The Extent to Which Personality Traits Explain Political Behavior

The Extent to Which Personality Traits Explain Political Behavior
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The Extent to Which Personality Traits Explain Political Behavior
Personality traits refer to people’s characteristic ways of thinking, feeling, or behaving. They are people’s attitudes, feelings, and behavior toward others. Five broad parameters describe an individual’s personality traits: extraversion, neuroticism, agreeableness, conscientiousness, and openness. The five dimensions, also known as the “Big Five, " were initially developed by Costa & McCrae to explain the connection between an individual’s personality and various actions. Research has examined how the five dimensions of an individual’s personality affect political behaviors and attitudes. This essay will discuss the extent to which personality traits explain political behavior at the individual level.
An individual’s personality is generally stable throughout adult life. The replicability of the Big Five framework has encouraged much research on the influence of personality traits on political behavior and attitudes. Early research tended to link the Big Five Traits with particular political behaviors and attitudes. However, current literature has theorized that the Big Five traits reflect how an individual responds to stimuli or their environment. They are not directly associated with political outcomes. Instead, they shape political behaviors and attitudes within the setting of a more extensive theoretical account of how people interact with the world. The Big Five traits of extraversion (assertiveness, thrill-seeking, gregariousness), conscientiousness (self-discipline, self-efficacy, and achievement-striving), agreeableness (warmth, generosity, trust), neuroticism (vulnerability, petulance, apprehension), and openness to experience (ideas, philosophies, and dissimilar values) have an impact on ideology, partisanship, and political participation.
An individual’s characteristic way of thinking, feeling, and behavior indirectly influences their assessment of various public proposals. These proposal stimuli differ in ways that influence political decision-making on economic and social policies. For instance, openness to experience is associated with liberal politics: individuals who score high on openness to experience tend to be receptive to liberal social, economic, and political policies (Ashworth, 2023). Leaders open to new experiences respond favorably to unconventional policies that challenge the status quo compared to politicians who score low on the trait. On the other hand, individuals who score high on conscientiousness tend to be rigid in their thinking or behaviors and are achievement striving. Highly conscientious politicians are likely to be conservative and uncompromising in their decision-making, particularly in highly stressful situations. They are more likely to reject policies contrary to political, economic, or social norms. Moreover, they are not receptive to proposals that undermine the importance of individual effort or self-determination.
Curious, ingenious, and imaginative people tend to be more amenable to unconventional ideas. They are, therefore, likely to adopt left-wing ideology. On the other hand, diligent and organized people are more rigid to external ideas and are therefore attracted to right-wing ideology. Furthermore, there is a strong association between emotional stability and conservatism. People who score highly on emotional stability are less likely to be anxious about their social, economic, or political futures. They are, therefore, less receptive to liberal policies that seem to undermine their social, economic, or political security. On the other hand, people who score highly on neuroticism are more like...