Premium
The Relationship Between Need for Closure and Conservative Beliefs in Western and Eastern Europe
Author(s) -
Kossowska Malgorzata,
Hiel Alain Van
Publication year - 2003
Publication title -
political psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.419
H-Index - 95
eISSN - 1467-9221
pISSN - 0162-895X
DOI - 10.1111/0162-895x.00338
Subject(s) - closure (psychology) , flemish , conservatism , ideology , sample (material) , western europe , social psychology , positive economics , scale (ratio) , psychology , political science , sociology , demographic economics , law , geography , economics , politics , european union , chemistry , cartography , archaeology , chromatography , economic policy
This work explored the hypothesis that need for closure is associated with the adoption of conservative ideology. Two different studies on eastern and western European samples (Polish and Flemish) supported the hypothesis that need for closure—as measured by Webster and Kruglanski's (1994) Need for Closure Scale—is related to conservative beliefs. However, in the second study, a negative relationship between need for closure and economic conservatism in the Polish sample was noted, whereas a positive relationship occurred in the Flemish sample. These results may be accounted for by the Need for Simple Structure factor of Neuberg, Judice, and West (1997) and by specific rather than non‐specific epistemic processes.