of work painted a picture of conservative ideology as a primary driver of dogmatic views on gender.
“We found that, to date, there have been several empirical studies regarding the relationship between right-wing authoritarianism and beliefs regarding whether human sex or gender are binary or not,” Alex Bertrams, a researcher at the University of Bern, told PsyPost. “However, what had been completely absent until now were studies examining how sex/gender beliefs are related to left-wing authoritarianism.”
However, separate psychological research points out that authoritarian tendencies can also occur on the political left. A 2020 study established a model of left-wing authoritarianism, noting a specific urge among some progressives to aggressively enforce unconventional norms. This aligns with a study covered by PsyPost in 2025, which identified anti-conventionalism as a distinct component of left-wing authoritarian beliefs, characterized by a demand for political homogeneity and the absolute rejection of conservative values.
Bertrams and Ann Krispenz conducted the new study to connect these two lines of research, suspecting that authoritarianism plays a role in modern gender debates regardless of which side someone takes. “In addition, we noticed that certain ideological circles (also within universities) label those beliefs toward sex and gender which do not align with their own progressive views as ‘authoritarian’ or even ‘fascist,'” the researchers said. “However, certain morally overbearing forms of advocacy for progressive sex/gender beliefs may also be authoritarian – but left-wing authoritarian.”
The research team set out to test whether an anti-conventional, progressive view of gender is just as linked to left-wing authoritarianism as traditional gender views are to right-wing authoritarianism. “It is not a secret that the social sciences, including psychology, are ideologically biased these days by progressive views,” they added. “Part of our motivation was the desire to counteract this questionable situation, even if only a little, by conducting respective empirical research. In our view, it is not an appropriate role for publicly funded universities to one-sidedly provide material for the rhetorical manipulation of the population.”
To investigate this, the researchers conducted two separate online surveys. In the first study, they recruited 1,431 adults from the United States. Participants answered questions to measure their beliefs about sex and gender on a continuous scale, and they also answered a simple question about whether there are only two genders. In this sample, 57 percent stated there are only two genders, and 43 percent stated there are more than two.
The participants also completed psychological assessments measuring two specific types of authoritarianism. The first was right-wing authoritarian conventionalism, which is the desire to force everyone in society to comply with traditional moral standards. The second was left-wing authoritarian anti-conventionalism, which is the desire to force everyone to adopt progressive values while treating conservative views as inherently immoral.
The researchers found a strong relationship between the participants’ gender beliefs and their authoritarian tendencies. Believing that gender is binary and fixed was strongly associated with right-wing conventionalism. Believing that gender is nonbinary and changeable was strongly associated with left-wing anti-conventionalism. These relationships remained robust even after the researchers accounted for demographic differences like age, income, and general political orientation.
“We generally found strong associations between the sex/gender beliefs and the investigated forms of left- and right-wing authoritarianism,” the researchers noted. “Given the conceptual proximity of the sex/gender beliefs on the one hand and the ideological underpinnings of these authoritarianism forms on the other hand, this was not particularly surprising. After all, our goal was not to investigate something particularly sensational but something obvious for the purpose of filling a gap in research that had not been addressed until now.”
In the second study, the researchers recruited 1,390 adults from the United Kingdom to see if the pattern held in a different culture. They used the same measures for gender beliefs, right-wing conventionalism, and left-wing anti-conventionalism. In this British sample, 68 percent of participants endorsed a binary view of gender, and 32 percent endorsed a nonbinary view.
This second study also measured additional authoritarian traits, including social dominance orientation, right-wing aggression, left-wing anti-hierarchical aggression, and the desire for top-down censorship. The findings mirrored the first study, showing that binary beliefs were strongly linked to right-wing conventionalism and nonbinary beliefs were strongly linked to left-wing anti-conventionalism. The researchers noted that conventionalism and anti-conventionalism were the strongest predictors of gender beliefs, standing out above the other authoritarian traits like aggression or the desire for censorship.
