The 20th annual Symposium will be held on Thursday, April 23, 2009.

Conservative Ideology and Well-Being: The Mediating Role of the Proactive Personality
Norris 102, 8:45 AM

Keith  Zabel,   '09 41
   Major: Psychology
   Hometown: Three Oaks, MI

Sponsor(s): Andrew Christopher
Support: FURSCA

Abstract: 
Why are conservatives happy individuals? Previous research has found a positive relationship between political conservatism and measures of well-being (Napier & Jost, 2008). However, this research has neglected to examine the multidimensional nature of conservative ideology and well-being, and any mediating role that personality plays in this relationship.

To test our hypothesis that the belief in a just world (BJW) – positive affect (PA) relationship would be mediated by proactive personality (PP), 130 college students (88 women) from a small Midwest university completed a survey including Bateman and Crant’s (1993) 17-item PP scale, Rubin and Peplau’s (1975) 20-item BJW scale, Pratto et al.’s (1994) 16-item social dominance orientation (SDO) scale, Zakrisson’s (2005) 15-item right-wing authoritarianism (RWA) scale and Watson et al.’s (1988) 10-item PA scale and 10-item negative affect (NA) scale. Multiple regression and meditational analyses revealed the relationship between BJW and PA was mediated by PP. SDO was not related to PP or well-being and RWA was not related to PP. One possible explanation for these findings is that BJW is focused on an individual believing that they control their environment and should be proactive, whereas SDO and RWA are group-level ideologies in which an individual can do nothing to change their environment.

Results supported previous research that found a positive relationship between political conservatism and SWB. The importance of studying the multidimensional nature of both conservative ideology and well-being is discussed as well as the mediating role that personality can play in the relationship between conservative ideology and well-being.

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