2023/11/26 by Luana Russo, Jochem Vanagt · 1 voice
Psychology · Social Sciences · #Big Five personality traits #Clinical psychology #Computer science #Coping (psychology) #Electoral Systems and Political Participation #Interpersonal communication #Narcissism #Personality #Polarization (electrochemistry) #Psychology #Social Capital and Networks #Social Media and Politics #Social psychology #Trait
paper · doi:10.31219/osf.io/c48q3
openalex publication_date 2023/11/26 · openalex created_date 2023/11/28 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/14
This paper investigates affective polarization with a focus on its horizontal dimension, namely, negative attitudes and behaviors towards fellow citizens. We examine the interplay of partisanship (positive and negative), the Big Five personality traits and narcissism, in shaping out-group dislike and social avoidance. We also introduce a personality trait measuring individuals' capacity to navigate interpersonal conflicts, called Tolerance for Disagreement.We expect that a higher Tolerance for Disagreement is associated with lower levels of horizonal affective polarization. We test our hypothesis on twelve European party systems. We find that Tolerance for Disagreement emerges as an important predictor of horizontal affective polarization, having a stronger effect than partisanship and other personality traits. Our findings show that an individual's threshold for coping with interpersonal conflict is an important factor in understanding the multifaceted nature of affective polarization, and offer new insights into the mechanisms that drive it.