The Big 5 Personality Traits Mapped to the Political Compass
Personality Traits That Predict Right-wing and Left-wing Authoritarianism
If you are unfamiliar with the “big 5,” consider investigating where you fall in these traits, using this free temperament sorter.
Note. Source for subtraits that load onto the main traits (second column).
The Big 5 is the most research-validated of personality schemas, memorable with the acronym OCEAN or CANOE. See Wikipedia for a well-cited summary of its development and uses. The five factors traits are openness to new experience, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, and neuroticism. Neuroticism is defined as emotional volatility, more tendency toward mood fluctuation, or in psych-speak mood lability. Here’s how the traits fall in the vertical (social) dimension and the horizontal (economic) dimension of the political compass.
Summary of Big 5 Temperament Characteristics by Taber and Young
Taber and Young (2013) wrote a chapter “Political information processing” in the Oxford Handbook of Political Psychology. They reviewed modern public opinion research from an information-processing and cognitive-bias perspective. They focus on cognitive processes of opinion formation, not the person-to-person transmission of political ideology. Their review was not interested in class-based or self-interest models. They essentially sought to answer the question, “Does how people think about politics give rise to what they think?” Their work did discuss both social and economic dimensions of ideology. Quotes from this chapter are organized below. These are the basis for the placement of traits in the four-quadrant table above. Except where otherwise indicated, all of the page numbers refer to Taber and Young’s chapter.
O – open to new experience vs. preference for the familiar
· Openness seems to covary negatively with conservatism (Taber & Young, 2013, p. 533). “Right wing authoritarianism is negatively correlated with openness” (p. 533).
· High needs for closure and certainty covary positively with conservatism (p. 533). Researchers have found that “quick decisions, seizing on what is most salient, most apparent, or most concretely understood, and a tendency to avoid overthinking, describe an information-processing style characteristic of people on the political right” (Taber & Young, 2013, p. 532).
· “social dominance orientation (SDO) is negatively related to openness in 30 out of 30 samples” (p. 533).
· RWA [right wing authoritarianism] is linked to low openness and an orientation towards social conformity (p. 535).
· “the interindividual difference in cognitive style that is most often suggested as a predictor of opinion is cognitive “flexibility” versus “rigidity” or “structure,” with flexibility generally thought positively related to more liberal or left wing political opinions….The finding that experiential openness is associated with liberalism versus conservatism is by now firmly established, both for social-moral and economic dimensions of ideology” (pp. 531-532).
· “In the case of moral ideology, it's not difficult to see resonance between a craving for certainty and the safety of tradition” (p. 534).
· “Conservatism is related to fear of threat and loss....Resistance to change and inequality endorsement are essentially uncertainty-reducing” (p. 534).
· On “a measure of performance on a visual categorisation task on which subjects classify non-political objects or concepts ... into one of two boxes, or alternately place an object between the boxes to indicate the objects belonging….The tendency to definitively categorize an object into a box is considered a measure of cognitive rigidity...[and] significantly predicted conservatism in all three dimensions” (p. 535) which included economic, social or moral, and toughness, which tapped militarism, foreign policy toughness, and toughness on criminals and immigrants.
· Liberalism linked to acceptance of change, innovation, and the unexpected (p. 541)
C – conscientious vs. unconcerned about details (easy-going)
· High needs for structure and order covary positively with conservatism (p. 533).
· “Right wing affiliations and attitudes also appear positively related to conscientiousness” [working hard, keeping an orderly space] (p. 532).
· “Research on authoritarianism and social dominance orientation documents strong relationships with a variety of cognitive rigidity measures” which indicate conservatism (p. 533).
· SDO [social dominance orientation] and RWA [right wing authoritarianism] are linked to high conscientiousness (p. 535).
E – extroversion vs. introversion
· In the economic dimension, “left wing affiliations and attitudes appear to be…negatively related to extraversion” (p. 532).
