Social Cognition and Democracy: The Relationship Between System Justification, Just World Beliefs, Authoritarianism, Need for Closure, and Need for Cognition in Hungary
Author(s) / Creator(s)
Kelemen, László
Szabó, Zsolt Péter
Mészáros, Noémi Zsuzsanna
László, János
Forgas, Josef P.
Abstract / Description
This research was aimed at examining just-world beliefs, system justification, authoritarianism, and cognitive style in a nationally representative sample (N = 1000) in Hungary, and at relating these phenomena to various demographic and political variables to find out whether the findings in Hungary would differ from its Western counterparts. According to system justification theory, there is a psychological motive to defend and justify the status quo. This theory has been tested several times in North American and Western European samples. The core finding of our study was that Hungarian people, unlike people in Western democracies, did not justify the existing establishment. There was strong pessimism with regard to the idea that the system serves the interests of the people. Members of disadvantaged groups (people with low economic income and/or far right political preference) strongly rejected the system. System justification beliefs were moderately related to just world beliefs, and there was a significant relationship between some aspects of need for closure (need for order, discomfort with ambiguity, and closed-mindedness) and authoritarian beliefs. Need for cognition was only related to one aspect of need for closure: closed-mindedness. The voters of right-wing parties did not display higher levels of authoritarianism than the voters of the left social-democrat party. The role of demographic and political variables, limitations, and possible developments of this research are discussed.
Keyword(s)
just-world hypothesis system justification cognitive style need for closure authoritarianismPersistent Identifier
Date of first publication
2014-09-30
Journal title
Journal of Social and Political Psychology
Volume
2
Issue
1
Page numbers
197–219
Publisher
PsychOpen GOLD
Publication status
publishedVersion
Review status
peerReviewed
Is version of
Citation
Kelemen, L., Szabó, Z. P., Mészáros, N. Z., László, J., & Forgas, J. P. (2014). Social Cognition and Democracy: The Relationship Between System Justification, Just World Beliefs, Authoritarianism, Need for Closure, and Need for Cognition in Hungary. Journal of Social and Political Psychology, 2(1), 197–219. https://doi.org/10.5964/jspp.v2i1.208
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Author(s) / Creator(s)Kelemen, László
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Author(s) / Creator(s)Szabó, Zsolt Péter
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Author(s) / Creator(s)Mészáros, Noémi Zsuzsanna
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Author(s) / Creator(s)László, János
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Author(s) / Creator(s)Forgas, Josef P.
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PsychArchives acquisition timestamp2018-11-26T12:44:46Z
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Made available on2018-11-26T12:44:46Z
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Date of first publication2014-09-30
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Abstract / DescriptionThis research was aimed at examining just-world beliefs, system justification, authoritarianism, and cognitive style in a nationally representative sample (N = 1000) in Hungary, and at relating these phenomena to various demographic and political variables to find out whether the findings in Hungary would differ from its Western counterparts. According to system justification theory, there is a psychological motive to defend and justify the status quo. This theory has been tested several times in North American and Western European samples. The core finding of our study was that Hungarian people, unlike people in Western democracies, did not justify the existing establishment. There was strong pessimism with regard to the idea that the system serves the interests of the people. Members of disadvantaged groups (people with low economic income and/or far right political preference) strongly rejected the system. System justification beliefs were moderately related to just world beliefs, and there was a significant relationship between some aspects of need for closure (need for order, discomfort with ambiguity, and closed-mindedness) and authoritarian beliefs. Need for cognition was only related to one aspect of need for closure: closed-mindedness. The voters of right-wing parties did not display higher levels of authoritarianism than the voters of the left social-democrat party. The role of demographic and political variables, limitations, and possible developments of this research are discussed.en_US
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Publication statuspublishedVersion
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Review statuspeerReviewed
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CitationKelemen, L., Szabó, Z. P., Mészáros, N. Z., László, J., & Forgas, J. P. (2014). Social Cognition and Democracy: The Relationship Between System Justification, Just World Beliefs, Authoritarianism, Need for Closure, and Need for Cognition in Hungary. Journal of Social and Political Psychology, 2(1), 197–219. https://doi.org/10.5964/jspp.v2i1.208en_US
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ISSN2195-3325
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Persistent Identifierhttps://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12034/1327
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Persistent Identifierhttps://doi.org/10.23668/psycharchives.1707
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Language of contenteng
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PublisherPsychOpen GOLD
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Is version ofhttps://doi.org/10.5964/jspp.v2i1.208
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Keyword(s)just-world hypothesisen_US
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Keyword(s)system justificationen_US
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Keyword(s)cognitive styleen_US
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Keyword(s)need for closureen_US
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Keyword(s)authoritarianismen_US
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Dewey Decimal Classification number(s)150
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TitleSocial Cognition and Democracy: The Relationship Between System Justification, Just World Beliefs, Authoritarianism, Need for Closure, and Need for Cognition in Hungaryen_US
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DRO typearticle
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Issue1
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Journal titleJournal of Social and Political Psychology
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Page numbers197–219
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Volume2
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Visible tag(s)Version of Record