Not All Education is Equally Liberal: The Effects of Science Education on Political Attitudes
Author(s) / Creator(s)
Ma-Kellams, Christine
Ruiz, Aida Rocci
Lee, Jacqueline
Madu, Andrea
Abstract / Description
Education stands as a potent predictor of political attitudes; however, the underlying mechanisms and moderators of this relationship are not well-understood. We hypothesize that the liberalizing effect of education is moderated by discipline, and that the scientific ethos that serves to guide empirical inquiries facilitates the development of more liberal political attitudes via concerns about fairness and equality. As predicted, being educated in a science-related discipline, as opposed to a non-science discipline, was associated with greater political liberalism; importantly, this effect could not be accounted for by self-selection (Study 1). Furthermore, concerns about fairness and equality, as captured by an individual’s social dominance orientation, mediated the relationship between studying science and political liberalism (Study 2). Study 3 replicated these findings and attest to their generalizability. Study 4 directly assessed the underlying mechanism, endorsement of the scientific ethos, and replicated the mediational model; those who endorsed the scientific ethos more strongly reported more liberal political attitudes, and this was mediated by their lower social dominance orientation.
Keyword(s)
education social dominance political orientation attitudes scientific ethosPersistent Identifier
Date of first publication
2014-07-10
Journal title
Journal of Social and Political Psychology
Volume
2
Issue
1
Page numbers
143–163
Publisher
PsychOpen GOLD
Publication status
publishedVersion
Review status
peerReviewed
Is version of
Citation
Ma-Kellams, C., Ruiz, A. R., Lee, J., & Madu, A. (2014). Not All Education is Equally Liberal: The Effects of Science Education on Political Attitudes. Journal of Social and Political Psychology, 2(1), 143–163. https://doi.org/10.5964/jspp.v2i1.259
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Author(s) / Creator(s)Ma-Kellams, Christine
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Author(s) / Creator(s)Ruiz, Aida Rocci
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Author(s) / Creator(s)Lee, Jacqueline
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Author(s) / Creator(s)Madu, Andrea
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PsychArchives acquisition timestamp2018-11-26T12:44:53Z
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Made available on2018-11-26T12:44:53Z
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Date of first publication2014-07-10
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Abstract / DescriptionEducation stands as a potent predictor of political attitudes; however, the underlying mechanisms and moderators of this relationship are not well-understood. We hypothesize that the liberalizing effect of education is moderated by discipline, and that the scientific ethos that serves to guide empirical inquiries facilitates the development of more liberal political attitudes via concerns about fairness and equality. As predicted, being educated in a science-related discipline, as opposed to a non-science discipline, was associated with greater political liberalism; importantly, this effect could not be accounted for by self-selection (Study 1). Furthermore, concerns about fairness and equality, as captured by an individual’s social dominance orientation, mediated the relationship between studying science and political liberalism (Study 2). Study 3 replicated these findings and attest to their generalizability. Study 4 directly assessed the underlying mechanism, endorsement of the scientific ethos, and replicated the mediational model; those who endorsed the scientific ethos more strongly reported more liberal political attitudes, and this was mediated by their lower social dominance orientation.en_US
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Publication statuspublishedVersion
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Review statuspeerReviewed
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CitationMa-Kellams, C., Ruiz, A. R., Lee, J., & Madu, A. (2014). Not All Education is Equally Liberal: The Effects of Science Education on Political Attitudes. Journal of Social and Political Psychology, 2(1), 143–163. https://doi.org/10.5964/jspp.v2i1.259en_US
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ISSN2195-3325
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Persistent Identifierhttps://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12034/1331
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Persistent Identifierhttps://doi.org/10.23668/psycharchives.1724
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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.v2i1.259
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Keyword(s)educationen_US
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Keyword(s)social dominanceen_US
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Keyword(s)political orientationen_US
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Keyword(s)attitudesen_US
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Keyword(s)scientific ethosen_US
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Dewey Decimal Classification number(s)150
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TitleNot All Education is Equally Liberal: The Effects of Science Education on Political Attitudesen_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 numbers143–163
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Volume2
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Visible tag(s)Version of Record