Relationships Between Susceptiblity To The Illusory Correlation, Conservatism, And Personality Dimensions

Abstract

A longstanding yet growing disagreement on fundamental political issues exists between conservatives and liberals. A common theme among the disagreements between these two groups is attitudes towards minority groups, such as racial minorities, immigrants, and women. Previous research has shown that conservatives and liberals possess different personality traits, which can help explain their disagreements. In order to examine why conservatives with certain personality traits are inclined to have less supportive attitudes towards minorities, I used the illusory correlation to demonstrate a nonexistent, and perceived relationship between a minority group and negative behaviors in those with conservative attitudes. In this paper, I study the relationship between susceptibility to the illusory correlation, personality traits in the Big Five test, and political ideology. Through a survey testing for each of these, I show that individuals who are more susceptible to the illusory correlation are more/less likely to exhibit certain personality traits and are more likely to have conservative attitudes towards minority groups. Conclusively, the effects of these findings are discussed to better understand why conservatives and liberals disagree on issues pertaining to minorities.