07.22.2003 - Researchers help define what makes a political conservative

Four researchers who culled through 50 years of research literature about the psychology of conservatism report that at the core of political conservatism is the resistance to change and a tolerance for inequality, and that some of the common psychological factors linked to political conservatism include:

* Fear and aggression
* Dogmatism and intolerance of ambiguity
* Uncertainty avoidance
* Need for cognitive closure
* Terror management

Seems to fit with the conservatives I've had the "pleasure" of meeting.

The researchers said that conservative ideologies, like virtually all belief systems, develop in part because they satisfy some psychological needs

An emotionally based need to accept inequality and to see the world in stark black and white terms makes conservatives so much fun.