This replication across datasets was a key part of the team’s methodology. “In contrast to many psychological studies conducted to date, our study (including the hypotheses as well as the methodology and data analysis) was pre-registered and adheres to open science standards,” they explained. “In addition, our study includes two independent samples from different countries, meaning that the findings from the first sample were replicated in a second sample.”
The findings are in line with research covered by PsyPost in 2020, which found that right-leaning ideology is strongly linked to holding rigid, binary beliefs about sex and gender. The new research adds depth to this by demonstrating a parallel relationship on the political left, while looking specifically at right-wing authoritarian conventionalism rather than general political conservatism.
“From our perspective, our study can help to counter misleading rhetoric,” the researchers noted. “If certain people label a particular belief about sex and gender as the viewpoint of (right-wing) authoritarians—and in doing so imply that their own position is therefore the only correct option—one can counter this viewpoint by citing our study results which contradict this characterization. Our findings suggest that very different, even contradicting, views on sex and gender can be held by authoritarian individuals on the left and the right. It is therefore inappropriate to make a one-sided association between a particular sex/gender belief and authoritarianism.”
As with all research, there are a few caveats to consider. The study measured correlations, meaning it cannot determine whether holding a specific gender belief makes someone more authoritarian, or if naturally authoritarian people just gravitate toward strict rules about gender. The researchers also caution against assuming that any specific belief about gender is inherently authoritarian on its own.
Many people hold binary or nonbinary views on gender without having any desire to force those views on others. The study simply indicates that people who do possess highly controlling, authoritarian personalities tend to attach themselves strongly to these distinct gender ideologies. “Whatever one believes about the binary or non-binary nature of sex and gender and whether or not people can freely determine their own sex and gender, one can also express and advocate for the respective view in a non-authoritarian way,” the researchers clarified.
Future work will need to explore whether these patterns appear in countries outside the United States and the United Kingdom, and whether deeper personality traits like narcissism help explain why some people adopt highly authoritarian approaches to gender debates. “Our research is not specifically focused on sex/gender beliefs, but rather on the diverse phenomena that could be explained by the dark-ego-vehicle principle,” the researchers said.
“According to this approach, individuals with dark (e.g., narcissistic or psychopathic) personalities tend to use ideologies and activism as vehicles to satisfy their dark needs (e.g., expressing supposed moral superiority over others, acting out aggression at protests),” they explained.
“We have already found some evidence that authoritarianism may be useful for dark personalities in this regard,” they continued. “In a study that was just published, we also found evidence that ideologically completely opposed stances may be useful vehicles for dark personalities. In this new study, antagonistic narcissism was associated with abortion-related radicalization intention, that is, the intention to also use illegal and violent means.”
This willingness to use extreme tactics was present regardless of the cause. “The key point is that this was true for both the individuals of the pro-choice as well as the pro-life group,” the researchers noted. “We believe that political activism on sex/gender issues is also a useful way to investigate the dark-ego-vehicle principle in terms of opposing ideological perspectives in future studies.”
The study, “Sex/Gender Beliefs are Strongly Related to Either Right‑Wing Authoritarian Conventionalism or Left‑Wing Authoritarian Anti‑Conventionalism,” was authored by Alex Bertrams and Ann Krispenz.
-------------------------------------------------
Private, vetted email list for mental health professionals: https://www.clinicians-exchange.org
Unofficial Psychology Today Xitter to toot feed at Psych Today Unofficial Bot @PTUnofficialBot
-------------------------------------------------
#psychology #counseling #socialwork #psychotherapy @psychotherapist @psychotherapists @psychology @socialpsych @socialwork @psychiatry #mentalhealth #psychiatry #healthcare #depression #psychotherapist #SexAndGender #GenderBeliefs #Authoritarianism #RightWingAuthoritarian #LeftWingAuthoritarian #BinaryVsNonbinary #GenderPolitics #SocialScienceResearch #OpenScience #PsyPostStudy