TY - JOUR
T1 - The association between agreeableness, extraversion, and support for secessionist movements
T2 - Evidence from a large survey of more than 33,000 respondents in Catalonia
AU - Barceló, Joan
PY - 2017/3/1
Y1 - 2017/3/1
N2 - Does personality influence attitudes toward secessionism? Personality traits are important determinants of a wide range of political attitudes and behaviors. Prior work has mainly focused on the study of personality during regular processes of democratic political systems (e.g., vote choice, turnout, information acquisition, etc.). By contrast, this paper assesses that personality traits have an influence over the decision of individuals to support a secessionist movement. To test this, I rely on a survey distributed to more than 33.000 respondents in Catalonia, a region with a salient secessionist movement. Beyond the effects of demographic characteristics, political factors, descent-based attributes, economic considerations, and even identity attachments, the results confirm that the personality trait of Agreeableness is associated with supporting the Catalan secessionist movement. Although less consistently, there is some preliminary evidence that extraverted individuals are more likely to support the movement. I conclude that combining insights from political science, sociology and psychology in the study of dispositional and situational determinants of attitudes toward secessionism is fertile research ground.
AB - Does personality influence attitudes toward secessionism? Personality traits are important determinants of a wide range of political attitudes and behaviors. Prior work has mainly focused on the study of personality during regular processes of democratic political systems (e.g., vote choice, turnout, information acquisition, etc.). By contrast, this paper assesses that personality traits have an influence over the decision of individuals to support a secessionist movement. To test this, I rely on a survey distributed to more than 33.000 respondents in Catalonia, a region with a salient secessionist movement. Beyond the effects of demographic characteristics, political factors, descent-based attributes, economic considerations, and even identity attachments, the results confirm that the personality trait of Agreeableness is associated with supporting the Catalan secessionist movement. Although less consistently, there is some preliminary evidence that extraverted individuals are more likely to support the movement. I conclude that combining insights from political science, sociology and psychology in the study of dispositional and situational determinants of attitudes toward secessionism is fertile research ground.
KW - Agreeableness
KW - Big Five
KW - Extraversion
KW - Independence
KW - Personality
KW - Political behavior
KW - Referendum
KW - Secessionism
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84997079286&partnerID=8YFLogxK
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U2 - 10.1016/j.paid.2016.11.029
DO - 10.1016/j.paid.2016.11.029
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:84997079286
SN - 0191-8869
VL - 107
SP - 102
EP - 107
JO - Personality and Individual Differences
JF - Personality and Individual Differences
ER -