A Dual Process Motivational Model of Ideological Attitudes and System Justification

This chapter reviews recent theory and research on the dual-process cognitive-motivational model of ideology and prejudice. Consistent with a dual-process model perspective, the chapter argues that social dominance orientation (SDO) and right-wing authoritarianism (RWA) assess dual ideological attitude dimensions that are made salient for the individual by competitive and dangerous worldviews respectively, which in turn result from the combination of socio-structural factors (resource scarcity, danger, and threat) and individual differences in personality (primarily low agreeableness and low openness to experience). Finally, the chapter extends the model by arguing that SDO and RWA elicit dual ideologies that stratify and position groups based on qualitatively different stereotypic characteristics. A competitively driven motivation (indexed by SDO) should cause the individual to endorse legitimizing myths or ideologies that are explicitly tailored toward maintaining hierarchical relations between groups. A threat-driven security-cohesion motivation (indexed by RWA) should, in contrast, cause the individual to endorse legitimizing myths that emphasize the maintenance of ingroup norms and values. Recent experimental and longitudinal research supporting the model is described.