Why Are Our Political Rivals So Blind to the Problems Facing Society? Evidence That Political Leftists and Rightists in Israel Mentally Construe Collective Threats Differently

摘要

The present research examines the hypothesis that political leftists and rightists mentally construe collective threats differently, such that each political side views the threats that are meaningful to them as close and concrete, whereas other threats are underemphasized and perceived as distant and abstract. In two studies (total N = 796) we show that Israeli-Jewish political leftists perceive threats against democracy and tolerance as psychologically closer and more concrete than threats against security, whereas political rightists show the opposite tendency. We use a mixed methods approach and demonstrate these tendencies in participants' threat ratings as well as in text analyses of open-ended questions, asking participants to describe different threats in their own words. Results indicate that ideological convictions are related to the mental construal of threats, and that people tend to perceive threats that are relevant to them as psychologically close and concrete. These results can be used to ameliorate political polarization through a better bipartisan understanding of the full spectrum of collective threats that must be considered when making painful concessions for peace with other groups.