| Over the course of three studies, the present research sought to examine the motivational antecedents of political ideology, develop and validate a scale to measure political ideology, and attempted to shift political ideology by manipulating motivation.;It was hypothesized that Self-Determination Theory (Deci & Ryan, 1985) would be related to political ideology. SDT posits that motivation is driven by either intrinsic factors (i.e., personal growth, emotional intimacy, community involvement), or extrinsic factors (i.e., wealth, popularity, image), with the goal of satisfying innate needs for competence, autonomy, and relatedness.;Over three studies, the present research hypothesized and found support to show that intrinsic motivations were positively related to left-wing, and negatively related to right-wing ideology, whereas extrinsic motivations were positively related to right-wing, and negatively related to left-wing, ideology. Empathy also predicted ideology, with higher levels being associated with a more left-wing ideology, and lower levels being associated with a more right-wing ideology.;The present research also found partial support for a mediational model whereby levels of autonomy could predict motivation, which could predict ideology. It was found that higher levels of autonomy predicted higher levels of intrinsic motivation, which predicted a more left-wing ideology, and that lower levels of autonomy predicted higher levels of extrinsic motivation, which predicted a more right-wing ideology.;Study 3 sought to test the hypothesis that manipulating motivation could lead to changes in political ideology. It was hypothesized that priming an increase of intrinsic aspects in one's life would lead to a left-shift, decreasing intrinsic or extrinsic aspects would lead to a right-shift, and increasing extrinsic aspects would not result in any shift. Initial results were not significant. Participants' open-ended responses were then coded according to the degree to which intrinsic and extrinsic values were espoused, and these codes were then used as the basis for further analyses.;Results showed that when participants espoused intrinsic values, their Time 2 ideology score tended to be more to the left compared to Time 1, regardless of whether they were in the increase or decrease condition. Participants whose open-ended responses were coded as being extrinsically motivated tended to be more to the left in Time 2 if they were asked to imagine an increase in the extrinsic values they espoused, and more to the right if they were asked to imagine the extrinsic values they wrote about decreasing. Participants whose open-ended response was a mixture of both intrinsic and extrinsic facets tended to shift more to the right, regardless of whether they were asked to imagine these things increasing or decreasing.;Additionally, the present research developed and validated a 40-item measure of political ideology across Canadian undergraduate samples (Studies 1 and 3), and in the general population (Study 2). Factor analyses on the scale showed support for a four-factor model of political ideology, with the factors being social justice, core governance issues, social issues, and neo-conservative issues. This scale was also showed greater convergent validity than a one-item ideology measure.;Implications relate to the development of a parsimonious model of political ideology based on SDT and empathy, the complexities of shifting ideology, an understanding of the role of autonomy as it relates to ideology, and the benefits of using a multi-item issues-based scale to measure ideology. |
