Individual Differences Research

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Individual Differences Research > Volume 9, Issue 3 (2011) > 153-164

What Lies Beneath: Dogmatism, Intolerance, and Political Self-Identification

Mandi White-Ajmani, Krisanne Bursik

Abstract

How strongly do the traits of dogmatism and intolerance predict political self-identification? A predominantly Caucasian sample of 137 adults (81 women, 56 men) completed the DOG Scale (Altemeyer, 1996), the Omnibus Civil Liberties Scale (McClosky & Brill, 1983), and measures of political ideology and social desirability. Conservatives were significantly more dogmatic than were liberals and moderates; all three groups differed in tolerance, with liberals being the most tolerant and conservatives the least. Dogmatism and intolerance were significant predictors of political ideological membership, accurately categorizing 82% of liberals and conservatives and explaining between 47.8% and 64.5% of the variance in ideological membership. These data support the view of political ideology as a motivated choice and provide a simplified method for understanding political self-identification.