· Extraversion contains a component of assertiveness, which ... is associated with the energy of the business world (pp. 533-534)
A – agreeable vs. argumentative
· In the economic dimension, “left wing affiliations and attitudes appear to be positively related to agreeableness” (p. 532).
· “High agreeableness reflects compassion and empathy—of which welfare is a policy embodiment” (p. 533).
· Social dominance orientation (SDO) “is negatively correlated with agreeableness in 31 out of 31 samples” (p. 533). Similarly Sibley and Duckitt (2013) found that disagreeable people tended to view the social world as competitive, which in turn predicted heightened motivations for group-based dominance and superiority (SDO).
· SDO is “associated with a competitive-jungle world view, driven by low agreeableness. The implications for our discussion are that economic conservatism, however imperfectly proxied by SDO, is painted as an eagerly competitive, aggressively decisive orientation” (p. 533).
N – emotional volatility vs. emotional stability
· “Gerber and colleagues in 2010 found neuroticism positively related to liberal attitudes” (p. 532).
· Meta analysis of motivational studies suggest conservative thinking is prompted by a need to reduce fear and uncertainty (p. 533).
· In contrast with economic ideology, “social ideology is more driven by fear and uncertainty” (p. 533).
Auth-right Quadrant
Sibley and Duckitt (2013) people low in openness to experience and high in conscientiousness directly expressed more security-cohesion motivations (right-wing authoritarianism or RWA). In a survey studying correlation between personality, social worldviews, and ideology, low openness to experience predicted what the researchers termed “dangerous worldview,” which in turn predicted right-wing authoritarianism.
Lib-left Quadrant
This quadrant would most tend toward high mood instability and more negative emotion. They would most tend to be compassionate and tolerant of difference, but if they can’t tolerate others’ intolerance, their stance becomes the left-wing authoritarianism within Pew’s political subtype progressive left.
Thanks for reading. Here’s a related post.
Repeat of Quadrants Content
This section repeats the writing in the quadrants, for any who have difficulty reading in that format. Groups are presented in order of political party size.
Big 5 Subtraits and Description
O – open to new experience vs. preference for the familiar
(in other words) imaginative, spontaneous, varied vs. prefers routine, practical, standard
C – conscientious vs. unconcerned about details
(in other words) disciplined, careful vs. impulsive, disorganized
E – extroversion vs. introversion
(in other words) sociable, expressive vs. reserved, thoughtful
A – agreeable vs. argumentative
(in other words) trusting, helpful, approachable vs. suspicious, uncooperative
N – emotional volatility vs. emotional stability
(in other words) anxious, pessimistic vs. calm, unconcerned
Big 5 Mapped to the Political Compass
At the top of the vertical (social) axis is “traditional = low in openness” characteristic of the pro-establishment quadrants.
At the bottom of the vertical (social) axis is (a) open to new experience (novelty seeking such as travel, different cultures, & ethnic groups; possibly more risk tolerant) and (b) higher in neuroticism (more emotional volatility, so possibly more susceptible to psychiatric diagnoses, self-medicating). This would be characteristic of the anti-establishment quadrants that tend more toward conspiracy theories.
At the left of the horizontal (economic) axis is a tendency toward three traits: open to new experience, agreeable (compassion, politeness), and neuroticism.
At the right of the horizontal (economic) axis is a tendency toward three traits: conscientiousness, extroversion (assertive, excitement seeking), and low agreeableness (more competitive).
References
Sibley, C. G., & Duckitt, J. (2013). The dual process model of ideology and prejudice: A longitudinal test during a global recession. Journal of Social Psychology, 153(4), 448-66. doi:10.1080/00224545.2012.757544
Taber, C. S., & Young, E. (2013). Political information processing. In L. Huddy, D. O. Sears, & J. S. Levy (Eds.), The Oxford handbook of political psychology (2nd ed., pp. 525-558). Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199760107.013.0017