[...]... R 1 On the Social and Psychological Bases of Ideology and System Justification Hulda Thorisdottir, John T Jost, and Aaron C Kay Abstract This book both reflects and exemplifies the recent resurgence of interest in the social and psychological characteristics and processes that give rise to ideological forms Ideology is an elusive, multifaceted construct that can usefully be analyzed in terms of “top-down”... highlights On the Social and Psychological Bases of Ideology and System Justification 5 the fact that ideology can be analyzed in terms of both “top-down” processes, whereby political elites in the media and elsewhere construct and publicly disseminate ideological “bundles,” and “bottom-up” processes arising from the psychological needs and motives of ordinary citizens ( Jost et al., 2009) Attention to... uncertainty and threat consistently give rise to politically conservative (more than liberal or moderate) opinions They argued that a special affinity exists On the Social and Psychological Bases of Ideology and System Justification 7 between the contents of conservative ideology, which they identified as resistance to change and acceptance of inequality, and heightened epistemic and existential needs to ward off... ward off uncertainty and minimize perceptions of threat (see also Jost et al., 2007, 2009) Present Contributions to Understanding the Social and Psychological Bases of Ideology The contributors to this volume, who come from such diverse fields as psychology, political science, sociology, law, and organizational behavior, all seek to advance our understanding of these and other social psychological functions... integration On the Social and Psychological Bases of Ideology and System Justification 11 would pave the way for new research that would “at long last address a wider range of social situations and conditions that give rise and momentum to conservative attitudes, thoughts, behaviors, and even social movements” (p 366) According to a search of the PsycINFO database undertaken in February of 2008, 154 articles... processing in favor of the current status quo (and against alternatives to it) OVERVIEW OF THIS VOLUME In this volume, we have encouraged theoretical and methodological pluralism to represent a wide variety of research traditions bearing on the social and 12 INTRODUCTION psychological bases of ideology and system justification These traditions include (a) the study of attitudes, social cognition, and information... members? Read on George Lakoff Berkeley, CA April 2008 CONTRIBUTORS Chris Crandall Professor of Psychology University of Kansas Lawrence, KS Jacqueline Anson Doctoral Student University of Rochester Rochester, NY Mahzarin R Banaji Professor of Psychology Harvard University Cambridge, MA John Duckitt Professor of Psychology The University of Auckland Auckland, NZ John A Bargh Professor of Psychology Yale University... conscious and nonconscious levels of awareness, (b) theories of motivated reasoning and goal-directed cognition, (c) research on personality and dispositional correlates of political orientation, (d) work on social justice and the origins of moral values, (e) the myriad ways in which social and political opinions are shaped by local situations and environments, and (f ) studies of stereotyping, prejudice, and. .. definition offered in the fourth edition of the American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language: 1 The body of ideas reflecting the social needs and aspirations of an individual, group, class, or culture 2 A set of doctrines or beliefs that form the basis of a political, economic, or other system This kind of broad definition allows for considerable flexibility in investigating ideology from a social psychological. .. University of Cambridge Cambridge, UK Mike Ross Professor of Psychology University of Waterloo Waterloo, ON Canada Chris G Sibley Lecturer The University of Auckland Auckland, NZ Sheldon Solomon Professor of Psychology Skidmore College Saratoga Springs, NY Katherine B Starzyk Assistant Professor University of Manitoba Winnipeg, MB Canada Philip E Tetlock Professor of Organizational Behavior University of California, . Sullivan, and Christopher M. Federico Image Bite Politics: News and the Visual Framing of Elections Maria E. Grabe and Erik P. Bucy Social and Psychological Bases of Ideology and System Justifi. in Social and Psychological Bases of Ideology and System Justifi cation. Over the past three decades, the cognitive and brain sciences have utterly changed our understanding of the mind and. I. INTRODUCTION 1 On the Social and Psychological Bases of Ideology and System Justifi cation / 3 Hulda Thorisdottir, John T. Jost, and Aaron C. Kay II. IDEOLOGY AND AUTOMATICITY 2 American